Psychopathic children: 5 sad cases of underage killers

Why are some children capable of killing another person?

Many psychologists and psychiatrists have questioned whether it is possible for children to be psychopaths. They can be mischievous and, in some cases, very cruel to other children. But how can it be that they commit murder and show no remorse?

Because their brains are still developing and their personalities are still being forged, it is very difficult to detect the line between mischief and wickedness.. For this reason, and in the face of cases of murders of underage children, health professionals have tried to develop tools for detecting psychopathic children.

The problem arises because the tests on the market are questionnaires that predict possible psychopathy in adulthood, but not during childhood. One example is the scale for screening children, aged 6-11 years, for traits that are prone to psychopathy in adulthood, created by Paul Frick and Robert Hare, called the "Scale for Screening for Antisocial Development.".

Causes of psychopathy

As with questionnaires, much of the research conducted to learn more about psychopaths has focused on the adult population. But to understand this psychopathology, it is necessary to focus on children, as this age is key in the evolution of psychopathy. that age is key in the evolution of the disorder.. No one doubts that the origin of psychopathy is in childhood and adolescence.

From psychology it is understood that the trait of emotional insensitivity is closely related to the presence of antisocial behavior and conduct disorders; so it may be a predictor of the development of psychopathy.

Neuroscience has also contributed information to answer the questions that help to better understand the disorder, and from this field it is stated that there is a reduced amygdala response in young people with the presence of trait emotional insensitivity and high scores in psychopathy. and elevated psychopathy scores. An abnormal response has also been found in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex area.

Problems in socialization

Forensic psychologist Alex Grandio, in an article in Psychology and Mind called "Psychopathy: what goes on in the mind of the psychopath?", explains: "Psychopaths have not developed a conscience or habits of respect for laws and norms that prevent other people from perpetrating antisocial acts.". This is important to understand, since the dysfunctions that children and adults with psychopathic characteristics present make their socialization very complicated. make their socialization very complicated.

The idea that a child is not inherently empathetic and is instead manipulative and dangerous to society may be difficult for many individuals to comprehend. But until one has heard the true life story of these killers, which often involves abuse, maltreatment, broken families, etc., it seems impossible to visualize the brutality of the crimes of many of them. Therefore, the behavior of these little killers is, at least in part, a product of their environment, which must be taken into account in order to understand the behavior of many of these child murderers.

Five Chilling Cases of Psychopathic Children

The following is a list of some of the most some of the most horrific murders committed by minors.

1. Amarjeet Sada (8 years old)

It is hard to assimilate that a child is capable of killing a person, but when he commits multiple crimes, it is almost impossible to digest. This is what happened in the case of the little boy Amarjeet Seda. But what was serious was not only the murder, but the fact that the parents of this little murderer, even knowing that their son had killed two people, covered up for him.

Amarjeet was only eight years old when he was arrested in India in June 2007. He was accused of killing three babies, two of them from his family.. The first of his victims was a cousin of his who was six months old. His second victim, also his cousin, who was less than a year old, was beaten to death. Both crimes were covered up by his parents, and surely he would not have been arrested if he had not committed the murder of a six-month-old neighbor.

2. Eric Smith (13 years old)

Eric Smith used to ride his bicycle around his town every day. When four-year-old Derrick Robie was found dead, no one suspected him. The brutality of his murder makes it considered one of the most chilling cases.

Derrick's body was found in a forest not far from his home and the park where he usually played. He was taken from there, where he was hanged and hit in the head with several rocks.

When Smith was questioned, not only did the boy not care about the case, but he also enjoyed the attention of being interrogated.. He was charged with second-degree murder and is still serving time in prison.

Jordan Brown (11 years old)

Although the motive behind his murder is not yet known, jealousy seems to have been the cause of the crime he committed. Jordan Brownwho killed his father's partner in 2009, when she was pregnant.

The victim was shot in the back was shot in the back while she was lying in bed.. When his four-year-old daughter saw the body, Jordan was at school acting as if nothing had happened. Kenzie Houk, the victim, did not get along with Jordan, who warned her that he would kill her before the event occurred.

4. Carl Newton Mahan (6 years old)

It seems impossible to imagine that a six-year-old boy would be capable of murder. In May 1929 Carl Newton and his friend Cecil Van Hoose (8 years old) were looking for scrap metal to collect. Cecil stole from Carl the one he had gotten by hitting him over the head with it. After what happened, Carl decided to take revenge. Instead of fighting, he went home to get his father's gun. Then, he went back to Cecil and shot him point-blank after saying to him.Carl said, "I'm going to shoot you. Cecil died on the spot.

Carl is considered one of the youngest killers in history. He was sentenced to 15 years in reform school, but another judge considered it inappropriate to try a boy of that age and he was acquitted.

5. Cayetano Santos "Petiso Orejudo" (9 years old)

Cayetano Santos (better known as Petiso Orejudo), an Argentinian boy, committed his first murder in 1906 when he he killed a three-year-old girl named Maria Rosa Face.. He abducted her from the door of a warehouse and, after a failed strangulation, buried her alive in a vacant lot.

In September 1908, only 8 days apart, he attempted to murder two 2-year-old boys. The first, Severino González Caló, was saved from drowning in the pool of a bodega. The second, Julio Botte, was rescued by his mother after the little serial killer burned his eyelids with a cigarette. After these events, he was sent to the Colonia de Menores Marcos Paz for reformation, but years later he was released with an even less flattering psychological picture.

Upon his release, in 1912, in 1912, he began to carry out murders he began to carry out murders without ceasing. On January 25, he suffocated 13-year-old Arturo Laurora. On March 7 he burned alive Reyna Bonita Vanicoff, three years old, after burning her clothes. During the month of November, he tried in less than 2 weeks to hang Roberto Russo and to beat Carmen Ghittone and Catalina Naulener to death, but was unsuccessful. Two weeks later, he tied up, beat, hanged and drove a 4-inch nail into Gesualdo Giordano's temple.

In November 1914 a judge ordered his internment in the Hospice of the Mercedes. There he attacked two patients. One of them became an invalid and the other ended up in a wheelchair. After these crimes, he was imprisoned until he died in the same prison.