Do Serial Killers Feel Remorse?

One of the most common thoughts that runs through the minds of Psychologists, is whether the murderer regrets the murder. This question obviously has different answers, depending on the individual who committed the crime. If the killer, kills one person for one specific reason they tend to end up turning themselves in or regretting what they have done. This feeling is most commonly found in personal killers: “Serial killers have no remorse when killing people”(Yepez). Personal killers are people who only commit one murder and the personal they kill, is someone they know. Other murderers tend to not feel these emotions after their actions. Because of the different motivations of killers, they feel that what they did was a necessary and they do not regret the murder. Another big reason that serial killers don’t feel guilt or remorse, is because they are not mentally stable or sane. Most serial killers are psychopaths or have some type of mental disorder that helps them block out guilt. Psychopaths tend to not feel any emotion that is related to guilt, even if they are completely guilty for a wrong doing. A sane person tends to look back on what they did and realize it was wrong psychopaths do not feel this way ever: “and later feel guilty…psychopaths feel no such remorse.”(Keysers). Some of the most famous serial killers do not feel remorse, even though some of them claim to have killed over 50 people. Psychologists will sometimes say that these killers only say that they kill so many people because they want to be famous. This could also be a cause of their lack of remorse, if they are lying about the murder then they will not feel bad about it, because they never truly committed the murder. One of the most famous killers, Ted Bundy, who was said to have killed and raped at least 12 women who he then decapitated, never felt anguish for what he did. Ted Bundy even admitted, ‘“I don’t feel guilty for anything. I feel sorry for people who feel guilt.”'(Bundy). Ted Bundy said that he felt bad for people who felt guilt, and did not feel it himself. Ted Bundy knew he was guilty for what he did and yet he did not feel bad about the fact that he took the lives of these ladies. Although there are many different reasons that can cause these killers to not feel remorse, the most common is lack of sanity. In the case were a serial killer is caught and is not mentally stable, instead of being incarcerated, or put into jail, they are put into a psychiatric ward. The reason for this, is they want the killer to become sane and mentally stable, before they put them in jail or prison. The government does not want the mentally unstable killer, to be surrounded by other people, because the killer might possibly hurt someone inside of the jail. Psychopathic killers that are caught and arrested are first put into a psychiatric ward, then they serve their time in jail once they’re determined to be mentally stable.

Works Cited

Bundy, Ted. “Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer.” Criminal Justice Degree Hub. WordPress, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

Keysers, Christian. “Inside the Mind of a Psychopath – Empathic, But Not Always.”Psychology Today. Psychology Today, 24 July 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

Yepez Mora, Alex Josue. “Inside the Head of a Serial Killer.” – Science in Our World: Certainty & Controversy. N.p., 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.