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Serial Killers

The mere mention of the term serial killer sends a shiver down my spine, ever wondered what

makes a person terminate multiple lives going to the extent of planning for months how exactly

they are going to do it without feeling the slightest form of guilt. He or she is a person who

commits multiple murders within a month with the emotional cooling off periods in between

("What Defines A Serial Killer?").What is the best kind of punishment for a serial killer? Is a life

sentence enough to make them pay for the physical, emotional and social turmoil they cause? I

firmly believe that a life sentence is merely a scratch on the surface with compared to the kind of

punishment serial killers deserve. Some may argue that everyone deserves a second chance and

that we need to have some faith and trust the process. To others, the repeated song of he or she

never meant to do it, or they were not in their right mind while doing it hence they need to be

given a chance to prove that they can reform, that there is still some good deep down somewhere

within. I beg to disagree with this analogy, what about the families that have lost a loved one,

what about a community that has to live in fear for the rest of their days because of repeated

incidents of murder in their neighborhood, who can they count on where do they drown their

sorrows?

On June 23, 1984, Kirsten Costas a fifteen-year-old girl was stabbed to death by a

classmate–a girl who desperately wanted to take her place as a cheerleader and make the

yearbook committee. Costas got stabbed just a few feet away from her front door. Her killer

though sentenced to nine years in prison, got out in seven. Presently she has a new name and a

new life. She is a wife, a mother who blogs about home décor and recipes ("Should Killers
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Receive A Second Chance? - J.H. Moncrieff"). Does this seem okay to you? Is the nine or rather

seven years sentence in any way comparable to the life of an innocent fifteen-year-old? What

goes on in your mind when you think of her parents, they have to learn to live without their

daughter for the rest of their lives, and the worst pain knows the person that did it roams free and

is going on with her life as nothing happened? Think about the students who went to the same

school with Costa, what about the community where the whole scene took place. Parents and

guardians have to start answering questions they do not even know how to respond to from their

children, they have to continually keep reassuring their children that they are safe and there is

nothing wrong with their neighborhood. Such scenes often end up shaping the future of a child.

Children have to put up with taunting from other children from other blocks when they get back

to school. They end up living in fear asking each other whose next making some resort to

violence as a way of acting out. The teachers have a hard time remolding and convincing their

parents and the students that the school is still safe and parents can again trust them with taking

care of their children.

Well, you may argue that the above is just the case of a teenager probably taking their

acting out too far, I wonder what your take on the story of one lady named Karla in Canada who

was convicted of manslaughter and served only twelve years for helping her husband Paul rape

and murder two schoolgirls is. She got away with pegging the whole blame on her husband

citing that she too was one of his victims of rape and physical abuse and that she was forced in

being an accomplice to the murders ("Should Killers Get A Second Chance? - J.H. Moncrieff").

Well by the time the courts found out that she was as much as involved in the murders as her

husband it was too late she had already been released and was even working on mending her life,

she had a new name, a new husband, and children of her own. She also took part in volunteering
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activities in a school though under close surveillance. In May 2017 the media blew up when

people caught wind of news that Karla volunteered in a school, the same setting where she

helped torture and kill at least three girls. The public and the media continue to haunt her

watching her every move. This is a reaction of people who are not comfortable with such kind of

a person existing amidst them. Her presence brings back painful memories and reawakens

wounds that were beginning to heal. If this continues to happen can we still say we trust the

process, can we confidently agree with the judgment by the courts on such a matter? Even

though we may try to be rational on the subject of giving everyone a second chance, in this

instances second chances are overrated.

According to the Sun, News Corp Australia Network on August 26th, 2017; a serial killer

accused of raping, stoning and burning one of his victims clapped and shouted to the victim's

family in court. "At least I'm still alive" were his words while being sentenced to 71 years in

prison ("Killer Claps: ‘At Least I’M Still Alive’"). This prisoner had no remorse whatsoever for

what he had done. To him spending 71 years in prison was some celebration since he gets to

keep his life, unlike the victim he murdered. He shows that life imprisonment is no big deal for

people like him, to him he is going to enjoy his cell space and can only stay alive for as long as

he chooses to, he is the only person that can take his own life. He confidently rubs this fact to the

family of the victim because he knows there is nothing they can do about it. Such kind of a

system gives confidence even to other offenders knowing that the worst that can happen is doing

jail time and time receive pardons also before they have served their full jail terms. A serial killer

is someone who is not fit to exist with any other human being; they are not okay mentally as

much as they need help something needs to be done for them to see reason and put them in the
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position of their victims. Just to have a test of what it feels to have to go through the pain and the

loss they inflict on others.

While considering the appropriate form of punishment for serial killers, there is a lot of

conversation surrounding this sensitive issue. In the United States, some states use the death

penalty whereas others do not. It is believed the approval of death penalties will lead to more

murders as the public will be comfortable doing it because the authorities also exercise it, hence

the settling for life imprisonment. For the affected families the death penalty expresses their

vengeance towards the convicted, it creates the notion justice has been served. It also protects the

society from the sentenced; community does not have to live in fear of a reoccurrence of an

incident when such a person is released from prison ("Serial Killing | Madorbad.Com"). When a

serial killer is committed to life imprisonment, it does not quite serve as a corrective measure

since violent psychopathic criminals may not be able to learn from punishment due to

abnormalities found in key parts of their brain. Making them unremorseful and unapologetic

concerning their actions, causing them react negatively when confronted with punishment or an

opposite reaction towards their behavior ("Serial Killers Can't Understand Punishment, New

Study Finds"). I am not sure about you, but for me, serial killers don't deserve a second chance,

for their actions and all the pain they cause I will say the same measure needs to be used against

them slowly one stage after the other.

Works Cited

"Killer Claps: ‘At Least I'M Still Alive.'" Dailytelegraph.Com.Au, 2018,

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/serial-killer-claps-at-sentence-and-taunts-victims-
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families-saying-at-least-im-still-alive/news-story/9c5faf1f22b91bb7535fb103816a1ef1.

Accessed 3 Apr 2018.

"Serial Killers Can't Understand Punishment, New Study Finds." Mail Online, 2018,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2931241/Do-psychopaths-pay-crimes-

serial-killers-don-t-understand-punishment-study-reveals.html. Accessed 3 Apr 2018.

"Should Killers Get A Second Chance? - J.H. Moncrieff". J.H. Moncrieff, 2018,

http://www.jhmoncrieff.com/killers-get-second-chance/. Accessed 3 Apr 2018.

"The Legal Consequences Of Serial Killing | Madorbad.Com." Madorbad.Com, 2018,

http://www.madorbad.com/the-legal-consequences-and-responsibility-for-serial-killing/.

Accessed 3 Apr 2018.

"What Defines A Serial Killer?". Psychology Today, 2018,

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201705/what-defines-

serial-killer. Accessed 3 Apr 2018.