Why Thinking Of Mass Killers As 'Insane' Is A Bad Idea

Some would, of course, argue that no sane person would engage in the act of brutally murdering other people, making mass murderers insane by definition. People who run amok and kill as many as possible are perhaps "mad" in the colloquial sense, but most of them are not legally insane — something that is demonstrated all too often in courts of law all over the world when those who kill large numbers of people are indeed found responsible for their crimes. According to forensic psychiatrist Paul Mullen, only about 10 percent of lone killers who set out to create bloodbaths have major mental illnesses, but most of them are not insane.

Still not convinced mass killers aren't insane? Science is:

• "Although studies suggest a link between mental illnesses and violence, the contribution of people with mental illnesses to overall rates of violence is small, and further, the magnitude of the relationship is greatly exaggerated in the minds of the general population (Institute of Medicine, 2006)."
• "…the vast majority of people who are violent do not suffer from mental illnesses (American Psychiatric Association, 1994)."
• "The absolute risk of violence among the mentally ill as a group is very small... only a small proportion of the violence in our society can be attributed to persons who are mentally ill (Mulvey, 1994)."
• "People with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crime (Appleby, et al., 2001).
• People with severe mental illnesses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychosis, are 2 ½ times more likely to be attacked, raped or mugged than the general population (Hiday, et al.,1999)."

Does Abusive Parenting Create Mass Killers?

Can we find answers in the childhood of mass murderers, then? Roof's childhood was reportedly torn apart by his father's violent tendencies, and Breivik's mother allegedly sexualized him as a young boy with neighbors saying sexual activity took place in the home while kids were present. What's more, she reportedly told him she wished he were dead on a regular basis. Robert Bardo was sexually abused by a sibling and placed in foster care after he expressed the wish to commit suicide. Evan Ramsey, the perpetrator of the Bethel Regional High School Shooting, was the victim of bullying. 

READ The Real Risk Of Being Gunned Down In America

At the same time, not all parents who raise violent children were nasty, violent parents. And equally importantly, we need to acknowledge that half of the world population would probably be dead now if a significant portion of those who had a horrible, abusive childhood went on killing sprees, and if large numbers of those suffering from any of the huge number of mental illnesses out there became mass murderers.