Why Do Children Kill?

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Why do children kill?

Do they come from bad homes? Is something wrong with them from birth? Or is their parentage and environment at fault? Have they been traumatized?

In fact, trauma is the single recurring theme in the biographies of most killers. As a consequence of this trauma, sometimes they suppress their emotional response, and sometimes their reaction is to kill.

Words Of Joni E. Johnston, Doctor Of Psychology:

“Most murders by young children aren’t planned; instead, they are born out of anger, frustration, or interpersonal conflict.

“It takes a resourceful village to raise a well-adjusted child, and some communities are struggling just to survive. It also takes a healthy mind to resist unhealthy influences. As parents, we won’t always know what our child is thinking and feeling.

“But we can take our child’s mental health just as seriously as his/her physical health, pay attention to sudden changes in our child’s behavior, stay up to date on the normal range of teen behavior, and use teachers and pediatricians as sounding boards and secondary sources of information. And, of course, keep our fingers crossed.”

Children Who Have Killed:

Mary Bell

The girl, Mary Bell, committed the first of two shocking murders on the day before her 11th birthday. In May of 1968, Mary strangled a four-year-old boy.

In July 1968, she and a 13-year-old friend took part in the strangulation death of 3-year-old Brian Howe in the same Scotswood area.

Police later concluded that Mary returned to his body to carve an “M” into the boy’s abdomen. She also used scissors to cut off some of his hair, scratch his legs, and mutilate his genitals.

On December 17, 1968, Norma Bell, her accomplice, was acquitted, but Mary Bell was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The judge described her as dangerous and said she posed a “very grave risk to other children”.

There is never truly an answer to why children kill. I doubt they know why themselves.

Robert Thompson & John Venables

In February 1993, two 10-year-old boys lured a 2-year-old away from his mom. The boys led James Bulger by the hand out of the mall, where they planned to push him into oncoming traffic.

However, the boys changed plans and decided to travel two and a half miles through Walton, Liverpool, to a set of railroad tracks.

At the railroad tracks, the boys stripped the little boy, stuffed batteries into his mouth, threw paint in his eye, and threw stones at his body. Then they dropped a 22-pound iron bar on him.

They used rocks to weigh his body down on the railroad tracks so a passing train would run over the boy’s body.

There were so many injuries that the coroner could not determine the precise cause of death.

They were sentenced to a juvenile offender’s facility. However, they were released in 2001, given new identities, and granted legal anonymity for life.

“Most killers have fairly average lifestyles. Steady jobs too. Sometimes they’re even living the family life. White picket fence and a four-door sedan. That’s what makes them so scary. They act human and they slot into society and since a young age they’ve known how to hide crazy. They put it up on a shelf and only bring it out on special occasions.” – Paul Cleave, The Killing Hour

Joshua Phillips

Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips (born March 17, 1984) was convicted of murder as a child. In November 1998, when he was 14 years old, Phillips killed Madelyn Rae Clifton (June 17, 1990 – November 3, 1998), his 8-year-old friend and neighbor.

The following year, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Phillips stated that he killed Clifton to stop her from crying after she was accidentally struck with a baseball while they were playing, and that he feared punishment from his abusive father.

While Circuit Judge Waddell Wallace acknowledged Phillips’ opportunity for rehabilitation, the judge re-sentenced him to life in prison — with a chance to have his sentence reviewed after 25 years — because, the judge said, of how heinous the crime was.

He was not eligible for the death penalty, as he was under 16.

Alyssa Bustamante

On October 21, 2009, Elizabeth Olten, aged 9, was murdered by her neighbor, Alyssa Bustamante. Alyssa was 15 years old and lived in St. Martins, Missouri.

Olten lived four houses down from Bustamante. On October 21, 2009, Bustamante convinced her younger sister to bring Olten to the forest near their homes to hang out. Upon Olten’s arrival, Bustamante strangled Olten, slit her throat, and stabbed her eight times in the chest.

She murdered Elizabeth Olten due to homicidal ideation, and to see what it was like to kill someone. Is this the only reason she chose to kill Olten, to see what it was like to kill?

Bustamante then buried Olten’s body in a grave that she had dug five days before in the woods behind her house and covered the grave with leaves.

She was indicted and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Bustamante was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of conditional release in 2024 for the second-degree murder.

But due to the additional conviction of armed criminal action, even if she’s granted conditional release, she will still have a consecutive sentence of 30 years in prison. This makes her earliest release in 2054, when she will be 60 years old.

Eric Smith

Eric Smith was a loving boy until he was diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder. This mental disorder causes individuals to act out violently and unpredictably.

The boy was a loner and was often bullied because of his appearance. He had protruding, low-set ears, thick glasses, red hair, and freckles.

When Eric was a young child, he killed, tortured, and disemboweled animals. He once set fire to the family stove.

In August 1993, at age 13, Eric Smith murdered 4-year-old Derrick Robie after luring him into the woods on their way to summer camp. Eric hit him over the head with a rock, strangled him, and sodomized him with a tree limb.

He was charged with second-degree murder and sent to a medium security prison in New York State. Eric Smith was first denied parole in August 2002.

He was finally granted parole in October 2021, after 27 years in prison. Eric Smith was officially released in February 2022. He revealed that he has been engaged to a lawyer since 2019 and has been living in Queens.

Children Who Kill Are Often Victims Too

These children often have been severely abused or neglected and have experienced a tumultuous home life. They can have severe attachment problems, usually the result of unreliable and ineffective caregiving and a history of abuse.

The child may have witnessed or experienced violence or been rejected or abandoned by a parent.

Problems in the home are particularly influential. If a child witnesses or experiences violence, they are likely to repeat violence in other situations. (Psychology Today)

“We are taken aback by the ferocity of children who kill, but adults do similarly. Children, like adults, victimize their peers. Fully half of child sex abuse incidents in England and Wales, for another example, are perpetrated by children. This is the recurringly reborn “monster” I mentioned earlier: it’s a cruel and daunting creature and we don’t know where it comes from or how it can be defeated.”

– Ellis Cashmore (Fair Observer)

• 10 Tips To Prevent Aggressive Behavior In Children
• Dealing With Violent Behavior From Your Child Or Teenager
• Helping Your Child With Anger Issues

(This information was gleaned from online research. I am not a medical professional, and you should seek professional advice in dealing with childhood behavior.)