Project description
My project is about spotting and profiling a high profile criminal using contextualization. Specifically pointing out the early signs.I decided to relate this to mental illnesses. Those including depression, anxiety and bipolar personality. There are certain signs that indicate each of these mental illnesses. For example isolation ,behavior change, loss of interest in things that use to be fun are all possible signs of depression. But what kind of symptoms were experienced by the most infamous murderers in the world. What kind of things contributed to it. Did they all have a mental issue affecting them, maybe trauma, or just a bad childhood. What kind of things contributed and what the factors are. My goal for this project is to be able to spot these different signs and profile it as a mental illness or if it could be identified like a mental illness.
How does mental illness contribute serial killers?
For my English part of this project I wanted to focus on the psychological aspect of serial killers. The question I was trying to answer was how to spot the early signs of a serial killer as you would a mental illness like depression. Also the kind of things you would be looking out for when trying to look at the signs of someone with the mind of a criminal. Things like mental illness mostly always have a part to play in things like this. Looking at behavior change, new habits, loss of interest in things that use to be enjoyable, isolation, new interest in strange things. All these things were most likely the signs that some high profile criminals displayed before snapping. My simple answer to the question I was trying to answer with this project is yes. I believe you can spot the signs of a serial killer like you could a mental illness. Though there are some set backs. People are very good at hiding mental illnesses and they wont show signs of anything serious until later in life. But serious illnesses like schizophrenia and delusional disorder which was found to be the most common illnesses, can become very obvious depending on how serious it is. All these factors go into spotting the early signs of a serial killer.
How does Joseph Kony identify as a serial killer?
For my history part of my project I created a wanted poster on Joseph Kony. I explained what Kony was known for and all the crimes he committed. Although he was not known as a typical serial killer like the ones we know today as Ted Bundy and the night stalker he was a different kind of killer. He was a ruler and a dictator. He used the peoples fear for power. He used people for control and got thousands of his own people killed. He created an army that was feared. He brainwashed the kids that he abducted and used them for his own purposes. Many of them were never able to see their families again. He was the reason for thousands of deaths having all that life loss on his shoulders. All these things are my reasons for why Kony identifies as a serial killer. I formatted my project as a wanted poster and added information about how the LRA came to be, the types of things they did to innocent people and related all the factors of what I believe to be a serial killer to Joseph Kony.
The face behind the mask
I painted this mask with the idea and metaphor of emotions. I watched multiple interviews between Interviewers and serial killers. I listened to the questions that they were being asked and many of them showed emotion, regret and remorse. They showed vulnerability and the hurt they felt. Many of them believed there was nothing left for them anymore so they just killed out of hopelessness. Serial killers are an icon of something to be feared. Many of them keep on that mask of being coldhearted killers but behind that mask there is a troubled human being who needed help but never got it. This is the image of a true serial killer.