A couple years ago, I was watching an interview with convicted serial killer and professional hitman Richard Kuklinski in prison. He was being interviewed by a world-renown psychologist about why he was a serial killer, and what led him to that lifestyle.
His answers were so cold and devoid of any kind of remorse for what he did, that they called him The Iceman. He had admitted to killing hundreds of people, and he had even solved dozens of unsolved murders with his admissions of guilt.
Yet there he stayed in prison, serving 2 life sentences, eligible for parole at age 111. (He was not given the death sentence because there was no witnesses to his murders)
I have to admit, that I was really impressed with the psychologist interviewing him because he had kept his cool during some really disturbing responses. He was able to keep The Iceman composed enough to get more information out of him that a lesser person wouldn't have gotten. By remaining composed himself, and keeping The Iceman in his comfort zone, it allowed for more understanding of why this animal lived his life like this, and committed such heinous murders.
Well, The Iceman is now dead. He died in prison a couple years ago. All we have left of him is his interview, and I'm sure many schools will be studying those tapes for years to come.
But what if we were able to get much more information out of him than his confession? What if we were able to use this convicted serial killer to learn much more about the psychology of what makes him "tick"? Interesting... let me come back to that thought.
In 1996, John Travolta starred in the movie "Phenomenon" and the storyline went like this:
John Travolta's character was walking out of a bar late at night and looked up at the sky and saw a bright light fall out of the night and strike him, knocking him to the ground. When he came to, he realized in the following days that he could harness his powers and use parts of his brain that allowed him to do things previously impossible to humans. His thirst for knowledge was second only to his ability to learn and retain that knowledge. He accomplished many great things in the brief time that he had these powers, and the world marvelled at him.
However, it was discovered that the reason he was able to do these things was that an inoperable tumour was pressing against his brain. He was terminally ill, destined to succumb to this brain cancer.
Meeting with world-class brain surgeons proved that without a doubt, he would not survive this. However, the surgeon gave him an option. Seeing that Travolta's character was destined to die, the surgeon asked him if he would allow him to medically explore and operate on his brain while being alive. In a sense, the surgeon would be Travolta's biographer, and medical science would be able to gain quantum leaps in brain research to advance the study of the brain.
Well, the movie ended as Travolta died in the privacy of his own home, and opted not to donate himself to medical science.
But getting back to what we were talking about...
Why is it that we pay for these convicted killers on death row for many years awaiting to kill them as humanly as possible with lethal injection, when we could be asking them to be donating their brains for research just like the movie "Phenomenon" That way, we could gain more understanding about how their brain works and what differences it may play in identifying future traits of killers in society. I mean, we treat and study countless other small areas, why would we not try and identify and treat the mental illness that obviously plagues these people?
It is for the greater good of the human race, right?
Even if they don't agree to participate, they are convicted killers and they are destined to die. It is a waste of time, money and resources keeping these people alive and there is no benefit from it.
I am all for advancing the human race and the study of the most complex item which controls us.-the Brain.
Let these criminals pay for their crimes in a way that allows some sort of advancement which would allow them to make atonement for their crimes against society by donating themselves to a cause much greater than themselves.
What do you think?
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Agree, it's a fantastic idea actually. They should be studied while still alive as well, no option, no yes or no....they've done the crime(s) and they should help the society understand what drove them there, whether and underlying mental illness or environment that shaped them.
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