Organic, Toxic, and Paranoid Homicides
The motivational spectrum does not include homicides that are largely a direct result of a primary psychiatric/neurological condition, such as an organic disorder, a toxic state, or psychotic symptoms. These homicides form a group of their own and are therefore discussed separately here.
Organic Disorders
The organic disorders represent a wide range of conditions, including various types of brain impairment and brain injury. Epilepsy is frequently cited as a cause of sudden, often unprovoked, attacks of violence and aggression. However, epileptics are no more violent than the general population. The most common characteristics of a psychomotor seizure are staring, smacking of the lips, various stereotyped movements, and automatisms. When an epileptic does commit a homicide, the murder usually has nothing to do with his epilepsy. An example is the case of Jack Ruby who killed President Kennedy’s assassin Lee
Harvey Oswald. Ruby’s attorney attempted to explain his client’s action as a result of epilepsy; however, the experts involved in this case determined that Ruby’s epilepsy had nothing to do with the murder (Causey and Dempsey, 2000).
Lewis (1975) believes that the notion of epileptic violence is a myth and denies that psychomotor seizures can prompt any coordinated or unprovoked aggressive act. Mark and Ervin (1970) disagree and have presented a number of cases in which violence seemed to be perpetrated as a direct result of a seizure. More recently, other forms of seizures such as partial seizures with complex symptomatology have been held accountable for outbursts of violence, including homicide (Delgado-Escueta, Mattson, and King, 1981). However, these cases are rare and often questionable; a close examination frequently reveals a psychogenic element involved at some level.
Gunn and Bonn (1971) found more epileptics among prisoners than in the general population. That finding in itself, however, does not prove that there is a causal connection between epilepsy and crime or violence, especially since the offenses committed by the epileptics were no more violent than offenses committed by nonepileptics. Moreover, as most of the prison population comes from economically deprived environments, which include poor prenatal and postnatal care, exposure to various toxins, and an increase in head injuries, the high number of epileptics among prisoners may well be a socially determined phenomenon. There are occasional cases of murder committed in ictal and postictal states, but most crimes committed by epileptics are not connected, at least directly, to their epilepsy.
Some investigators also have found a relationship between brain injuries or brain disease and violence (Bowman and Blau, 1949; Mark and Southgate, 1971). Mark and Southgate cite the case of a 27-year-old male who held a number of people at gunpoint, threatened to commit mass murder and suicide, and wound up killing one individual and wounding another. Eleven years before the incident, the subject had sustained a head injury that resulted in a left hemiparesis. Prior to the head injury, however, this man had abused alcohol, shown a fascination with firearms, and threatened to shoot his family and himself. Just before the incident, he had lost his job and was drinking heavily. Thus, a state of emotional distress in combination with alcohol, and his history of aggressive fantasies and violent behavior prior to the injury, leads one to suspect a strong contribution of psychogenic factors.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)—a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head injury—has received a great deal of attention recently since it has been found in athletes, primarily football players (Omalu, Dekosky, Minster, and Kamboh, 2005; McKee, Stein, Nowjnski, 2013). Aaron Hernandez, who won a multimillion-dollar football contract was convicted of a murder and suspected of several others. He committed suicide in prison and was found to have had CTE on autopsy. The brain damage may have weakened inhibitory controls, as he seemed more interested in associating with low-level drug users and criminals than professional athletes.
Not only brain injury but also brain infection has been cited as a cause of violence and homicide. Bachet (1951), for example, presented the concept of “criminogenic encephalo- sis.” He found major behavioral changes, characterized by violence and antisocial conduct or an increase in preexisting behavior, following exposure to viral encephalitis. This condition was found mostly in male adolescents but was also encountered in adults of both sexes. One of his cases was a 24-year-old female who engaged in violent outbursts, thefts, and attempted murder of her friend, following recovery from encephalitis.
Various types of brain tumors have also been linked to acts of violence and homicide (Relkin, Plum, Mattis, Eidelberg, and Tranel, 1996). Mark and Ervin (1970) reported the case of an individual whose frequent eruptions of homicidal violence (including one murder) stopped after a tumor in the limbic system was removed. Perhaps the most-publicized case connecting homicide with a brain tumor is that of Charles Whitman (Lavergne, 1998). During a 90-minute period atop a tower at the University of Texas, Whitman shot and killed 12 people and wounded 31. Prior to the campus shooting, he had murdered his wife and his mother. After Whitman was killed by the police, a pathologist discovered a brain tumor at autopsy. Although it was widely believed that the tumor had caused Whitman’s violent behavior, he also displayed a number of psychological features that could, to a large extent, have accounted for the mass murder: his history of violence and brutality, his preoccupation with firearms and his skill as a marine sharpshooter, his history of depression, his periodic outbursts of hostility, and his long-held fantasies of committing mass murder.
Thus, in many instances, epilepsy, encephalopathies, brain injuries, brain tumors, and other organic conditions (Dinniss, 1999; Raine, Phil, Stoddard, Bihrle, and Buchsbaum,
1998) may just serve to weaken inhibitory controls and indirectly contribute to violence and homicide. It is certainly possible that, if not for the organicity, the murder might not have occurred. However, it is equally likely that the organicity alone, without the contribution of psychogenic factors, might not have resulted in homicide (Blake, Pincus, and Buckner, 1996; Volavka, 1995).
