John Albert Gardner, the man held for questioning in the disappearance of San Diego teenager Chelsea King, was convicted of attacking a 14-year-old girl ten years ago and is a suspect in the disappearance of another girl. He is probably what is known as a repeat sex offender. Psychiatrists say that rapists and child killers are among the least likely criminals to be rehabilitated. Some argue this is proof they are suffering from a disease.

But the repetitive nature of their crimes does not mean they are under the grip of mental illness. Evil is self-perpetuating. The fact that these offenders have dark desires and commit the unthinkable does not mean they are psychologically ill.

There are other explanations for why these men so often repeat their crimes. One, they simply enjoy what they do. Second, it takes a supreme act of will to turn away from an heinous act already committed. If one does not repudiate it and repent, one is inclined to justify it by further crimes. In short, there are explanations that have nothing to do with the model of disease.

In Fritz Lang’s 1931 movie ‘M’, a serial child murderer comes before a kangaroo court of beggars and ordinary thieves who have chased him down in the streets of Berlin. The murderer, Hans Beckert, pleads for his life. He argues that he cannot keep himself from killing; he is sick and under the grip of a dark compulsion. “Who knows what it is like to be me?” he cries, with infantile self-pity.

The assembled crowd has no sympathy. He is not ill. He is not a victim, the beggars and thieves decide. He is a murderer of children. They sentence him to death.

                                              —  Comments —

Karen I. writes:

This tragedy reminds of a previous post regarding guarding one’s daughters. The news said Chelsea was in the habit of going to an open area, changing her clothes in her car and then going for a four to six mile run alone. I can’t help but think this poor girl would still be alive if her father had accompanied her on her runs. He could also have insisted she make safer arrangements like running on an indoor track or joining a family oriented gym like a local YMCA. Evil does exist and parents cannot ignore that fact. They need to speak up if they see their children making decisions that put them in harm’s way.

Laura writes:

 I agree. I made the same point here. The assumption that girls can do whatever boys do and enjoy the same freedoms is dangerous, an anomaly in history.

Karen continues:

I held the father accountable in my previous post, but now that I have thought about it for awhile, I wonder why the girl herself did not have more concern for her safety. She was nearly the age of an adult in our country. I was a runner at her age, and I just knew not to do what she did. I would run at a well-lit, popular track out in the open at a high school, but I would not run around a half-mile around the block of my semi-rural neighborhood. I did it once and I realized what a desolate area one wooded segment of the area was, so I never did it again. It scared me and I was not the only girl in the neighborhood who would not walk there alone. My parents would have allowed me to continue to run the route (and just about whatever else I wanted to do), but I knew it was a bad idea, and the same was true for the other girls. We knew without our parents telling us when something was dangerous. I wonder if girls these days don’t have the same instincts as we did because they are told so often they can do it all, no matter what. If they do possess the same instincts, perhaps they are ignoring them because it is no longer okay for girls to say they are scared or to be concerned for their safety. I think that is very likely the case.

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