What is it about the human mind and heart, which lays deceptively unearthed, that is capable of immense immaculate good, but could lash with venom and vile, fierce malevolence.
Death and murder are held by most societies as taboo and as a result are shrouded in myth and false science. The connotations thus encapsulated often obscure objective judgment.
The media and some scientists believe that black people do not possess the intelligence to carry out and conceal serial killing. That such a belief remains as accepted truth by a vast majority of forensic profilers in most parts of America suggests key flaws in methodology and testing. But just such is the nature of death and murder, a lot of what we think we know may be mere belief. Back home in Africa the rub of empty bellies or perhaps the rub of full, but insatiable bellies diminishes the importance of the urgent need for the establishment of forensic laboratories and the expertise that would differentiate justice from witchhunts by overly enthusiastic policemen.
The case, in 2003, of the Baton Rouge serial killer who had been terrorizing Louisiana residents took a sharp turn when investigations led to the arrest and indictment of a black man. This challenged initial profiler analyses that indicated that the killer was white. His deviation from the expected ‘norm’ of serial profiling by committing intra racial serial killings caused the police to change tack and shift their suspicions. When after killing a number of white women; he killed a Hispanic and black woman it occurred to them that this may not be a regular case after all. Such killings show that the motives behind most serial killings, which are not necessarily intra-racial, or acts of vengeance, are the fulfillment of pathological sexual or sadistic impulses to dominate their victims . These impulses do not seem to know race or even sex.
Now back to serial killers. When the overwhelming evidence is presented against an alleged perpetrator, for most friends and families of alleged suspects the trust, love and support comes horribly unglued.
A 25 year longitudinal study by Martha Stout author of The Sociopath Next Door suggests that four out of every hundred people are likely to be sociopaths, who blend into the social fabric and may be charming and charismatic, but lack the essential emotional elements of conscience, remorse and empathy. Her studies that further suggest that sociopaths could be useful in the event of war, give insight into some of the world's most brutal genocides.
However, not all sociopaths are serial killers or have and act on impulses to kill. The common trait they share is an integral lack of a sense of loyalty or fidelity. They are malicious pathological liars who can turn without cause against even the most loyal of friends or family in the wink of an eye. Other studies have shown that sociopaths are fearless and do not possess or show signs of anxiety when committing or when they are about to commit a crime. A large fraction of these account for the habitual and most atrocious offenders in jails.
Jim Jones who was the founder of American Peoples , a religious cult, is said to have been a charismatic sociopath who drove over nine hundred of his followers to commit suicide in 1978. Amongst other allegations he is accused of homosexuality, abuse and assault all of which he fervently preached against. The same scene replicates itself in Africa, as was the case in Uganda where inspirational cult leaders from the Movement of the Restoration for The Ten Commandments drove their followers to commit suicide making it largest mass suicide in history.
Every year there are numerous reports of ritual and serial murders in Kenya and other parts of Africa, but these are casually dismissed by the authorities as cases of witchcraft. Reports of mutilated bodies are printed in the tiniest fonts and in the most inconspicuous parts of newspapers, while news stations shy away from broadcasting these truths.
It is heart wrenching that innocent people have lost their lives at the hands of serial killers and sociopaths, but that we still do not have the wherewithal to tackle this problem. Sadly, the loss of dozens of lives in such a brutal manner does not provide reason enough for media frenzy. Nor does it lead to the invitation of reputable international detectives and forensic experts to investigate as it did with the murder of one government official (such as Robert Ouko's death). Perhaps, the spending of millions of shillings on extravagant national celebrations or the embezzlement of funds to build a forensics' lab by government officials seems saner issues to paint newspapers for weeks on end. The purpose of the media as the nation’s watchdog seems to hang on a thin string.
With the staggering increase in crime rates in Nairobi and Kenya as a whole, and an almost indifferent population as well as authorities, that seem not to demand for radical change as far as criminal and forensic investigations are concerned, one can only fear the malignant crime that lies undettered.
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