Why do we fetishize serial killers?

Serial killers' pasts cause people to empathize with them

Question: Why do we fetishize serial killers?
Position1 of 3›: Serial killers are human
Argument‹2 of 2: Serial killers' pasts cause people to empathize with them

Serial killers often have bad pasts or childhoods. Because they have had hard lives, people feel sorry for them.

The argument

Serial killers are formed from a bad past. Childhood abuse is one main reason why they become criminals. In 2005, a study conducted on 50 serial killers revealed that 50% of the individuals suffered from psychological abuse and 36% suffered from physical abuse. Other than abuse, serial killers are usually outcasts. Ted Bundy didn’t have good social skills when he was younger and didn't have friends. Because of their bad past, they deserve sympathy for becoming criminals.

Premises

[P1]Many serial killers were shaped by traumatic pasts, with a 2005 study of 50 finding 50% suffered psychological abuse and 36% physical abuse, and figures like Ted Bundy were social outcasts. [P2] Because these damaging histories help explain how they became criminals, people extend sympathy toward them. [C] Serial killers' pasts cause people to empathize with them, underscoring that serial killers are human.

Counter-arguments

Although childhood trauma has caused future criminal behavior, it’s not an excuse. Unfortunately, in 2018 alone, 678,000 children were reportedly abused in the United States. But that doesn’t mean that they’ll become serial killers or criminals. Therefore, there's more than a bad past that makes someone a criminal.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Childhood abuse doesn’t cause someone to become a serial killer. It takes a lot more to make someone a serial killer.