The 'Bad Seed' in Fact and Fiction

Psychopathic villains--manipulative, aggressive, remorseless and unemotional--abound in murder mysteries, but when those psychopaths are children, an element of horror enters. Remember Rhoda, the too-perfect little girl murderess in the 1954 novel The Bad Seed by William March? Or Kevin, a school massacre perpetrator, whose mother suspects his evil capacity long before his final horrific acts in Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin. Agatha Christie's Crooked House also featured a deadly child in scheming 12-year-old Josephine Leonides, who kills her grandfather because he won't pay for ballet lessons--and almost gets away with it. Author Jonathan Kellerman, a clinical child psychologist who writes New York Times best-selling mysteries featuring psychologist sleuth Dr. Alex Delaware, gives support to fictional "bad seed" characterizations. He notes in his nonfiction Savage Spawn, inspired by the spate of 1997-1998 schoolyard shootings, that “psychopathic tendencies begin very early in life, as young as three, and they endure.” Though research shows psychopathy is 50% genetic, biology is not destiny for our complex human personalities, and nurture can guide nature. Budding pre-psychopaths can be tempered by a non-aggressive environment and by a parenting style that is neither too permissive nor too authoritarian while providing structure and limits, according to psychology experts. After all, children with psychopathic traits do not all become killers; many grow up to use the daring, charming and manipulative aspects of their personalities as successful business tycoons, political leaders or sports stars. Still, the fictional tales of young murderers are not just fantasy and are reinforced every year by headlines about preteen killers and school shootings. We need to be alert to signs in children that presage criminal acts--violence toward people or animals, lack of guilt or remorse, social isolation, defiance and sensation-seeking--and commit to timely intervention. For more on youthful violence prediction and intervention, see http://crimefeed.com/2016/01/predicting-violent-criminal-behavior-how-to-spot-the-warning-signs-intervene/

'Stranger' Fear Ignores Real Threats to Children

According to the news headlines, America is a dangerous place for children as soon as they step out of their homes and into the potential clutches of evil strangers. Armed maniacs spray bullets in elementary schools; deviant killers abduct tots from playgrounds; the Internet allows disguised pedophiles to lure gullible innocents; and don't forget possible terrorist attacks. Are the risks real or just media hype? FBI crime statistics actually show that violent crime rates overall have declined significantly from the 1990s. But Americans don't believe it; a 2013 Pew Research study found that while the firearm homicide rate was 49% lower in 2010 than in 1993 and other firearm crimes (such as robbery and rape) were 75% lower, 56% of Americans believed gun crime was higher than 20 years ago. So what about those scary stories of crimes against children? The crime data reveal a surprising fact: Children are in more danger before they step outside the home rather than afterward. Looking at just child abductions and murders, a 2013 Discovery.com report stressed the rarity of stranger abductions, citing data that the majority of missing children are taken by a parent or caregiver, and many other abduction reports are hoaxes or false alarms. As a 2000 report by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs noted, more than three-fourths of kidnappings were committed by family members or acquaintances of the child -- and, more shocking, children abducted by strangers actually were harmed less frequently than those taken by acquaintances! Indeed, of all children under age 5 murdered between 1980 and 2008, Department of Justice figures show that 63% were killed by a parent, 23% were killed by male acquaintances, 5% were killed by female acquaintances, 7% were killed by other relatives, and just 3% were killed by strangers. Yes, children need to be taught about "stranger danger," and schools need better security, and Internet threats (from pedophiles to cyberbullying) must be policed. But those actions won't address the greatest dangers to our children. To quote W.H. Auden, "Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table." How do we protect children from those closest to them, from familiar faces? The challenge of keeping our children safe is a lot more complex than criminals, madmen and terrorists. For more data and links to articles on children and crime, check out http://www.freerangekids.com/crime-statistics/