So I asked myself if I've ever felt the desire to kill anyone. And the answer is yes.
I could remember a couple instances. When I was 25 I was an Army captain in charge of an advisor team in Vietnam. One of our team assignments was to help a small village defend itself against the Viet Cong. Our assistance wasn't always graciously accepted. I recall that once someone rigged a grenade to the front door of our bunker. Fortunately, we discovered it and dismantled it. Still, we tried to help them as much as we could. On one occasion we horse-traded at a nearby basecamp to get them a 55-gallon drum of gasoline. That night I walked outside our bunker. When I heard a sound, I shined a flashlight to see a villager hard at work siphoning gasoline from our jeep. I was so enraged that I pulled out my pistol and pointed it at the culprit. My finger was on the trigger, but I didn't fire.
Why not? I felt the urge, but I knew it would be wrong, and I knew what would happen to me and to our team if I did. I shouted at him and he ran away. The next day, I reported the incident to my boss and recommended that the team be moved to another village, a more welcoming one.
The other "urge to kill" incident happened 25 years later. One of our affiliate colleagues defrauded my company of $15,000. He refused to pay us money that he had collected and that was due us, making false allegations all the while. It was a painful, stressful incident. He moved his business to another state, making it all but impractical to recover the money. I had some interesting revenge fantasies, I can tell you. But of course I didn't follow through on any of them.
Why not? Because I knew it was inappropriate and wrong, and I understood the potential consequences all too well.
So what about young Eduardo? He was 17 years old. Why did he follow through with his revenge fantasy? Couldn't he understand that his actions were inappropriate and wrong? Couldn't he foresee that he would be convicted of murder - and possibly put to death or sentenced to life in prison?
The answer is that he probably wasn't thinking about the consequences. He felt rage, so he killed her.
During the teen years, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that analyzes cause and effect, foresees consequences and makes rational decisions is "under construction." The ability to think rationally and control impulses can be ingrained, but it's hard for a teenager to do this without help. However, with guidance from parents, coaches, teachers and other adult mentors, an ample foundation for critical thinking can be established before the window of development for the prefrontal cortex closes at the end of adolescence. And that's what happens with most people. Some people end up with more critical thinking abilities. Some with less.
Apparently the adults in Eduardo's life weren't coaching him to think critically. Maybe they were incapable of doing so. Maybe they weren't trying. Maybe they weren't there. The bottom line: the boy's prefrontal cortex was radically underdeveloped, and he gave in to his murderous impulses.
He murdered a 47-year-old woman, but he has no idea why he didn't control his urge to kill.
And sadly, probably the adults around him have no idea, either. In our culture, very few adults understand what's going on in the developing teen brain or how important that development is. And they have no idea how to stimulate its development. It's amazing how rare it is for a parent, a teacher, a coach or other teen mentor to consciously help a teen to learn to think critically. It's not a priority goal of our culture, our education system or parenting.
I hope that someday, in a less primitive time, it will be.
Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2011. Building Personal Strength .
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