This is a

This is Ketown. I'm going to take you through some of the most creepy

chilling and downright terrifying experiences you've ever heard. This is the X podcast.

Listener discretion is advised. There are several areas that are considered when trying to solve the mystery of why kids kill.

Severe mental illness can trigger homicide,

including bipolar spectrum disorder.

If a kid is psychotic, hallucinating, or delusional, they may think something

has happened like aliens invading or the person killed is doing something to them.

Biological factors are also looked at,

including brain damage, head trauma,

and lower intellectual and emotional functioning, as well as drugs, alcohol, and even

fatal alcohol syndrome. Social factors like how you grew up and social messages can be an influence if you were born in a lower class neighborhood as opposed to a well-to-do neighborhood.

Even your religious beliefs can play a role. We know these kids are usually

very angry. There's always a preoccupation, one psychologist says.

They have a higher rate of acting out behavior

and oppositional defiance.

The family environment can also play a role

in why some children are able to kill. If there is violence in the home, there is a certain risk factor.

The usual result is kids doing more hitting of other kids in the family and other

unrelated kids as well as attacks on their parents the single biggest predictor of when kids hit parents is how much

the parents are hitting the child under the euphanism of spanking. Some experts even suggest that watching violence on television

and in video games promotes aggression in children, although that research is

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