Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children

Another anti-gun activist using his degree and credentials to give his opinion the patina of scientific objectivity.

I was actually interested in his information until he destroyed his credibility in the last 30 minutes (audiobook). He spent 2-1/2 hours discussing potential explanations and possible marker traits for psychopathic killers - both adult and juvenile. He dismissed using blanket trait application because they are not significantly reliable. Then, in the last 20-25 minutes of the audio, he launches into a diatribe against guns and how they need to be restricted. Given Kellerman’s own dismissal of simple traits as identifiers and how many young people grow up with firearms in the household but are not psychopathic murderers, show more why do guns earn his special attention as the apparent exception to his statements that blanket diagnoses are not legitimate.

Kellerman doesn’t believe all of society should be punished with censorship because a few abnormal individuals react to violence in movies and on television. But 100% of gun enthusiasts should be punished because those few abnormal individuals used a specific tool to act on those impulses. Hypocrite much, Kellerman?

What about restricting use of drugs like Ritalin or Adderall or pain relievers because we are turning out generations of drug addicts?

Kellerman cites shorter times between sentencing and execution in Saudi Arabia as a significant deterrent to violent crime in that country. Instead of lifetime incarceration of the truly psychopathic killer, perhaps carrying out death sentences more quickly would be a better solution.

Because, sometimes, evil is just evil. And it should not be tolerated. show less

This book is disturbing in its content but still quite informative on a layman's level. Author Jonathon Kellerman examines youthful killers, children who killed other children. He relates what may lead these teens to develop the desire to hurt others. Perhaps the most disturbing fact is that sometimes it is not possible to “fix” these teens, to stop their behavior, and the only answer is to imprison them for life.

This one is that I had to read the Evanovich book after. Jonathan Kellerman is a child clinical psychologist as well as best selling author and this is a description of how children are becoming twisted and nasty. Does not hold out hope for the future in how children are being raised with any hopes of improvement and I don't think any country could afford what he suggests to solve the problem. Although I don't know that countries CAN'T afford to at least consider some of the suggestions.

Non-fiction portrayal into the minds of the very young with mental illness. The possibility of identifying psychopathic and sociopathic children as young as three.