It is widely known that a child's upbringing plays an important role in how he or she becomes a teenager and also how he or she becomes an adult. Many parents, in fact, love to expose their children to the music of Mozart and other classical composers and engage them in as many activities as possible, in an attempt to increase their chances of becoming wealthy and successful adults. However, this can go both ways and, when faced with a violent and often malicious upbringing, increases the likelihood of the child turning to criminal behaviour. Children are not born criminals, and in the same way that classical music is thought to influence children to become prosperous individuals, there are a generous amount of factors that can push a young person to the point of criminality. The one factor that is often relied upon is that of the criminal's childhood. When a child misbehaves at school, it is not uncommon to hear parents and even teachers say, “It might be acceptable at home. . .” or “His parents must have taught him that.” A change in circumstances does nothing to rule out those same comments. When a heinous act occurs, people immediately want someone to blame. And who better to blame than the person responsible for discovering the culprit? What drives a seemingly normal child to become a murderous man? Where can one begin to imagine the rape and murder of women over the age of 13? It's an appetite for attention; that was never given to them by abusive or absent parents, or is it a way of taking revenge on a world that failed to save them? Through social learning theory, the idea that those who raise the child are completely responsible for their actions as outcomes is discredited and we are able to...... middle of paper ...... grow old and prevent full memory formation by decreasing exposure to or distancing the potential criminal from any reinforcing factors, such as unhealthy role models and/or goals that might further motivate him to carry out his illicit intentions. While Albert DeSalvo, Richard Ramirez, and other vicious criminals all had the willingness and ability to pay attention, retain information, perform an act, and motivate themselves to commit it, the same principles can also be applied to those who commit less serious crimes - such as robbery – and also to normal civilians who have not committed any crime nor have the desire to commit any crime. However, it is the fact that the crimes committed by those previously mentioned were so gruesome, which continues to attract the attention of psychologists – professional and amateur – around the world..