On the night of May 24, 2000, John Taylor and Craig Godineaux robbed a Wendy’s of $2000 in coins, and killed five of the seven bound and defenseless employees to cover their tracks. An examination of the many theories of the causes of crime and criminal behavior: Genes, environment, or eating too many Twinkies?

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Friends and relatives of Ariel Castro, now the sole suspect in the Cleveland sex slavery case, have expressed shock and disgust at the loved one that they now consider to be a monster. An examination of some famous cases of sex slavery, specifically of the psychology and motivations of both "master" and "slave."

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Nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche proposed the idea that the superior man, his Übermensch, is not bound by social mores, but lives by rules of his own making. A number of notorious killers, Adolph Hitler among them, embraced this philosophy, the idea that they were superior — beyond good and evil.

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Most of us recognize depravity when we see it, but Welner, who believes courts and jurors need a standardized barometer of depraved crimes and evil actions, developed the Depravity Scale to help them decide how depraved a particular crime is before sentencing.

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Whether created out of boredom, greed, or for purposes of therapy, violent offenders find a ready market for their drawings, paintings, poetry and song.

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