Albert Fish was born in Washington, D.C. on May 19, 1870. His father was a Potomac River boat captain and died when Fish was five years old, when Fish was placed in an orphanage where he remained until he was almost nine years old (Bardsley, 2008). While at the orphanage, Fish was apparently subjected to frequent physical and sexual abuse and sadomasochistic behaviors (Albert Fish - The Brooklyn vampire, 2008).
As a child, Fish had experienced a brain injury which left him with permanent problems such as severe headaches and bouts of dizziness. He began his career in crime by participating in masochistic, homosexual affairs and began raping children at the age of 20. His first murder was committed in 1910 when he mutilated and tortured his victim before killing him (Albert Fish, 2008).
Fish's childhood clearly was instrumental in shaping his personality. According to Lilly, Cullen, and Ball (2007), the application of social learning theory to a case like Fish's leads to the conclusion that behaviors learned in childhood often become the basis of adult criminality. Lacking a strong paternal role model, being placed in an orphanage where he was physically and perhaps sexually abused, experiencing a traumatic head injury in childhood, and being born into a family in which research suggests psychosis was common are key characteristics of Fish's background (Bardsley, 2008). If one assumes that Fish's behavior was partially attributable to his exposure to violence (and victimization) in childhood, partially to his traumatic head injury, and partially to his genetic heritage, one can identify a complex set of factors combining to foster his criminal behavior. Lilly, et al (2007) note that many heinous crimes are committed by individuals with a complex history of familial, environmental, physiological and other predisposing conditions.
Interestingly, Fish married at the age of 26, eventually fath
...