Several days ago I received a letter from a young man by

the name of Mike.*  He was boasting to me about his big

collection of serial killer cards and his fascination with such

individuals.  

     Jake said that he reads a lot of books and loves to watch

movies about serial killers,  that he has amassed many facts

about them from the internet.

     My heart was heavy as I read his letter.  He's obviously

deluded by the media’s portrayals of those who commit these

kinds of crimes.

     I seldom get letters like Jake's.  But on occasion people

like him do write to ask questions or to express their

fascination with  this subject.

     Usually I never reply.  With his man, though, I did. 

     I tried to explain to Jake that hurting another person is

a horrible thing.  It's not exciting or fun.  Rather it is sick

and evil.

     It's a nightmare with lots of grief and pain, I said to

him, not only for the families of the victims, but for the ones

doing the harm.

     Jake needed to know, too, that I have a tremendous amount

of sorrow for what I did at a time when my own life was out of

control.  That I had no right to take peoples' lives, and how I

would do anything if I could undo it.

     To me this man appears to be living in a Hollywood-type

fantasy world in which killing someone is portrayed as being of

no big deal, and that’s cool. I believe that when someone

watches certain crime shows on television or in the movies, it

is easy to get a false impression.  I tried  to bust through

Jake’s immature and absurd ideas by telling him that inmates

basically lead broken and defeated lives.  We struggle to

survive, and we must endure the day-to-day monotony of prison

life.

     I explained to Jake that being locked up is hard.  That I

myself have nearly twenty-eight  years of confinement, and I have

to live in a cage like an animal.

     He needed to be told to look beyond his fascination with

mass murderers and face reality.

     I was firm with Jake, but I was kind.  I hope I was able

to help him to see that his present views are foolish.

                                 David Berkowitz

                                 April 16, 2005

*Jake is not his real name

(c) 2005 David Berkowitz