Note from Amy: I received the following as a comment to this Diary of a Predator website, which is about the case of serial rapist Brent Brents. The comment was apparently a reaction to the reader who said she was interested in understanding perpetrators of violent crimes . Most of the comment was written in Dutch, so I put the English translation (per Go0gle Translate) beneath it:
For the Dutch lady: easy to say if you yourself are not a victim of this disgusting guy!
Voor de Nederlandse dame: makkelijk praten als je zelf niet een slachtoffer bent van deze walgelijke kerel!! Men heeft altijd een keuze tussen goed en kwaad, ongeacht of je zelf een slachtoffer was, immers als men dat niet had of heeft zit de halve wereld in de bak! Dus complete onzin.
Voor deze lui als Brent Brents wegwezen kost de maatschappij alleen maar geld.
(Translation: One always has a choice between good and evil, whether you were a victim yourself, after all, if one has not had or is half the world into the bin! So complete nonsense.
For these guys as Brent Brents now costs society only money.)
Dirma
Diary of a Predator 
This may be a more comprehensible translation:
” One always has a choice between good or evil, regardless of being a victim or not. If people didn’t have that choice half the world would be in jail. So this is complete nonsense.
To people like Brent Brents: begone, all you are is a financial burden to society.”
It could be turned around as well. It’s easy to say you always have a choice, if you yourself have not been growing up in a household where violence and rape is a daily routine.
I myself have been blessed with a very happy childhood. Being loved and being cared about was a normal every day situation for me. I was raised by parents who had certain values and standards. And as a result I turned out pretty normal (I think). I work hard and I try and be a good person. I’ve never committed a crime in my life nor am I planning to do so in the future.
I am not saying I would be a horrible serial killer if I had been raised by abusive parents. I’m saying the chances of me being a good person would be slimmer. I strongly believe an adult’s personality is the result of nature and nurture. You are born with certain personality traits and the development during your child and teen years shape the rest of your personality.
Two people might be born with an addictive personality. One grows up in a loving family, the other by an abusive one. One of those becomes a smoker, the other gets hooked on the thrill of committing crimes.
Then again, your parents being shipped off to jail and then having to live in foster homes and such might also be fairly traumatic.
We will never know if Brents actions could have been prevented by actively doing something about his home situation. But hell, if a kid is being abused by his parents I think we can all at least agree, something needs to be done about that.
Do not get me wrong: Brents SHOULD be in jail for the horrible things he has done. But it’s good that there’s a discussion on this website. It means people are actively thinking about the issue. Which means they might act when they see a child in need and perhaps even prevent that child from becoming abusive in their adulthood.