Sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree...

In CNN's article, A Killer in the Family by Sarah LeTrent, the old saying "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" arises. The article is about people who are related to killers, in particular killers who are serial or committed nationwide, grief-striking murders. I found the article interesting due to the title, but found the actual content even more so upon reading it. The article discussed the feelings that family members of the killer experience after their loved one has committed these heinous crimes. It struck me as interesting because I always wonder about the family of a killer when I hear of a murder crime. It leads me to wonder what type of home did they grow up in?...were they close with their parents?....did they have siblings?....what were their family members like?....did something happen in their family that caused them to commit such an act? 

As stated in the article, many family members of murderers go into a state of silence after their kin commits the crime. They often experience feelings of grief, guilt, shame, and remorse. They have to go through therapy to ultimately convince themselves that they are not to blame. But then that strikes up another topic, are they to blame? Of course that question is completely subjective and everyone will probably have a different answer, but it is a topic I have personally heard multiple times regarding the family, parents specifically, of a mass murderer. I've heard the argument, "well if their parents had chastised them more firmly as a child they wouldn't have done that." That, too, is a purely opinionated statement. I believe a child's upbringing is directly related to the person they grow up to be, but I also believe that sometimes people experience personal illnesses that are independent of anything they have experienced in life. Sometimes people go through depressions simply because of a chemical imbalance in their brain. Of course I am leaning on my scientific background for this opinion, but I do genuinely believe people sometimes lose control of what goes on in their bodies. Call me crazy, but I don't think people who experience neurological diseases make a conscious effort to contract that disease. With that being said, I do not believe these things make people innocent of the crimes they have committed, they should be dealt with according to their sentences from  judge and jury, but I do believe, many times, that the parents and other family members of these people are not to blame for their conditions. As I stated earlier, out of emotional thinking and shock of gruesomely atrocious crimes, I have questioned the family life of murderers, but only out of sheer curiosity. No one should be blamed for the actions of another human being just for the sole purpose of being related to them.