Introduction
The Jeffrey Dahmer case, one of the most monstrous killers in American history, turned out to be an object of research for many criminologists trying to find an explanation that would explain such a gruesome crime. Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States (McEvoy, 2021). Dahmer grew up in a regular and symmetrical middle-class family. On top of this, his early years were marked by loneliness and unusualness in society. Pathological psychology and cruelty to animals were already observable in his behaviour, two symptoms that are widespread indicators that a person is a potential risk to society.
It was only in 1991 that Dahmer’s criminal deeds were revealed upon the discovery of human remains in his room. He was finally found guilty of murdering 17 young males between the ages of 9 and 25 that occurred over 13 years between 1978 and 1991. Typically, the actions or activity of this character were as follows: he used to invite his victims to his house and, when they had arrived, drug them, then strangled them, and after that, he mutilated their bodies. In July 1991, Dahmer was arrested and was sentenced to 16 life sentences without the possibility of parole in prison. Despite this, he died an early death, getting murdered by a fellow prisoner in 1994.
The criminological theory that serves as an example and offers a deeper insight into Dahmer’s actions is the psychoanalytic theory, which emphasizes the influences of the early childhood experience and the development of psychology on criminal behaviour. This theory contends that for children to have harmful psychological adaptations and personality disorders, their childhood is marked by traumatic or disruptive experiences. Eventually, these maladaptive coping strategies and personality disorders make people more likely to commit crimes in the future.
Psychodynamic theories
Jeffrey Dahmer’s stormy early life should be focused on where their parents had a strained marriage, and his incapability and being an outcast are vital issues. It was very likely that it was strongly impacting his psychological environment. The early experiences formed the basis upon which Dahmer’s deep inner struggles arose. Consequently, his inability is typical of what it would be like where he is in adulthood. With the demons of self-doubt nipping at his heels, he attempted the coping mechanisms until they reached their logical inference in the form of a crime.
The so-called early incidences of violence from Dahmer, mostly his incidences of animal cruelty, should have raised a note of caution on the mental problems he was likely harbouring inside. Parts of his behaviour that were often misunderstood to be early indicators of the more serious violent acts are the illustration of Dahmer’s lack of empathy and remorse and, in turn, his darker impulses. Psychodynamic theorists argue that the surge of behaviours we commonly perceive as such is a reflection of inner battles the person could not overcome or solve in his life.
In the deteriorating levels of the violence of the crimes of Dahmer, the manifestation of the patterns of unfettered fantasies and desires that increase in their intensity is shown. The crimes that Dahmer was committing became more violent and horrible by the day, and it is evident that he was fighting a demon inside that was beyond his control (Milde, 2022). According to psychodynamic theory, it is viewed that such unusual behaviours serve as a way of fulfilling unconscious desires or reducing internal stress, and both are consequences of unresolved psychological conflicts from his past. We still struggle to find the meaning of his motivations, although each effort was made to decipher them. The case of Dahmer remains a disturbing and mysterious manifestation of how complex the manifestations in criminal extremes are and how profound the influence of early experiences on individual trajectories can be.
Even though the psychodynamic theory helped to understand what pushed Dahmer, it has yet to be able to shed light on the rest of the matter. Notably, the paper needs to explain social and environmental features that are not less related to Dahmer’s behaviour. For example, peer influence and cultural norms are essential factors contributing to Dahmer’s way of life (Deepak & Ramdoss, 2020). While in the view of the theory, a necessary issue of why only some of the people with troubled childhood develop into violent criminals remains to be explained, the other factors, such as genetic predispositions and personal abilities to resist stress, are also considered significant elements responsible for criminal behaviour.
In conclusion, the case of Jeffrey Dahmer presents us with one instance of a tragically complicated interweaving of an individual psyche and the formations of early life events and society in generating criminality. The psychodynamic theory may help disclose the person’s motives and actions. Still, in the end, it is only one of the puzzle pieces, and it is hardly in decline to provide us with a better understanding of the complexity of criminality.
References
Deepak, S. A., and S. Ramdoss. 2020. “The Life-Course Theory of Serial Killing: A Motivation Model.” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 65 (13-14): 0306624X2098103. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624×20981030.
McEvoy, C. (2021). “Jeffrey Dahmer – Murders, Victims & Death.” Biography.com. August 13, 2021. https://www.biography.com/crime/jeffrey-dahmer.
Milde, E. (2022). “The Changing Portrayals of Serial Killers in Popular Culture. How ‘My Friend Dahmer’ and ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ Invite to Sympathy for Serial Killers.” Duo.uio.no, March. http://hdl.handle.net/10852/92231.
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