RESEARCH PAPER ASSIGNMENT 1
Jeffrey Dahmer: Research Paper Assignment
Coral E. Flores Tolentino
Liberty University
CJUS 700: Theories of Crime
March 3rd, 2024
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Abstract
This paper is a research paper on Jeffrey Dahmer and some of the theories of crime that can be
used to explain Dahmer’s behavior and reasoning behind his crimes. Born on May 21st, 1960, he
was an American serial killer and rapist whose reign of killings occurred between 1978 and
1991. He not only committed murder but also dismemberment of the seventeen men and boys
that have been recorded. Dahmer is known for the horrific nature of his crimes which include
rape, dismemberment, necrophilia, and cannibalism. This paper will dive into theories such as
social cognitive theory, strain theory, anomie theory and other psychological theories such as
behavioral theory and cognitive theory. All these theories can be used to explain why Dahmer
partook in the crimes he committed.
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Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was born on May 21st, 1960, he was an American serial killer and
rapist who committed heinous crimes from 1978 to 1991. During this time period, he murdered
and dismembered seventeen men and boys. Dahmer is notoriously known for murdering
seventeen males and the details of these murders include rape, dismemberment, necrophilia, and
cannibalism as part of his modus operandi (Jeffrey Dahmer: Crime Library: Serial killers).
Dahmer was indicted on 15 murder charges and his trial began on January 30th, 1992. After his
indictment, his defense team tried to enter a plea of insanity for the crimes he was indicted of but
two weeks into the trail, the court decided that Dahmer did not have any mental illness and he
was found guilty on 15 counts of murder. He was sentenced to 15 life terms in prison or 941
years. Dahmer did not reach to see five years in prison as he was killed by another inmate on
November 28th, 1994, the inmate was Christopher Scarver.
Early Life
Jeffrey Dahmer was born in West Allis, Wisconsin to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. At the
age of eight, he and his family relocated to Bath, Ohio. Dahmer could have been regarded as
strange child due to his affinity to death. He would often take the heads of dead animals and stick
them on sticks in his backyard. Dahmer was described as disengaged, friendless and tense. He
claimed that his fixation with murder and necrophilia began around fourteen years of age
(Biography.com, 2021). According to the documentary on Jeffrey Dahmer on Crime Library on
Serial Killers, as Dahmer got older, he became more distant, he had no interest in hobbies or on
any social interaction. Dahmer would rather spend his time studying dead animal carcasses as
well as partaking in alcohol drinking for his own entertainment.
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Murderous Spree
Dahmer began his killing spree just after he reached adulthood at the age of 18 in 1978.
The first of his killings was a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks, Dahmer gained his trust by
offering to take him back to his home, the home of his father, for a fun night of drinking.
Eventually, Steven Hicks wanted to leave, regardless of Dahmer’s wishes for him to stay.
Dahmer then decided to hit Hicks in the back of the head with a 10-pound dumbbell (Jeffrey
Dahmer: Crime library: Serial killers, 2021). The blow to the head ended up killing Hicks, which
Dahmer took as an opportunity to dissect, dissolve, pulverize and then freely spread the remains
throughout his father’s backyard.
The following year, Dahmer was forced to enlist in the military by his father due to his
troublesome nature. Dahmer served in Germany from 1979 to 1981, he was deemed ineligible to
serve due to his alcoholism. After his discharge, his behavior did not change and he continued to
drink heavily thus resulting in his father sending him to West Allis, Wisconsin to live with his
grandmother; this was until 1988 when she kicked him out (Biography.com,2021). During his
time in Wisconsin, it is said that Dahmer would frequent gay bathhouses in which he would drug
and rape men as they laid unconscious and helpless.
The next murder victim of Jeffrey Dahmer was Steven Tuomi. Tuomi was killed in
September of 1987 (Jeffrey Dahmer: Crime library: Serial killers, 2021). This murder was
different from the first murder committed years prior. During this act, Dahmer claims he blacked
out. During this blackout, he beat Tuomi to death and then purchased a suitcase large enough to
stuff his body into and move into his grandmother’s basement. While in the basement, Dahmer
dismembered and masturbated on the corpse prior to disposing the remains (Biography.com,
2021). Dahmer is held accountable for two murders in 1988, one in 1989 and four in 1990
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(Biography.com, 2021). Dahmer was clever in his choice of victim, he would lore unsuspecting
men or solicited prostitutes, individuals that would not cause a great alarm if they were to go
missing. He would continue his modus operandi (m.o.) and would drug, rape, and strangle his
victims. At one point, Dahmer began to do much more than just dismember and get rid of his
victims, but it is said that he began to operate differently as it pertains to the cadavers. Dahmer
began to perform sexual acts on the bodies, fully engaging in necrophilia. He also began
documenting the acts he was performing, photos of the dismemberment process and preserving
body parts, specifically the skull and genitalia as some sort of trophy. Dahmer is known as the
cannibal serial killer because it is stated that Dahmer would eat parts of his victim’s remains.
In the summer of 1990, Dahmer moved to an apartment in Milwaukee where twelve more
murders occurred. A year after moving into that apartment on May 27th, 1991, police were called
to the area when an Asian male was seen running down the street naked (Biography.com, 2021).
Dahmer was able to charm his way out of that occurrence by telling the police that the boy was
his lover and happened to be intoxicated. However, the boy was only fourteen years old. The
police did not investigate any further and brought the boy back to Dahmer’s apartment where he
became another one of Dahmer’s victims. Two months later, on July 22nd, 1991, Dahmer’s killing
era in Milwaukee came to an end. Tracy Edwards was Dahmer’s last victim. He was lured into
the house with promises of money in exchange for some company. Dahmer forced Edwards into
the bedroom with a butcher knife. Thankfully, he was able to escape and flag down a police car
(Jeffrey Dahmer: Crime Library: Serial Killers, 2021). When police made entry into Dahmer’s
bedroom, they encountered a gruesome sight. Police discovered pictures of his victims along
with dismembered limbs, this was enough to place Dahmer under arrest.
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While continuing to investigate the crime scene and subsequently all the crimes, a
severed head was discovered in the refrigerator, three other heads were found throughout the
apartment, there were more photos of the victims and more human remains in the refrigerator.
According to official documents, seven skulls were found in the apartment along with a human
heart in the freezer. The nature of his crimes brought him notoriety, he is known as one of the
most horrendous serial killers to have ever walked the earth. Killings of this manner were
unheard of, and he would have continued getting away with it if it was not for his last victim
escaping. He is the reason why Dahmer’s reign came to an end.
Time in Prison and Death
After being sentenced to fifteen consecutive life sentences in prison due to being
convicted of fifteen murders, he was held at the Columbia Facility in Wisconsin in which he only
served three years and four months before he was killed. During his time in prison, he was kept
in protective custody with limited interaction with other prisoners. However, he was given
permission to eat meals, take classes and do work with other inmates after the first year of his
prison sentence. Dahmer was killed on November 28th, 1994, by Christopher Scarver. Scarver
claims he killed Dahmer because he would joke about cannibalism and would shape his food into
body parts and would use ketchup to create blood. He would also taunt the guards and other
inmates about biting them thus creating conflict for himself in prison. Scarver killed Dahmer
along with another inmate while the three were cleaning the prison gymnasium. Dahmer was
beat to death with a weight bar. Dahmer’s crimes are ground for the death penalty in many states,
which is something he verbalized he would prefer in a court statement; however, Wisconsin
abolished the death penalty back in 1853. Thus, the only real punishment was a life sentence for
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every life that he took, which is why he had so many years on his sentence. He would have
suffered less if the death penalty would have been in place.
Social Control Theory
Social control theory rose to popularity in 1969 when theorist Travis Hirschi explained it
in his book titled Causes of Delinquency, in which Hirschi argued that it is not necessary to
explain the motivation of delinquency since we are all animals and thus all natural capable of
committing criminal acts (Snipes et al, 2019). Hirschi’s version of control theory was a theory
created using concepts of social control relating to ties to family, school and other aspects of
society which could diminish the likelihood of engaging in deviant behavior. Control theorists
base their ideals in that without social bonds, crime is a guaranteed outcome due to the lack of
social relationships and better learned behaviors (Lilly et al., 1995). Per this theory, when bonds
are weakened or not well established, humans can engage in crime.
According to theorists, the most important aspect of social bonds derives from
attachments such as affection for and sensitivity to others. Also, empathy is an element created
through social bonds, being able to relate to others. Attachment is the basic element necessary to
internalize values and norms. As it pertains to Jeffrey Dahmer, many theories attest that his
abandonment during his younger years was attributed to his criminal behaviors. Jeffrey was five
years old when he became a big brother and for the first time in his life, he felt neglect or
abandoned due to the lack of attention his mother gave him and his father was in school studying
for his doctorate thus he was not present to pick up the slack of affection towards Jeffrey
(Martens, 2011). Social theory is supported by attachment and commitment to those we are
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familiar with, and Dahmer lacked attachment to his parents, which could also be the source of his
detachment as well as his alcohol problems.
Dahmer lacked attachment to his parents or others would regard it as a connection, social
control theory dictates that this is the main contributing fact to his criminal behavior. He did not
have a parental figure that he could be attached to and develop the necessary social interactions.
During an interview, Dahmer stated that he never had a real conversation with his father, all the
conversations between them were superficial and of no real sustenance (Higgs, 2012). There are
many studies that have concluded that a negative relationship with the parents causes an increase
in the probability of delinquency while a positive relationship causes a decrease in the possibility
of delinquency. So, the greater the attachment, the less the chances of criminal activity are.
Anomie Theory
The definition of anomie is social instability that comes because of a breakdown of
standards and values. The anomie theory is one of the theories that has been used as a catalyst for
explaining crime and deviant behaviors. Bernburg writes that anomie refers to a widespread lack
of commitment to shared values, standards, and rules needed to regulate the behaviors and
aspirations of individuals, which is an intervening condition social disorganization impacts
individual distress and deviant behavior (Bernburg, 2019). In psychological usage, anomie
means the state of mind of a person who has no standards or sense of continuity or obligation and
has rejected all social bonds. This theory began with a comparison of animal and human nature,
Durkheim argued that appetites in animals are limited by the physical body (Snipes et al., 2019).
Animals are satisfied when they have full stomachs and have safe warm places to sleep, however
humans are different and even when our needs are met, the mind may feel unsatisfied.
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According to the theory, the more one has, the more one wants, it is a cycle of
dissatisfaction. An animal’s physicality may limit the animal’s appetite, but humans do not have
that issue, it is naturally unlimited, and this is not regarding food alone. We have an appetite to
have more than we need in virtually every aspect of society. Jeffrey had an appetite for killing,
killing one person was not enough for him. He had an unsatisfied aspect of his life that was
practically never fulfilled thus why he killed seventeen individuals.
Jeffrey Dahmer is associated with the anomie theory based on the rumors of his possible
sexual abuse as a child from a neighbor. He did not have the social bonds that are deemed
necessary to thrive as a model citizen in society. Dahmer needed to perform certain acts on his
victims to fulfill himself. Dahmer began with consensual sex, he would frequent gay bars and
would invite them back with him to his apartment, usually with the promise of alcohol and/or
money (The serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer,2021). After the consensual sex, he would drug them,
and then kill them by means of strangulation, stabbing or blunt force trauma to the head (Miller
et al., 2019). Dahmer had no social bonds; he was a loner whose state of mind had no standards
and he rejected social bonds and social normalcy. Only Dahmer could be sure of what the end
goal was for him from what he did to his victims but one could infer that there was some
gratification from his actions. He is known to have masturbated over his victim’s corpses or have
sex with them and then dismembering the body in which he would cut the body into parts using a
power saw followed by acid to remove the victim’s flesh from their skulls and keeping those as
trophies. He stored the skulls and other body parts such as hearts in his refrigerated to be
consumed later. The genitalia of his victims were kept as trophies as well and muscles for other
uses in the future (Davis, 1991).
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Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory emphasizes the point that behavior may be reinforced not only
through actual rewards and punishments but also through expectations that are learned by
watching what happens to other people (Snipes et al., 2019). A theorist by the name of Albert
Bandura proposed social learning theory and he emphasized the importance of observing,
modeling, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others (Mcleod,
1970). Social learning theory points out that behavior is not only reinforced through rewards and
punishments but also through the expectations that are learned through social interactions and by
seeing what happens to others (Snipes et al., 2019). So, if we learn the good from those who
surround us, we also learn the bad habits from those who we are surrounded by. Criminal activity
can be learned from family members, peers, and the neighborhood.
This theory focuses on learning, so what is learning? Learning refers to knowledge
acquired through development because of experiences an individual will encounter and thus
making the necessary adjustments to those experiences. This theory considers both
environmental and cognitive factors and how they interconnect to influence human learning as
well as their behavior. One of the major components of the social learning theory is observational
learning (Mcleod, 1970). We tend to mimic what we observe, from childhood well into
adulthood, our surroundings mold us into who we are. If we see an individual who has been
successful in what he does, we may attempt to follow those steps in the exact way to see if we
can be successful as well. Children are not born talking or expressing themselves through
mannerisms, they learn those things through observation and constant listening.
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The most basic way of social learning is through classical conditioning, originally
described by Pavlov (Snipes et al., 2019). Classical conditioning states that an individual is
submissive and learns what to expect from his or her environment. For Dahmer, his environment
had multiple family issues and those may have actually impacted him in a psychological manner.
Throughout his childhood, he saw his mother under the effects of the anti-anxiety drug, Equanil
(Higgs, 2012). Anxiety medication has a multitude of secondary effects, and it is impossible to
pinpoint exactly what Dahmer experienced at home with his mother and her behavior. The
constant statement that his parents neglected him as a child, thus leaving Dahmer to grow up
alone and do things on his own would give a slight understanding into his behavior. He learned
to be disassociated and alone. He learned to medicate ineffectively in his case through alcohol.
Many cases seek drugs to feel better about their situations.
Abuse is one of the leading causes of problems as it pertains to criminality. Dahmer
witnessed many verbal altercations between his parents which is said to be the cause of their
divorce when Dahmer was just eighteen years of age (Higgs, 2012). Dahmer committed his fist
killing just after he turned eighteen, many would take his parents divorce and his detachment as a
breaking point for him along with his already odd obsession with the dead. The divorce could
have well pushed him into a deeper disconnect from what was acceptable in society. During this
time, his father also forced him to join the military. A fragile mind could have seen this as
abandonment as well. A father who chose to not deal with the root of his son’s problem yet
pawned him off on someone else to deal with, which as we know did not last very long due to his
alcoholism.
The Bobo doll experiments set out to prove that adolescents observe the behavior of the
people around them (Bandura, 1961). During these experiments, researchers used young,
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preschool age children and exposed them to videos of adults acting violently towards a large,
inflatable doll. They were exposed to aggressive behaviors such as verbal insults and physical
violence such as slapping and punching. At the end of the video, the individuals in the video
were being rewarded, punished, or received no consequences at all (Schunk, 2012). The children
are then placed in a room where they are given the same doll. The researchers discovered that the
children who watched the individual receive positive reinforcement or no consequences for
attacking the doll were more likely to show aggression towards the doll (Schunk, 2012). This
experiment put this concept of observational learning on the map. It became evident just how
much observational learning has an impact on the development of individuals.
From a young age, we hear the term “role model”, but what is a model? A model is a
person who is observed by others. Children are surrounded by models, influential models, etc.
such as parents, characters on television, friends within their peer groups and their teachers.
Children are to imitate the behavior of these models and imitate including their gender norms
such as what males do as far as their masculine traits and females as far as their feminine traits.
Bandura proposed four mediational processes which are attention, retention,
reproduction, and motivation. As it pertains to attention, the individual must pay attention to the
behavior and its consequences. For someone to imitate a particular behavior, the behavior must
be eye catching. Dahmer lacked attention thus he focused his ideals onto something else. Next,
retention, retention is how well you remember the behavior. For the behavior to be replicated, it
must be retained. There may be a correlation between Dahmer’s abandonment and his first
murder. He retained the feelings of abandonment and acted on them. The third is reproduction,
which is the ability to perform the behavior demonstrated. If someone hugs you, you can
reproduce that behavior by hugging them back. Later, you may do it on your own because it has
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been retained. Lastly, motivation, which is the will to perform the behavior. If I am not motivated
to hug you, I don’t see the purpose then I am not going to.
Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory goes hand in hand with social learning theory, it may as well be
regarded as an extension of the original theory. In this theory, we come to the realization that
people are not only influenced by other people or models but by their environment as well.
Social cognitive theory suggests that the bonds that an individual creates or the commitments to
society will actually hinder social deviance. We grow up with the need to belong and we develop
an attachment to those around us, particularly the family that you come from. The need to belong
influences many aspects of the individual such as the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive
processes. Jeffrey Dahmer was left to do as he pleased during his adolescence, thus not having
any attachments to his family, and not belonging, he lacked social bonds and had no commitment
to society. The lack of commitment and bonds made it easier for him to kill those who wanted to
leave because he formed some sort of attachment to his victims. After all, many of his victims
went to his apartment willingly, they just wanted to leave at some point, and he ended up killing
them. This shows his abandonment issues at play.
The social cognitive theory which is derived from the social learning theory is a fairly
new theory with it only having been developed in 1986. This theory hypothesizes that learning
actual occurs in the social context which is explained through reciprocal interaction between
persons, environment, and behavior. Individuals acquire and adapt to behaviors due to the social
environment in which individuals perform the behavior. The theory takes into consideration past
experiences which could influence the expectations of the behaviors.
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Strain Theory
Agnew introduced a general strain theory based on three elements: failure to achieve
goals, removal of positively valued stimuli, and the existence of negative stimuli (Snipes et al.,
2019). This theory insinuates that pressures from social factors such as the quality of education
and lack of income are to blame for an individual’s willingness to commit a crime. The ideals
behind strain theory are attributed to Robert K. Merton, which were first developed in the 1930s.
Merton was an American sociologist whose work became influential in the 1950s during a time
of an influx of criminal activity. Many of the classical strain theories pertained to disadvantage
groups and the inability of being to fulfill one’s goals is attributed to commission of crime. The
ones impacted most by strain theory are those who live below the poverty line and have a hard
time achieving anything that could change their socioeconomic status.
Dahmer is only known to have killed men, which means there were some homosexual
tendencies in his life as he would have sex with these individuals as well. As far as strain theory
and Dahmer, it is believed that the strain is the homosexual urges which he may have been trying
to get rid of. After a double hernia operation at the age of four years old, Dahmer asked his
mother if the doctors had cut his penis off (Carlin, 2011). Dahmer’s father recalls that his son
changed after this, he became oddly motionless and would sit quietly for long periods of time.
Maybe Dahmer asked that question because that is what he wanted at the time, even at four years
old. This could be a factor of why he cut off his victim’s penises and why he dismembered them.
Maybe he had his own insecurities which he acted onto his victims. The strain could very well be
his urges and the societal pressure to be normal, for which during this time homosexuality was
not as widely accepted as it is now. Another strain that may not be widely recognized is the strain
of belonging to someone or something. Dahmer had some abandonment issues and that caused
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the strain that pushed him to hold his victims close and not allow them to leave. Leaving him
was abandoning thus they could not leave if they were no longer living.
Psychological Theories
When it pertains to psychological theories, there are three major ones. The first is the
psychodynamic theory which is about how an individual’s early childhood experience influences
his or her likelihood to commit crimes in the future. The second major psychological theory is
behavioral theory. The third is cognitive theory, which suggests that an individual’s perception
and how it is displayed will affect his or her potential to commit crime. The third one is a
behavioral theory that focuses on the individual’s perception of the world will influence their
actions.
According to psychodynamic theory an individual’s personality is controlled by an
unconscious mental process that is grounded in childhood. Psychodynamic theory has three
structures that make up human personality which are the ID, the ego, and the superego
(psychological theories of crime). The psychodynamic theory is derived from the teachings of
psychologist Sigmund Freud. He believed that everyone has instinctual drives (the id) that
demand to be gratified and must be fulfilled. Moral and ethical codes (the superego) regulate
these drives and as an adult we later develop rational personality (the ego) that mediates between
the id and superego.
Dahmer pleaded insanity during his court case which turned out to not be the case, but he
did undergo court appointed testing, which was performed by Palermo, the court appointed
psychiatrist. He was diagnosed as a sexual sadist with comorbid necrophilia. Palermo reported
the following, “Dahmer, a white man, was 31 years old when examined by the author to ascertain
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his mental status and his criminal responsibility at the time of his killings…. On observation,
there was no evidence of neurological deficits, unusual facial mimicry, tics, or mannerisms…His
attitude was one of cooperativeness and friendliness. Calm and free from any obvious emotional
lability, his speech was clear and understandable. His answers and statements were coher- ent,
relevant, and logical. He spoke without any circumstantiality or tangentiality, and his thinking
did not show any disorganization or delusional or hallucinatory ideas…He appeared to have a
high level of intelligence. He showed reflective capacity and unimpaired and rational thinking.
He assumed complete responsibility for all of the murders with which he was charged. He was
emotionally tranquil and at ease as he recounted the many memories pertinent to his offenses. He
gave the impression of being happy to be able finally to unburden his conscience of his
horrendous crimes,” (Martens, 2011).
Dahmer was obsessed with the dead from very young. Around the age of four, his father
stated that he saw his son had an odd fascination with a pile of bones that was discovered under
his home and by the time Dahmer became a teenager his interest in death was more than
fascination, but it had grown into an obsession (Higgs, 2012). In the ninth grade, he kept the
skeleton of a fetal pig he was assigned to dissect. During an interview, he stated that it has
become a compulsion and it switched from animals to humans and he could not understand the
reasoning behind it. It is said that some people are inherently bad and, in this case, while there is
a lot that can tie him to many of the theories, it seems like his fascination started during the years
that he should be attached to his parents and learning the correct behaviors. However, it does not
seem like he was corrected at four years of age, and they allowed his curiosity to take over in a
negative way. It does, not seem like his behavior was rewarded but it also was not deterred thus
allowing him to continue with the behavior because there were no negative consequences to his
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actions and high school is a very late point to start to correct what should have been noticed at
four.
Christian View
Jeffrey Dahmer strayed far away from what God wanted from his people. He exemplifies
what could be regarded as one of the worst types of sinners in society. In the book of Genesis, we
come to see what the path of righteousness should be and how one should strive to walk down
that path because that path pleases the Lord, and it is a way to gain your place in heaven.
Proverbs 2:13 reads, “these men turn from the right walk down dark paths”. This could also be
cross referenced with John 3:19 which states, “and this is the verdict: The Light has come into
the world, but men love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil”. From
this view, one could simply state that Dahmer chose the path of darkness even when the light was
presented to him. Dahmer was given a chance after his first killing, a chance to build a new life
in the military but instead he chose the path of darkness and was discharged. He then proceeded
to go down the path of destruction.
The bible reads in Deuteronomy 5:17, “you shall not murder” which also is written in
Exodus 20:13. However, the most well-known verse where it is thou shall not kill is written is in
the commandments given by God. In Romans 13:9, the bible reads “you shall not commit
adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,” among other
commandments given. Thou shall not kill is essential biblical knowledge and Jeffrey Dahmer
disobeyed it not only one but seventeen times.
Conclusion
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Jeffrey Dahmer is one of the most well-known serial killers of our time, with multiple
shows and documentaries going in-depth and presenting what is known about the notorious
killer. Dahmer’s terror of thirteen-year period of terror could have ended sooner but law
enforcement failed the Asian victim who initially got away. Dahmer, known for the murder of
seventeen individuals can be tied to different theories such as social learning theory, strain
theory, social control theory, the anomie theory along with multiple psychological theories.
Dahmer is known for the way he disposed of his victims and the consumption of human remains.
While there may be many theories to explain his behavior, especially if one psychoanalyses his
doings, there would be much more information on him. If he were still alive, we would have a
good subject to study as it pertains to criminality and the correlation between behavior and the
causes of said behavior due to strains in the upbringing.
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