Jeffrey Dahmer

This reading will talk about a serial killer that was of interest, of course if interesting is what a serial killer could be labeled. Interesting is not exactly the word I would chose. A descriptive word has not been chosen at this point but yet to be determined. The chosen subject is Jeffrey Dahmer. Here is a little about this person in brief. Jeffrey Dahmer lived from May 21, 1960-November 28, 1984. He was known as The Milwaukee Cannibal. He was not only a serial killer but a sex offender, rapist, murderer, dismemberment, necrophiliac, and cannibal. All of his subjects were male.
First off in order to show how profiling could be helpful the reader must know what profiling is. According to the Oxford Dictionary, Profiling is the recording
and analysis of a person's psychological and behavioral characteristics, so as to assess or predict their capabilities in a certain sphere or to assist in identifying a particular subgroup of people. Profiles are not 100 percent accurate, but they're usually found to be very close. (Freeman, 2007). For Dahmer, he targeted young boys/men. He struggled with homosexual desires. He was fascinated with the body makeup and how bones fit together. He fantasized about sadistic acts. He was intrigued by dismembering bodies and burying them until only bones were left. He mentioned as a child that he liked the way bones sounded when the broke. He was a raging alcoholic. He was convicted of indecent exposure and public masturbation, along with several others things. All of these facts can be used in the profiling of Dahmer.
Jeffrey Dahmer exhibits a great amount of Routine Activity Theory. It is known that Dahmer had an obsession with body dismemberment of animals at childhood. He was fascinated with the way bones sounded when they were broken and how to preserve them. He had sadistic thoughts and fantasies. He was motivated by his targets of young boys/men. He acted in violence at the moment of rejection. Dahmer was interested in preservation of body parts, even as a child. He liked the attention he got from all of his actions.
Dahmer’s victims all had similar craniofacial structures.
All the victims were male. But all but one were black. The other one was of Latino descent. Black men fit the body type that he most fantasized about. Dahmer wanted to have complete possession of his victims. He wanted to keep them and for them never to leave him. This could have stemmed from the constant abandonment he felt as a child. Dahmer did not have the typical serial killer traits of childhood abuse, bed wetting as a child, or locking him up as some were. Mostly he suffered from neglected and an uneventful childhood. He did not exhibit the anger as most killers do. He was unhesitant in his confessions and helped authorities however he could. He was not self-centered or selfish. He did mention episodes that his actions were uncontrollable once he began the act. Complete possession of his victim was one of his strongest drives. He was obsessed with carcasses even at a young age. He was reclusive and often made fun of as a child in school.
Dahmer was later killed in prison by a fellow inmate. He was found with his head smashed in by a barbell. There were no indications that he put up a fight when the attack took place. Another thing that was found peculiar about Dahmer was that once the world found out whom and what he was he did not try to hide it as most serial killers have a tendency to do.
To say the least, Jeffrey Dahmer was a very peculiar, different type of serial killer. He was believed to have been sane so to speak through the course of his killings. He knew exactly what he wanted and why he did it. The only part that was a bit on the insane part according to himself was the excessive need to commit the act and the inability to stop once he had
started.