“Psychology of the Criminal”

Amy M. Sygnatowicz
Criminal Justice Final Paper
Summer 2019
Salt Lake Community College

1
 While many theories persist as to why some of the most heinous criminal acts are

performed, I’d like to focus on the mental and psychological states that the perpetrator,

himself, is comprised of; a recipe for a Scandal, if you will. I theorize that while many

crimes follow a pattern of the criminal’s rites and habits, many of which are a

mimicry of other predators the criminal admires, it is the influx of neurotransmitters

and hormonal ebbs and flows that allow for the most villainous predator. For all crime

begins in the brain.

Per our text, (Holmes, 58)1 specifies a plethora of personality traits that so many

violent crimes identify with: “aggression, withdrawal, isolation, paranoia, lack of

empathy” and so forth. These very traits are hallmarks of pervasive, yet treatable,

personality disorders. For example, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental

Disorders, or DSM-5, lists these particular traits as markers for both Narcissistic

Personality Disorder and Avoidant/Antisocial Personality Disorder.

The infamous Ted Bundy, convicted of thirty-something rape and killings, has

been listed as having had Antisocial Personality Disorder, which coincides with many

of the same characteristics as Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but his particular

“recipe” included traits that fell within primary psychopathology.2 To wit, Bundy’s

life was predicated on layers of deceitfulness, impulsivity, lack of remorse, major

irritability, and major aggression.

Looking into his criminal history, Bundy had the makings of the “perfect” serial

killer: he was generically attractive (much to the chagrin of the typical woman’s “tall,

dark, and handsome”), was soft-spoken, and his athleticism allowed for him to be

involved in many a strenuous take-down of his chosen prey. Constantly on the move,

he’d be able to rape and murder one victim, dump the body, and drive across state

1
Holmes, Ronald M. “Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool (Fourth Edition)”
2
Puder, Dr. David. February 6, 2019. “The Psychiatry Podcast: The Dark Triad”

2
lines to Washington, Colorado, or other nearby states. Within his five-year killing

spree, Bundy was able to escape police custody twice before finally being put down.3

Another attribute that delineates from the social norm is the inability to handle

criticism. “In our own conversations with serial killers and other violent offenders, we

found evidence that many of these individuals do lack the ability to receive criticism

and withstand frustration… this frustration often serves as a catalyst for action, which

serves to validate the offender’s sense of importance and being in control.” (Holmes,

58)4

Authorities have found, time and again, that it’s the criminal’s proclivity towards

acting on impulse that drives him towards making rash decisions, like arson, rape and

molestation, lewd acts of all sorts, and even murder. Lacking critical empathy in order

to feel before acting, leads to, what I call, the Criminal’s Perfect Storm. All it takes is

one singular flicker of fury, one signal of neurosis, and the perpetrator is emptying a

gas can over an unconscious woman’s body before striking a match. This lack of

empathy is what fuels so many criminals towards seeking higher and higher forms of

criminal acts. The dopamine and adrenaline that courses through their bodies happens

with such power, that it’s only a matter of days, months, until they are looking for a

newer, shinier fix. First, it’s abusing and mutilating a neighbor’s pet; next, they move

up the chain to the neighbor, themselves. To them, it’s a process of eradication and

formidable hate. This hate can turn towards any outside source. For some, it’s a full

racial group; for others, it can be one distinct gender: female.

One such serial killer of this philosophy would be the notorious Edmund Kemper.

Growing up in a highly dysfunctional family, Kemper rarely found parental support,

especially that from his mother. His mother was claimed to be suffering from

3
Yang, Allie, et al. ABC News. “Timeline of many of Ted Bundy’s Brutal Crimes” Feb, 2019
https://abcnews.go.com/US/timeline-ted-bundys-brutal-crimes/story?id=61077236
4
Holmes, Ronald M. “Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool (Fourth Edition)”

3
alcoholism and borderline personality disorder, constantly demeaning both Ed and his

two sisters. Her cruelty even turned its wicked face towards her own husband,

Edmund’s father, terrorizing him with bullying words towards his job, remarking his

office as a nuclear bomb tester as something that was pathetic.5 Witnessing the strife

between wife and husband, Edmund began to hate his mother in a deep and

overpowering way. And in these crucial, developmental years as a child, Ed began to

see all women the way he saw his mother: something to violently crush and toss away.

Edmund Kemper’s mental diagnosis could sit very fittingly within Avoidant

Personality Disorder. Growing up, he had a severe preoccupation for harming

inanimate objects, beginning with his sister’s dolls, which he would decapitate.

Moving on into older childhood, Edmund was found to have killed two family pets,

one of whom, he kept the dead remains of in his closet. Maturing into a young man,

Edmund’s personality disorder would show its face when in the midst of any criticism

from his mother. She deemed that any kind of “coddling” from her would result in

Edmund turning gay. In his teen years, she’d constantly bully him by saying that no

woman would ever love him.

Facing severe rejection, Edmund eventually fled home to move in with his

grandparents for a short period of time. After a small conflict, he decided to shoot his

grandmother in the head with his grandfather’s rifle, and on the way out of the house,

he shot his grandfather. It was at this time when Kemper finally turned himself in.

Serving only a short period of time at a local mental health hospital unit, Kemper

knew how to coax his psychological parole officers into thinking Kemper was on the

track to wellness, when that was anything but true. This is when Kemper’s anger

spree kicked in. Starting from Barbie dolls, to family pets, Kemper found his way into

5
Paoletti, Gabe. All That’s Interesting. November 2017. “The Story of Serial Killer Edmund Kemper, Whose Story
is Almost Too Gross to Be Real” https://allthatsinteresting.com/edmund-kemper

4
seducing and overthrowing many young women, tossing them into his car, then would

drive to the woods with intent to rape them.

Psyching himself out, he instead went straight to murdering them, then having

sex with their corpses, and continued to dismember their bodies. It’s no doubt in my

mind that his apprehension towards raping before murdering was because he was still

fixated on the bullying from his mother, words spiraling in his head. This caused him

to render his victims lifeless before sexually exploiting them. As big as he was, (some

sources say he was 6’4”; others say 6’9”) and as smart as he was, he couldn’t escape

the pervasive hatred that his mother instilled in him towards her and all other women.

But that trauma didn’t stop him from tearing lives and families apart, either. Kemper

came to his wit’s end: he beat his mother to death with a claw hammer while she was

asleep in her bed. Kemper then continued his repulsive ways of mutilation by cutting

out her tongue and larynx, and threw them into the garbage disposal. He severed her

head and raped it before placing it on a shelf to use as his dart board. In this very act,

we see murderous acts as a form of not just enjoyment, but of accomplishment.

Less a narcissist than many other serial killers because Kemper called the cops to

turn himself in. After slaughtering his mother, he didn’t see any point to continue on

with his killing spree. He felt his work was done, having been quoted, “the original

purpose was gone… I just said to hell with it and called it all off.”6 Kemper is now

serving seven consecutive life sentences in prison.

After sharing the gory details of a few of the most notorious serial killers, I want

to discuss the significance and prevalence of possible personality disorders found

within them and so many others like them. According to our text, Holmes points to a

study conducted by Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, and Sears from 1939. “Per page 1

6
Paoletti, Gabe. November 2017, updated February 2019. All That’s Interesting. “The Story of Serial Killer
Edmund Kemper, Whose Story is Almost Too Gross to Be Real” https://allthatsinteresting.com/edmund-kemper

5
of their report, Dollard and his colleagues at Yale University found that ‘aggression is

always a result of frustration.’ The real findings of this research were clear: the real

violent and aggressive criminals were those that were frustrated by their life chances

and conditions.” (Holmes, 58)7

Personality Disorders can be inherited, yes, but it’s the events that occur during

critical developmental stages growing up that will determine whether or not a possible

Narcissist will show his full-blown colors, instead of some of the more benign

characteristics. Some of these traumatic events can be things as unfortunately

common as contention in the home, poverty, and all forms of abuse from the parental

figures.8

What the above cases have in common, and so many other gruesome cases still

reemerging today, is that the criminals have ill-mannered, sick fantasies that they

choose to carry out. We don’t exactly know what it is that exactly “pulls the trigger”

when they decide to begin harming and killing other people, but each of them tends to

have their own unique boiling point. Family structures and support are of paramount

importance, but while it’s impossible to guarantee that across and among all families,

it’s support from outside professionals that will help the next possible Bundy’s and

Kemper’s from acting out in such horrific ways. We, as a community, and as

professionals in the criminal justice community, need to come together to create

support networks for at-risk kids. It’s not just a pipe-dream, but our duty to do so,

because thousands, if not millions, of innocent lives are counting on it.

7
Holmes, Ronald M. “Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool (Fourth Edition)”
8
Mayo Clinic Staff. September 2016. “Personality Disorders: Symptoms and Causes”
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/personality-disorders/symptoms-causes/syc-20354463

6
 Works Cited/References

Holmes, Ronald M. “Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool (Fourth

Edition)”

Puder, Dr. David. February 6, 2019. “The Psychiatry Podcast: The Dark Triad”

Holmes, Ronald M. “Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool (Fourth

Edition)”

Yang, Allie, et al. ABC News. “Timeline of many of Ted Bundy’s Brutal Crimes”
Feb, 2019
https://abcnews.go.com/US/timeline-ted-bundys-brutal-crimes/story?id=61077236

Holmes, Ronald M. “Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool (Fourth

Edition)”

Paoletti, Gabe. All That’s Interesting. November 2017. “The Story of Serial Killer
Edmund Kemper, Whose Story is Almost Too Gross to Be Real”
https://allthatsinteresting.com/edmund-kemper

Holmes, Ronald M. “Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool (Fourth

Edition)”

Mayo Clinic Staff. September 2016. “Personality Disorders: Symptoms and Causes”
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/personality-disorders/symptoms-caus
es/syc-20354463