ASSIGNMENT 1

CENTRE FOR CRIMINOLOGY AND JUSTICE

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

SUBMITTED BY: ISHITA CHUGH

ENROLLMENT NUMBER: M2022CJ008

DAHMER

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is an American biographical crime drama
series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan for Netflix. On September 21, 2022, the first
season premiered. The programme provides viewers with an inside look at Jeffrey Dahmer's
mind while also detailing the horrific crimes he committed between 1978 and 1991.

After killing a total of 17 men, Jeffrey preserved craniums, men's pelvises, and other pieces
of their corpses, which the authorities discovered when they searched his home.

The show, which was co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, explores a range of
subjects. One that strikes out is the idea that appearances may be deceiving, as shown by the
fact that Dahmer, an attractive man, gets off easy and virtually ever faces prosecution for his
murders.

The narrative, which is mainly told through Dahmer's victims' perspectives, explains how the
criminal justice system's shortcomings and police slowness allowed the serial murderer to
carry on with his homicidal spree for several years.

The show shows a peek of how Jeffrey repeatedly misused his white privilege because the
law is sympathetic towards him when he is charged of certain offences, in addition to
showing the police's incompetence that allowed the mass murderer to continue his decade-
long killing rampage. The programme illustrates how Jeff's environment had a big impact on
his development into a serial killer. Furthermore, it is admirable to observe that they paid
attention to highlighting his formative years, which are crucial for shaping a person's
personality. The authors of the show are brilliant since they do not simply attribute his
conduct to genetic causes or choose the easy option. Although biology is clearly important,
they appear to understand that the environment is equally important and make a strong
argument for it.

We go on a psychological and emotional journey with Dahmer. Despite the revulsion and
rage we feel for Jeff, we may also empathise with him. Despite having essential similarities—
like DNA, desires, and passions—Jeff and Lionel develop into very different persons as they
grow older. Jeff's development into the person he ends up being is thoroughly shown in the
show, which wins our sympathies.
The programme is unsettling, graphic, and depressing to see. However, any true-crime
programme raises the possibility of glamorising the offender at the expense of the victims.
The series recreates the event where Rita Isbell, the sister of one of the victims Dahmer
killed, Errol Lindsey, gave a victim impact statement at Dahmer's 1992 sentence, which was
extremely distressing to Errol, as told by her in an interview after the show was released

Jeffrey is described as a "runaway train on a track of madness" (Masters, 2021) the jury was
asked to consider whether the following description constituted normalcy: Skulls in a locker,
cannibalism, sexual urges, drilling, making zombies, necrophilia, disorders, paraphilia,
drinking alcohol, trying to create a shrine, showering with corpses, going into the occult,
having delusions, chanting and rocking, picking up road kill, having obsessions, murders,
lobotomies, defleshing, masturbating two, three times a day as a youngster, masturbating into
open parts of a human being's body, calling taxidermists, going to graveyards, going to
funeral homes, wearing yellow contacts, posing people who are dead that he killed for
pictures. (Schwartz, 2011)

CAST
Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer

Richard Jenkins as Lionel Dahmer, Jeffrey's father

Molly Ringwald as Shari Dahmer, Lionel's second wife and Jeffrey's stepmother

Niecy Nash as Glenda Cleveland, Jeffrey's neighbor

Michael Learned as Catherine Dahmer, Lionel's mother and Jeffrey's grandmother

THEORIES AND PERSPECTIVES OF CRIMINOLOGY

People all around the world have been fascinated by the subject of serial killers throughout
history, largely because they are unable to comprehend why someone would be ready to take
not just one life but many. Many sociologists and criminologists have devoted their entire
careers to studying those who prey on other people. Various types of serial killers have been
identified: The most prevalent type of serial killer is the hedonistic killer, often known as a
thrill, passion, or comfort killer. A comfort killer typically kills for some type of short-term
gain or other advantage that will bring comfort. An illustration would be a homeless person
who murders other homeless people in order to take their possessions. A lust killer is a sexual
predator who kills out of desire and experiences sexual fulfilment when they cause harm to
their victims. The fact that Jeffrey Dahmer continued to mutilate his victims even after they
had passed away makes him the ideal illustration of this kind of serial killer.

BIOLOGICAL THEORY
According to biological theories of crime, certain people are "born criminals," and they differ
physiologically from law-abiding citizens. Cesare Lombroso is the person who advocated this
strategy the most. The popularity of Lombroso's work has long since waned. Biological
theories, however, have kept evolving. Modern methods put more of an emphasis on the
following than on measuring physical characteristics of the body:

• Neurophysiological conditions; • Biochemical conditions (related, for instance, to a bad diet

or a hormone imbalance) (e.g. learning disabilities caused by brain damage)

• Genetic aberration or inheritance

• Understanding These efforts to pinpoint the psychological factors that contribute to criminal
behaviour imply that there are distinguishable distinctions between criminals and law-abiding
citizens. The criminal, in other terms, is "other"—different or abnormal from everyone else.

In the psychology of Dahmer, the biological theory has some validity. His maternal
grandfather likewise had a drinking problem. Alcoholism is a condition that is known to
genetically transmit from one generation to the next. There is no evidence to suggest that
drinking contributed to his murderous rampage. Additionally, Jeff's father was described as
being aloof, chilly, emotionless, and inactive by Jeff. He never really had the chance to
exhibit any potential internal evil because he was always under his mother's watchful eye and
control. The narrative might have been different if this had not been his father's environment.

Lionel also acknowledged that he harbored the same dreams as his son, albeit he never acted
on them. With this knowledge, it is impossible to understand why, after spending time trying
to control Jeffrey the way his mother did, his father would abandon him and send him away
to a similar environment at his grandmother's. Early adolescent Dahmer frequently fantasized
about harming others, specifically killing guys and having sex with their bodies. He also had
"off the charts" libido. During her pregnancy, Jeffrey's mother suffered from frequent
episodes of dizziness, nausea, migraines, and strange bodily rigidity. Her symptoms were
managed by her doctor with morphine and phenobarbital, which may have had an effect
while she was pregnant. (Dahmer, 2021).
THEORY OF ANOMIE AND STRAIN
Anomie is a term coined by Emile Durkheim, one of the pioneers of sociology, to describe
the breakdown of social standards that frequently occurs along with fast societal change. This
concept was used by American sociologist Robert Merton tried to explain crime and deviance
in the country. According to his thesis, crime arises when there is a discrepancy between a
society's cultural goals (such as material prosperity and status) and the structural tools to
fulfil these goals (e.g. education, employment). As a result of the tension between means and
ends, some people turn to dishonest or unlawful means of achieving their goals, which causes
them to feel frustrated and resentful. In a nutshell, strain theory asserts that social pressure to
commit crime is exerted on individuals by society's cultural norms and social structures.

Subcultural Theory

Concepts of status dissatisfaction and differential opportunity, which North American

subcultural theorists used to explain the criminal behaviour of underprivileged groups in the
1950s and 1960s, are linked to anomie and tension. Albert Cohen, who investigated group
crime by young, lower-class men, is linked to status frustration. According to Cohen, because
lower-class teenagers were unable to aspire to middle-class cultural ideals, they rejected them
out of frustration and established their own subcultural set of values. Building on these
concepts, Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin identified three distinct opportunity structures
for lower-class young people in various neighbourhoods: conflict (gang warfare and
territorial violence), criminal (earning a living from crime), and retreatist (drugs and alcohol).

According to the strain theory, Dahmer's atrocities might have occurred as a result of a
presumed alignment between his materialistic beliefs and the resources provided by society,
his family, or anything else that stood in the way of his carrying out his deeds. According to
general views of crime, criminals lack self-control, their ties to social order are weak, and
they are not disciplined.

Some people have cravings that they believe are beyond their control, and these urges are
what drive them to commit particular types of crimes. This was how Dahmer was. He not
only ate and sexually assaulted his victims' bodies but also killed them.

Dahmer had many challenges growing up, including being a poor student who had social
difficulties and turned to alcohol as early as high school.
By his senior year, Jeffrey had gained a reputation as (a) an eccentric loner with a weird
fixation with dead animals, (b) a social misfit who struggled to form relationships with
others, (c) an alcoholic, and (d) a volatile prankster who was only delighted by the bizarre
(Masters,2021); Schwartz, 2011). Jeffrey was well-known for stumbling around the
neighbourhood of Summit Mall when intoxicated, intimidating shoppers, and making up
epileptic episodes. Dahmer was discovered to have a poor sense self. Because of this, he was
(a) alone and detached; (b) stuck in the tedium of his job despite having a great intellect
beyond his sluggish demeanour; and (c) even though his life seemed to have no overarching
plan or purpose, his aspirations for himself were not in line with reality (Masters,2021).

All these factors combined to create a young man who had abandoned many cultural ideals of
the era. He was not attracted to women, so starting a family was out; he had no real desire to
participate in society through the labour force; he was unable to obtain "desirable" jobs due to
his lack of education and dishonourable discharge; and finally, he had no real ambition to
contribute to society.

THEORY OF PSYCHODYNAMICS

The psychodynamic theory centers on a person's early childhood experience and how it
influences the likelihood for committing crime.

We owe a lot of this notion to renowned psychologist Sigmund Freud. Everyone, he claimed,
has inherent drives known as the "id" that call for fulfilment. These instincts are controlled by
moral and ethical principles (referred to as the "superego"), and as people age, they acquire a
logical personality that serves as a mediator between the id and superego. According to this
theory, criminal behaviour is primarily viewed as the superego failing.

The majority of serial killers have a challenging childhood, and the repressed anger and
frustration eventually manifest themselves in their acts. Additionally, Jeff's anecdote from the
show made this clear. The programme emphasised the abuse he endured from both of his
parents as a child.

To make matters worse, neither Jeff's mother nor father made any effort to hide their
dysfunctional relationship from him, which is characterised by ongoing arguments and
confrontations.
Following Dahmer's arrest, Lionel Dahmer was called in for questioning. Despite his absolute
shock at his son's acts, he wonders if his poor parenting may have contributed to his son's
peculiarity.

Joyce and Lionel Dahmer had a negative relationship. Dahmer saw heated discussions,
clashes, and even threats that his mother would appear with knives instead of a peaceful one.
Since then, he has began to feel more disdain inside. He taught him to pick up dead animals
from the street. Jeff learned how to prepare the "roadkills" for dissection and acid dissolution.
Jeff's attraction to blood, guts, and flesh began as a child and developed into an obsession
over time. He became a more reserved child as he grew older. He was unable to socialise or
date. He had, however, always been an attention-seeker. To the delight of the entire class, he
pretended to suffer a seizure. Later, he developed into the class's oddest pupil. He was known
among his peers as "Doing a Dahmer."

When his parents finally got divorced, Joyce took her younger son David and utterly
abandoned her older son Jeff. Jeff was scarred by this event at a very young age. He managed
to graduate while staying by himself at his parents' home in Ohio. The cumulative effects of
the horrific events had a negative effect on his personality, and his father never paid him a
visit. Since no one else was present with whom he could share his life, Dahmer grew lonely
and drowned himself in alcohol. Even after numerous failed attempts, Jeff was unable to
admit his sexual orientation. The homophobic culture of the period was the first factor, and
his repressed mental state was the second. It was difficult for Jeff to satisfy his bodily
demands because he had never felt attracted to someone of the other sex.

REFERENCES

Masters, B. (2021). Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer. Hodder & Stoughton.

Schwartz, A.E. (2011). The Man who could not kill enough: The secret murderer
Milwaukee’s Jeffrey Dahmer. iUniverse.

Dahmer, L. (2021). A father's story. Ech Point Books & Media, LLC.

Merton, R. K. (1993). Social Structure and anomie. Irvington Publishers.