David Berkowitz, more well known as the Son of Sam or the .44 Caliber Killer, held New York hostage to his murderous rampage for over a year while evading detection from the NYPD. He was one of the most notorious killers of the time, and was widely publicized, not only in the New York area, but internationally. What we will explore and attempt to answer is the question of why did he do what he did? Specifically from the psychological standpoint, and using psychological theory. David Berkowitz: An Overview David Berkowitz was born on June, 1st, 1953 under the name Richard David Falco but was put up for adoption almost immediately as his parents didn’t have the means to care for him at the time. He was adopted just a few days later by an older couple by the names of Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz, who renamed the boy to David Richard Berkowitz. Nathan and Pearl were hardware store owners of modest means and followed Jewish religion with Berkowitz being their first and only child. Berkowitz had many issues as he grew up although he appeared to be a nice, …show more content…
He performed to expectations at the beginning of his education and even had a solid IQ of 118 but as time went, his grades slipped and he passed high school by the skin of his teeth as he lost attachment to school. A substantial contributing factor to his poor performance in school was the fact that he missed a tremendous amount of school as he manipulated Pearl in to letting him stay home because of illness. His constant illnesses weren’t actually illnesses at all as he would just warm up his head against the radiator. Berkowitz also had a distaste for authority, especially at school, so he would vandalize the school and perform arson as a way to get his anger out. Berkowitz was also picked on because of his following of Jewish religion and his looks, but he also bullied other children, coming off as aggressive and