Jeffrey Dahmer Research Papers

“The Milwaukee Cannibal” was a nickname given to famous American serial killer and cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer was born May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to parents Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. The family setting in his family was rather “normal” and Dahmer was a very happy child who enjoyed normal childhood activities. At around seven years old, he had a minor surgery to correct a double hernia. Post-surgery, Jeffrey became very insecure and lost all confidence. Following in the same year, David Dahmer was born and Jeffrey was now a big brother. Most children are thrilled by the thought of being an older sibling, but the birth of David changed Jeffrey’s demeanor and personality dramatically. Starting as a normal, happy child, Jeffrey

Dahmer had picked up a hitchhiker, Stephen Hicks, and offered to bring him back to his father’s house where they could drink. Hick agreed and the two went back, Dahmer was excited to execute his plan of getting Hicks drunk and then having sex with him. After they drank, Hicks tried to leave and Dahmer was not happy that he hadn’t finished the second part of his plan. Continuing to get angry as Hicks kept trying to leave, Dahmer grabbed a 10 pound dumbbell and bludgeoned Hicks in the head to death. When Dahmer was caught years later, his reasoning was “He wanted to leave but I didn’t want him to”. Dahmer dismembered Hicks’ body, placed parts in different plastic bags, and buried them in the backyard. His next murder wouldn’t happen for another 9 years. In the meantime, in 1981, Dahmer was arrested twice for disorderly conduct. 1982, Dahmer moved in to live with his grandmother and stayed for six years. During his stay there, his grandmother began to notice Dahmer’s strange behaviors and found weird things where he stayed. She found a fully dressed male mannequin that he stole form a store in his closet. She then later found a .357 magnum under his bed. During his stay at his grandmother’s he was arrested twice, once in 1982 and once in 1986 for indecent exposure, for showing and touching his private parts in front of 2 young boys. Shortly after the arrest, his grandmother kicked him

He was initially indicted on 17 murder charges, later reduced to 15. Most of Dahmer’s victims were gay, African Americans, which raised racial tension with the public. He first pleaded not guilty on all counts. He then later changed his plea to guilty by means of insanity, claiming he was insane and didn’t know what he was doing. Dahmer’s lawyer advised him to give detailed reports of his murders to prove only an insane person could commit those acts. Throughout the trial, Dahmer showed extreme remorse what he had done and asked for his own death . He had given a 160 page confession included detailed reports of the murders, and statements of him saying how he felt evil, and a tremendous amount of guilt. “I know society will never be able to forgive me. I know the families of the victims will never be able to forgive me for what I have done. I promise I will pray each day to ask for their forgiveness when the hurt goes away, if ever. I have seen their tears, and if I could give my life right now to bring their loved ones back, I would do it.” After a two week trial, the jury found Dahmer sane and guilty and sentenced him to 15 consecutive life sentences totaling 957 years, which is the maximum amount of time that can be given in Wisconsin since the death penalty was abolished. Dahmer spent his sentence in Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. He was kept away from the general public for safety reasons. While