Jeffrey Dahmer Research Papers

Jeffrey Dahmer, named the “Milwaukee Cannibal” when he was caught in 1992, was a notorious serial killer, serial rapist, and sex offender. He was born to Lionel Dahmer and Joyce Dahmer on May 21, 1960, and lived to the age of thirty-four before he died on November 28, 1994. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jeffrey’s mother also gave birth to his younger brother, David Dahmer, in 1966. The Dahmer family was relatively normal in the eyes of society, except for the fact that Joyce Dahmer was known to suffer with depression. Jeffrey also had to have surgery to correct a double hernia when he was almost four years old. His parents also divorced when he turned eighteen years old. Jeffrey became more introverted as he got older, and had grown

His killings began in 1978 and lasted for thirteen years until he was caught in 1991. His victims were mainly men of colors, the majority of them being african-american. He would lurk around gay bars until he found someone, and lured them home with some type of promise; whether it be money or sex. He would then offer them alcohol that he laced with drugs, and would proceed to strangle them. He often engaged in necrophilia with the corpses before he would dismember and dispose of them. As most serial killers do, he would keep souvenirs from his victims, such as skulls, genitalia, and polaroid pictures. The first time Jeffrey killed someone was shortly after high school graduation, in June of 1978. He picked up hitchhiker Steven Hicks, took him to his parents house, where he lived alone because both of his parents had moved out since they divorced. He got the man drunk, and struck him over the head and strangled him with a barbell when he began to leave. Jeffrey’s second victim was killed in September of 1978. When confessing, he said he does not have any recollection of killing Steven Tuomi. He said that when woke up, he had found Steven’s body next to his, unresponsive. He eventually took the body back to his grandmother's house, where he was living after his father kicked him out, to dispose of the body. In January of 1988, Jeffrey killed fourteen year old James Doxtator. He offered James money to pose for nudes

A mix of both psychological, and social process can, in my eyes, explains why Jeffrey killed, raped, dismembered and sometimes consumed his victims. It was found during the court hearings, and put into consideration, that Jeffrey had three different mental illnesses. Borderline personality disorder and Psychotic disorder have a few overlapping symptoms, including antisocial behavior, impulsivity, and lack of restraint. His mother was known to have depression, and was even hospitalized twice for psychiatric problems. Jeffrey could have had a gene passed down to him that would have made him more prone to forming a mental illness. It was known from a young age that Jeffrey was a very reserved kid. He didn’t have many friends, and was considered a loner. He also stated to his lawyer that he killed his victims because they were trying to leave, and he did not want them to. He did it off of impulse because he did not want to be alone, and then he just began to do it because he knew at some point they would want to leave. In his childhood, he had an interest in dead animals. He would dissect many of them and kill them to do so. These behaviors followed Jeffrey into adulthood, and progressed until he was killing men. Since he was known to not have many friends, he never had a strong connection to anyone. His parents did not focus much on him because of how young he was when his