Forensic Psychology and Serial Murders - Term Paper Example

?Forensic Psychology and Serial Murders Serial murders have always intrigued the average individual because they are something that most people do not understand. The intrigue of serial murders is apparent with television shows like CSI and Criminal Minds that present a regular menu of serial killers and those forensic profilers who find them. Currently, the nation's most loved serial killer is Dexter, a forensic scientist by day and serial killer by night. Dexter only kills the bad people in his world and this is something that people with a warped sense of humor can understand. The general public has always been fascinated by serial killers from Hannibal Lecter to Jeffrey Dahmer. Whether it is fiction or truth, the serial killer has always found a place in modern society. Eventually serial killers are caught and it is often forensic evidence that puts them in prison. Once they are captured, they give the police who capture them important information to use into how to find others who commit these crimes. The purpose of this research is to examine the forensic psychology that may go into gaining a conviction of some of the most famous serial killers. The challenge is that this information is not always available and the researcher must examine what they can find and see how forensic psychology fits into it. In the cases of most of the famous serial killers, they did something that put the police on their trail. As an example, John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer had police come to their homes after someone escaped from their grasp. When the police entered their living quarters, they found evidence out in the open (though Gacy's was buried in his crawl space) that eventually led to their conviction. In this paper, I will examine some of the most famous serial killers: John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Stephanie Wernick, Jeffrey Dahmer and David Berkowitz. Each of these killers hunted other humans and they were subsequently hunted by the police, the FBI and forensic teams. Each was eventually found through something that they did, but forensic psychology had a hand in establishing their guilt and finally putting them in prison where they belonged. 1. Defining Forensic Psychology Although many people may think that forensic psychology is only about profiling criminals, there is more to it than profiling. In reality, forensic psychology blends several areas. It combines the civil and criminal sides of the justice system with the clinical and experimental aspect of psychology (Roesch, Zapf and Hart 3). Because of this blending, it has been difficult for experts to find an exact definition of this science. Instead, different organizations have created their own definitions. According to the American Board for Forensic Psychology, the definition for this science "is the application of the science and profession of psychology to questions and issues relating to law and the legal system" (as qtd. in Roesch, Zapf and Hart 4). This is a very vague definition and there are none that are more specific. In this paper, this definition will be used. 1.1 The Beginnings of Defining Serial Killers The term serial killer is not as old as people may think. It was actually coined during the David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") hunt by an FBI Agent, Robert K. Ressler, who was an expert on serial murders (Simon 252). According to the FBI there are only about 200-500 people who are committing serial murders and they kill approximately 3500 people a year (Simon 19). The most heinous seem to be the ones that most people hear about in the news. There are many categories of serial killers. Some kill for sexual pleasure, some are mentally ill, and others are considered psychopaths. To convict serial killers, forensic evidence must be used to attach information that the police have found to the individual charged with the crime. 2. The Common Characteristics of Serial Killers All serial killers have similarities especially when they are categorized into the type of serial killing they do. According to Forensic Psychiatrist Robert Simon, serial killers are the nice neighbor or the boy next door. Generally, they are people who blend in with society, hold jobs and often have families they support. John Wayne Gacy had been married, but he was a stellar part of the community, had a thriving construction business and he even dressed as "Pogo The Clown" to entertain children. Ted Bundy was a lady's man and very charming to everyone he met. Many serial killers have been a part of society and killed women or men quietly. Many were loners and some had some mental issues but it seemed not enough to create an insanity plea. 3. The Most Famous of Killers There have been a long line of serial killers over many years if we were to begin as far back as Jack The Ripper. However, for the purpose of this paper, only the most recent killers that have media attention because of the nature of their crimes, will be discussed. 3.1 John Wayne Gacy As with most serial killers, John Wayne Gacy was the friendly neighbor next door. He was active in the community and he had a thriving construction business. He was also convicted of killing 33 boys and burying them in the crawlspace under his house (Simon 20). Gacy lured boys to his house with the promise of a job. Gacy was married for two years and while he was married, he committed his first crime when he attempted to sodomize a young boy who would not perform oral sex on him. Gacy was convicted after the boy reported him and served 18 months of a 10 year prison sentence. Gacy's wife divorced him and took his two children with her; Gacy decided that they were dead to him (Once out of prison, he began to have sadistic fantasies and began to cruise young homosexual men (Montaldo 1). In his defense later, Gacy would say that it was not he who had committed these crimes but his alter self that he called Jack Haney. This was the beginning of the forensic psychology work because many forensic psychiatrists talked to Gacy and each person came up with a different diagnosis. All of the psychiatrists agreed that Gacy was under the influence of an uncontrollable impulse when he killed the boys an that he either blacked out or "lost his inhibitions" because he was drinking alcohol (Ramsland "The Art" 1) and was unable to control himself. Although the jury heard this information, they felt that since he was able to draw where he had buried the boys that he was in full control of his faculties. Generally speaking, forensic psychology will be used to determine the individual's state of mind when they were committing the crime and competency for the individual to stand trial (Kay Ramsland 1). In Gacy's case, the jury felt that he was competent based on the evidence. Gacy had been married a second time and his wife divorced him because of his moods and his obsession with homosexual magazines (Stewart, "Gacy #254"). Later, it was Robert Priest who was missing and would lead the police to Gacy because Gacy was the last person to be seen with the boy. Although some of the officers had gone into the crawlspace and smelled the odor of decaying bodies, they dismissed it as bad sewage; they did however gather some evidence while they were in the house. Part of the evidence was a ring that one of the missing boys was wearing and this was a crucial part of the evidence to point back to Gacy (Stewart, "Gacy #254"). Also, there were many items that they confiscated that would show exactly what Gacy did and forensic psychology was used to piece the information together. Dr. Robert Stein, Cook County Medical Examiner helped in the investigation and the crawlspace was mapped out like an archeological dig (Stewart, "Gacy #254) in order to make sure that the bodies were preserved and could be identified. Finally, Gacy confessed and he said that he often killed more than one person a day. He also said that they were buried together so that he could conserve space because he was running out of room (Stewart, "Gacy #254). With this evidence and over 100 witnesses, Gacy was convicted of murdering the boys and sentenced to death by lethal injection on May 10, 1994 (Stewart, "Gacy #254). 3.2 Ted Bundy Theodore "Ted" Bundy was what people would call a likeable guy. He was very charming and he was a lady's man. He had many of the characteristics of Bundy but he was considered a nomadic serial killer because he traveled across states lines to find victims. Before he was caught and convicted, he was found guilty of rape on several occasions and was jailed but then escaped (Ramsland "The Human" 200). Bundy would be sentenced to death three times and would finally confess to 30 murders in six different states ( Ramsland "The Human" 201). In psychological terms, Bundy was seen as a narcissistic personally type and he was able to use his charm to lure women to kill. What is interesting is that he had a girlfriend for awhile during his crimes. Bundy was caught after he killed two women in a sorority and he had left bite marks on one of the victims. He had brutally beaten, raped and strangled both women. He also strangled two other women in the same house an hour and a half later and he beat and raped a fight victim who survived the attack (Ramsland "Bite Marks"). The police found no finger prints in the room, but they did find a blood type, some sperm samples and a few print smudges but they could not conclude from this information who had committed the crime. What would lead them to Bundy was that one of the women, Lisa Levy, had been bitten on the buttock and the breast; the bite on the buttock was a good impression for the police to use. The officer had the good sense to photograph the impression next to a ruler and found later that tissue samples were lost, so the photograph was the best piece of evidence they had (Ramsland "Bite Marks") that would eventually convict Bundy. The bite mark was unusual as seen here: The police were able to match the bit marks on the victim with a dental impression from his dentist ( Ramsland "The Human" 201). The bite mark was pointed out to the jury and it was an unusual bit pattern. This evidence was used in a painstaking way to show the jury that the only person that could have committed this crime was Ted Bundy. Bundy was able to lure women easily, but changed into a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" character once he had them in his grasp. He was listed as a psychopath and he was able to show law enforcement how easy it was for him to compartmentalize his actions. True to the nature of a psychopath, he was able to con women and manipulate them to do what he wanted (Gray et al. 497). Looking into his background, forensic psychologists saw that Bundy was an illegitimate child who lived with his grandparents. His grandmother often had shock treatments for depression and his grandfather was a perfectionist (Simon 266). From the age of three he was exhibiting strange behavior but no one did anything about it. Throughout his elementary grades, he had a bad temper and he was exhibiting anti-social behavior (shoplifting, burglary, and auto theft) but he never had to deal with consequences of his actions (Simon 266). Myers et al. studied the motivation behind sexual serial killers like Bundy and Gacy and they found that the motivations came through the psychiatric diagnosis that the killer was given. They suggest that each sexual predator has an aspect of sexual sadism to what they do (901). Bundy admitted that he wanted to possess the women he killed, even after they died (Simon 259). The results of the study by Myers et al. also found that the major reason that sexual serial killers kill was because they were in "pursuit of sadistic pleasure" (904). 3.3 Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Dahmer for many people was more gruesome and "creepy" because he ate his victims. Some of the press called him "the real Hannibal Lecter" (Simon 9). Eventually Dahmer would admit to killing 17 young and cannibalizing them. He would be described by his defense attorneys as a "steam rolling killing machine" and by the prosecutors as a "cold, calculating murderer" who planned his crimes (Simon 262). Although forensic psychiatrists for the defense said he was "seriously mentally ill" and that he could not control his impulse to kill (Simon 263), he could not go under an insanity defense. All experts who examined him suggested that he could not be allowed out of prison once he entered it. One interesting thing about Dahmer was that he had no history of sexual or other abuse in his childhood, which is generally what sexual serial killers have in common. Dahmer, like Bundy was caught because the police came to his place to inquire about someone who was missing. When they entered his apartment, they found human skulls, human heads and human organs in the refrigerator, and various body parts decaying around the apartment (Ramsland "The Human" 252-253). In other words, all of the forensic evidence was in plain sight. Dahmer would later state that he cannibalized some of the men and tried to make others into zombies so they would stay with him as companions (Ramsland, "The Human" 252-253; Fulero and Wrightsman 118). Dahmer's trial was very different from other serial killers because the first trial was to decide whether he was competent to stand trial (e.g. did he know what he was doing was wrong?) and the judge asked for a forensic psychologist and a psychiatrist to testify. There were several other witnesses. However, Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist meticulously showed that Dahmer was not insane and that he knew exactly what he was doing, and that what he was doing was wrong. One of the reasons that the juries convicted him and said that he was not mentally ill was because there was evidence that showed how he killed his victims in the best way possible that would not allow him to be caught (Fulero and Wrightsman 120). Many experts said that Dahmer suffered from paraphilia, a mental disorder that involves sexual deviancy. These issues brought Dahmer to trial an eventually convicted him of the crimes. 3.4 David Berkowitz "The Son of Sam" David Berkowitz was a serial killer that told police that the devil and a dog named "Sam" told him to kill. He was randomly shooting couples he found in cars in New York. Within a year, he attacked 13 people and killed six of them. He wrote letters to the newspapers and he created an atmosphere of fear for people after dark because no one knew when he would strike next (Ramsland "The Human" 192). Berkowitz was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic by his defense psychiatrists because he said that he heard voices telling him to kill. Also, Berkowitz told of people he stayed with as coming into the house with demons around them and saying that these people were not humans (Bardsley "Son of Sam"). Berkowitz would admit to an FBI veteran, Robert Ressler that he was really killing women because of his resentment towards his own mother (Bardsley "Son of Sam"). Berkowitz was actually found when he killed two dogs. One of the dogs belonged to a friend and was the dog that he said told him to kill. He also wrote letters to several people, including the police and the police were able to show that the handwriting was all the same. There is not much information about Berkowitz because he confessed to killing people and he was convicted on his confession. The only real evidence they had other than his confession was the .45 caliper pistol they found in his car. When they sent it to the forensics lab for analysis, the bullets matched in both class and individual characteristics (Collins 12). He was sentenced to 365 years in prison. 3.5 Stephanie Wernick Serial killers are generally not women but Stephanie Wernick is an exception. One of the most heinous crimes is that of a mother who kills her child. In this case, Stephanie would be convicted of doing this crime. Wernick actually committed neonaticide because she killed her baby before it was 24 hours old. She was 20 years old and gave birth in the bathroom or her dormitory room. She stuffed the baby's mouth with toilet paper until it died and then had a friend dispose of the body (unknowingly) in the dumpster down the hall (Hogan 259). A custodian found that garbage bag with the dead baby inside and called paramedics but it was too late. When Wernick was first questioned she denied that she had a baby but eventually admitted to the crime. Wernick attempted to go with the insanity plea saying that she was "temporarily insane" when she killed her baby. There is not much known about her case and other than what was reported in the newspapers. However, the case created a new way of talking about mothers who kill their children and it opened the idea that they are not necessarily insane. Toufexis and Harbison researched the phenomenon of mothers killing their newborns and found that many psychiatrists think this happens because of a "temporary mental breakdown" that happens just after the baby is born ("Behavior"). About 8-12% of mothers have stronger breakdown that can be coupled with depression, feelings of killing their babies and general feelings of despair. Most mothers will not follow through with killing their babies but a small percentage (about 2%) will have a psychotic break that will create this behavior. Many times this has been called postpartum depression, but this is not a mental diagnostic problem in the DSM-IV-TR. This is one of the reasons why the insanity defense is difficult for these mothers and the condition can go undetected until it is too late. Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing whether this was happening to Wernick or not. 4. Conclusion There are many serial killers who have been found by forensic psychologists to be insane or not insane. Each one of the killers that have been described in this research paper had some motivation that eventually tied them to a crime. Each one also eventually confessed to the killings saying that they were temporarily insane when they did it. Gacy said that he had a split personality that was later shown not to be true. Berkowitz, though he was seen as paranoid schizophrenic, admitted later that the idea that the dog had told him to kill was not true. Dahmer did not say much of anything when he was taken into customer but it was clear from his behavior that he had a strange fascination with death and with sexual deviancy. Bundy was able to manipulate and con his way into the women's lives that he killed with ease. Each of these killers found access to their victims very easily. At the beginning of this paper, forensic psychology was defined as "the application of the science and profession of psychology to questions and issues relating to law and the legal system" (American Board for Forensic Psychology as qtd. in Roesch, Zapf and Hart 4). This definition can be seen in each of these cases because forensic psychologists and forensic psychiatrists had to examine the witnesses and the testimony to see whether or not these people were fit to stand trial. In each case they were found to be fit because they all knew right from wrong. Although this is a simplistic way of looking at this issue, it is important to note that forensic psychology has a broad base to work from in serial murders. The information that is found and sent to a lab must eventually be seen by the psychologist or psychiatrist in order for them to make their decisions. Works Cited Bardsley, Marilyn. "Son of Sam: The Blood Monster." True TV/Turner Entertainment. 15 May 2011. Brown, Pat. The Profiler: My Life Hunting Serial Killers and Psychopaths. NY: Gale Cenage, 2010. Print. Collins, David. Forensic Chemistry. KY: Brooks/Cole, 2006. Print. Frank, Christina. "Stalkers, Serial Killers, and Other Sociopaths: Dr. Park Dietz Explorers the Dark Side of the Mind". Biography. 4.6 (2000): 84-112. Web. Fulero, Solomon M. and Wrightsman, Lawrence S. Forensic psychology. CA: Wadsworth, 2009. Web. Googlebooks.com. Gray, N.S., MacCulloch, M.J., Smith, J., Morris, M. and Snowden, R.J. "Violence viewed by psychopathic murderers". Nature 429. Web. 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