The Cases of the Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer - Coursework Example

Jeffrey Dahmer – a report on the cases and investigations Jeffrey Dahmer, born on 21 May 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, showed some of the traits, which are so evident in most of the serial killers right from the age of six.  At age six, he had some minor surgery and a new sibling was added to the family.  He started showing some personality disorders, such as lack of confidence and feeling insular.  Change of residence from Iowa to Ohio around the same time added to this.  By his teens, he was without any friend and was disengaged and tense.  Some may have looked at him as a shy boy, who will become sociable once exposed to more social interaction.  But things were not going to be that way.  By his own admission from the age of fourteen, compulsion to murder and necrophilia became a part and parcel of his personality.  Also, he was homosexually oriented.  By this time, his parents had an acrimonious divorce, and the stress associated with it was real.  At about the age of 10, he started becoming curious towards animals and looked for dead animals, which he would dissect them at home, to the extent of putting a dog’s head on stake.  This was the starting point of his downward spiral which flared-up with the start of his puberty.  As Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist who was consulted for this case says that most repeat violent criminals have a distinctive lack of empathy. (Goodwin). A careful analysis of the cases shows that on most occasions, the investigating officers committed obvious flaw and carelessness without which perhaps at least some of the victims could be alive. He committed his first murder in June 1978.  It was Steven Hicks, a young hitchhiker.  His next victim would be after 9 years.  He did not do well in college.  He then joined US military where he became an army medic.  Though his stint was for six years, his services were terminated for drunkenness in just after 2 years.  Finally, he did manage to get a factory job in Milwaukee. Dahmer chose the life of homosexual liaisons. (Dahmer) Meanwhile, Wisconsin registered many cases of missing young males.  Most of his 17 victims were young African -American. Dahmer was accused of obscene exposure twice, in 1982 and 1986. In the second time he was caught when masturbated in front of two boys. (Dahmer, 131; Bardsley) His second victim was Steven Tuomi, who he killed in November 1987.  He killed two more people in 1987. James Doxtator, age 14, and Richard Guerrero, age 25.  In 1988, Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested for sexual gestures towards a young boy of thirteen years (Dahmer, 133-35).  He served 10 months in incarceration and was required to register as a sex-offender.  While on probation, he checked in every month as required. It was later found that his corrections officer never visited his home. There were more than one instance of negligenc ein the investigation - “Wisconsin Department of Corrections spokesperson later said that the requirement was waived due to a work overload”.  (‘Jeffrey Dahmer: Famous Killers’) By 1988, Jeffrey Dahmer was thus arrested thrice for sex-related offence.  Moreover, he was ousted from military on charge of drunkenness.  These two facts should have been alarming enough to keep vigil on such personalities. Though registered as sex-offender, the ease with which he got away even coming close to being arrested is something which was serious.  As an intelligent-looking blond man, he was able to exploit his look and appearance to convince investigators quite a number of times.  The racial part in the whole saga did exist, though many times they were unintentional or subconscious from the investigative officer’s part.  As far as Jeffrey Dahmer’s own modus operandi was concerned, most of his victims were of African-American or Asian origin.  He was finally arrested while making one black named Tracy Edwards as his target. (‘Jeffrey Dahmer: Famous Killers’) It was only then that the world came to know of the horrors that he had perpetrated for well over a decade.  While all his previous murders were carried in a secretive manner, where the investigative agencies had to investigate from the scratch, the 13th of Dahmers 17 victims was the lapse that was not of defensive nature.  This victim was 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, a Laotian teenager, who incidentally was also the older brother of the boy he was convicted of molesting in 1988.  This case was one of direct negligence and unpardonable.  (Davis, 128-131) It was just around 2 a.m., and one Sandra Smith, 18, phoned 911.  The boy was running naked and was terrified.  Sandra Smith was with her 18-year-old cousin sister, Nicole Childress. They accompanied the boy at the time of arrival of Milwaukee city police arrived. Dahmer stood near the boy. The conversation between the suspicious girls became agitated, the confident-looking Dahmer, and the police.  Dahmer was convincing the police that 19-year old Konerak was Dahmer’s lover, and that they had drunk too much.  Konerak had taken drugs and seemed to mentally disjoint. Therefore he had little strength to differ with the convincing Dahmer.  Nor was he taken seriously.  (Taranto) Despite the two ladies charging, the police was convinced that there was nothing wrong.  But to be on the safe side, the police did go to the apartment.  The apartment did smell bad, but it was neat.  There were at least 2 photos of Konerak wearing black bikini briefs.  The police did ask Konerak about his well-being.  But Konerak was so disoriented and drunk that it was not clear whether he understood what police were asking or how to respond in front of police officers and a confident blond man, who was repeatedly convincing that he was sorry, and that his lover had drunk too much, and that this thing will not happen again.  The police did believe what Dahmer said, and thought it would be safer not to spark an issue out of homosexual lovers.  What the police officers missed was that the terrible-smelling but neat room had the corpse of one Tony Hughes, whose decomposed body was lying there under the bed for 2 days. (Bardsley) This lapse did cost the 14-year-old young man being the subject of immediate strangling to death.  Dahmer did have sex with the corpse of that young man and took photos of the dead body.  The law missed a chance of checking Jeffrey Dahmer’s name from the ID and hence conducting a background examination.  It would have told them that the confident-looking blond man was actually a child molester, who continued to be on probation.  The lapse did not end there.  Sandra Smith’ s mother Glenda Cleveland later called up the officers to enquire about the 14-year-old boy.  She asked about the age of the child.  “It was not a child.  It was an adult” - Officers told her.  When she continued to ask questions, the officer said “Maam, I cant make it any more clear. Its all taken care of. Hes with his boyfriend and in his boyfriends apartment...Its as positive as I can be...I cant do anything about somebodys sexual preferences in life”.  (Bardsley) Police transcripts show the officers joked and laughed about the incident with the dispatcher. "Intoxicated Asian, naked male was returned to his sober boyfriend," the cop reported adding his partner "is going to get deloused."  (Urquhart). Though three officers involved in the Sinthasomphone case were suspended, the indignation rose to a new level.  They even didnt check the boys ID. They didnt notice the drill holes in his head. The case of Tracy Edward, who finally managed to escape, first appeared to patrolling officers as a typical homosexual encounter that they normally try to avoid.  It was around midnight, when two Milwaukee police officers, patrolling around in the high-crime area around Marquette University, came across a short black man with a handcuff that dangled from his wrist.  The police officers first assumed that the man had escaped from another policeman.  The man broke out.  He mentioned this strange person who put cuffs on him in his apartment itself.  Edward’s story sounded them of a typical homosexual pattern that they try to avoid.  But the police still thought to check out this man who had cuffed Tracy, whose residence was at the Oxford Apartments at 924 North 25th Street. A good-looking man with blond hair and aged 31 years opened the door.  It was Jeffrey Dahmer.  He was calm and rational.  He proposed to get the key to the handcuffs.  The key was in the bedroom.  But the officer decided to go himself into the room and take a look.  The photographs of dead men lying around shocked him.  The officer yelled as his colleagues arrested finally Jeffrey Dahmer.  (Lynn). There is a series of issues of behavioral pattern of US investigative agencies when it comes to crime and Dahmer’s case only exposes them.  White people are looked and heard with less suspicion.  The crimes perpetrated against poor Africans or Asians who often go unreported or their voice is not given the same attention.  Moreover there is a tendency among police officials to be on safer side when it comes to dealing with people who are homosexuals.  They do not want to get into undue controversy.  Also, there was no follow-up of mental condition of Jeffrey Dahmer, after being convicted as sex-offender.  Even while on probation, his correction officer did not visit once in his home.  A better vigil on such psychiatric patient could have averted the whole saga in the first place.  Also, as we saw in his 13th murder of Konerak, the lapse was direct, overwhelming, and serious. (Lynn). The unprecedented security in Milwaukee surrounding the trial of Jeffrey Dahmer with sniffer dogs and everyone checked in with a metal detector appeared rather humorous.  Jeffrey Dahmer was always alone while committing crimes, and all security was perhaps only for the officers and judges who were disposing the case.  Therefore we maya gree to our claim that had the investigative procedures and the investigating officers been more efficient and careful then many of the victims would have been saved.    Works Cited  1.   Bradsley, Marilyn. "Jeffrey Dahmer.” 1998. Tru TV Crime Library. 9 Oct. 2009 6.   Lynn, Becky. “The Life of Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer.” 2007. Quazen.  9 Oct. 2009. http://quazen.com/reference/biography/the-life-of-jeffrey-lionel-dahmer/ 7. Taranto, James, Officer Blix of Milwaukee’s finest, Opinion archives, Wall Street Journal, 2003, 9 Oct 2009 < http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110002971> 8. Urquhart, Sidney. “Guilty!” 18 May. 1992 ”Time” US.  9 Oct. 2009. Time in Partnership with CNN. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975527,00.html. Read More