Yao Jean.docx CJST 6601-03 UNH MTLAW PAPER

The Relationship between Sentencing and Jeffrey Dahmer’s Case
In the Psycho-Legal System
Yao Jean-Paul KOUGNIGAN
Paper submitted in partial fulfillment for Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice:
CJST 6601-03
Mental Health, Law, and Criminal Justice
University of New Haven
Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice & Forensic Sciences
Department of Criminal Justice
Mr. Fred STOREY, Ph.D.
November 10, 2013

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SENTENCING AND JEFFERY DAHMER’S CASE IN
THE PSYCHO-LEGAL SYSTEM
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Abstract
In my humble opinion, I had a chance to travel a lot and live in different continents such
as Africa, America and Europe. These events helped me to observe human nature, behavior
based on socio-politico and economic aspects. I was a teacher for many years, I have seen,
analyze and observe people in term of their need to fulfill their dream by using any strategies,
techniques and mean to be happy or to reach their goals using criminal mechanism. People
willingness to use crime happens through schools, Internet, banks, government agencies and
many more qualify as nonviolent crime.
In our human condition, we have the minimum expectation to be born, grow, and have a
decent life with an emphasis on the right way of life. One obstacle as said before appears to be
one of the most important: crime. This complex and ambiguous term is not always or all the time
a violent situation, but to try to avoid this issue I chose the topic: “The Relationship between
Sentencing, and Jeffery Dahmer’s Case in the Psycho-Legal System” to ground the discussion in
the particulars of the specific case and to determine why the Dahmer crime occurred.
Furthermore, the idea of this project is to have peace of mind and liberty to pursue our
daily activities in the world and especially in our nation, the United States and to strengthen our
economic and strong law enforcement accuracy based on moral virtues and ethics regarding
human beings. Therefore, if we can accomplish these goals we could easily reduce violence and
vandalism around our nation. In this specific topic we are going to explore and to discover
through psychology and legal system the misconduct of Jeffrey Dahmer and the abandoned man
who will be pushed gradually and negatively in our simple common life to become a serial killer.
The example chosen is one of many, and we hope that will help to prevent or reduce crime in the
future.

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In the social life of the everyday, nobody wants crime either, or to be a criminal and or to
be at the scene of crime. After many decades of hard work in the United States through effective
crime fighting methods using law enforcement, and security agencies, unfortunately we still have
criminals here at home and throughout the world. The ambiguity of the term “Crime” brings up a
series of law or statutes to give verdicts on criminal behavior. In this scenario, many cases need
to be pointed out concerning the criminal justice system regarding mental health of criminals
and all participants in crime. One of the cases which is going to help us analyze and identify
criminal justice policies and law involving psychology patterns is Jeffrey Dahmer. Our goal is to
present a brief summary of this criminal profile related to his socio-politico and economic life
based on his mental health especially the state of his brain at his crimes were committed and the
legal process he was held under.
Life itself is a difficult journey for individuals and groups in our society and everyone
wants to live a decent life by doing their activities with no doubt and no fear day and night. We
want more freedom and security in our lives and hobbies. By having these factors tied to our
nature and resolve, we could easily improve our socio-economic and political lives. In the real
world nobody wants crime, but crime becomes a smart game and business among mankind and
why crime and how to stop crime call on us to choose one example from many criminal cases in
the field of criminal justice to show crime’s description through mental health, psychology
patterns and societal outcome . We chose: “The Relationship between Sentencing and Jeffery
Dahmer’s Case in the Psycho-Legal System” for more reasons such as his family issues and
traits, his psychology defection combines with his mental illness and his behavior towards the
society environmental.

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In addition to that topic, many attribute need to be considered or cited according: by
natural law, nobody or no one has the right to kill another person or human being, and if it
happened between the subject and the victim or the object, the law will give a solution.
Moreover, crime is another one of the crucial diseases in our contemporary world and in the
public affair and policy. Crime has been tied to social matters and appears to be a leitmotiv and
big issue to humanity. The concept of crime is a very complex’s one and there is no unique
definition of it, but let us keep in mind that it always concerns humans, materials, the nature.
These few lines are some of the reasons and interests in choosing the title above.
Also in history crime is as old as the evolution of human species. It created a distortion
between men, women and children for many ways aspects, including poverty, psychology issues,
heredity, economic design or the misuse of our freedom after all. In pro-modern time their were
neither prisons nor prisoners and there was not talk about the way to correct prisoners. The
punishment of criminals was public somehow according to each rule and law and regulation of
each society. One of the big mistakes made in our society and most unacceptable in the United
States was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy which made our security system not
effective until recent. Talking about our policy and our politics outside of the United States of
America, which likely has been good and bad, some irrational ideologies turn against us and
wanted to destroy our asset and patrimonies. We call them bad guys. The attack of 9/11 is one
piece of evidence, and although we lost innocent people, we still do not understand why this
critical behavior and atrocity happened.
Our Department of Homeland Security has been trying very hard to come up with a high
standard of equipment to confront crime. Despite the criminal behavior such as domestic
violence, Fighting, broken windows, shooting, pickpocket, stealing cars and unreasonable

5
interest rate in business, our Federal Government and States have made laws, statutes and rules,
to punish crime. At his presidency, President Nixon had declared war against crime and at any
time if you look at the agenda of our Chiefs Executives of our Government, most of them did the
same.
Each States has its own procedure and strategies for fighting this issue which is a good news, but
still under the guidelines and observation of our Federal Government. Americans expressed a
great fear of violent crime during the Bill Clinton’s Presidency therefore in 1994 Congress
passed the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act. This legislature included the Brady Bill and
the Department of Justice Community Oriented Policy Services (COPS). Many agencies
included non-profit organization for this purpose had been working together on criminal issues to
find ways to solve the tough equation of the mechanism of crime. In the same scenarios the
Mathew Sheppard Hate Crime Prevent Act of 2009 (S909; HCPA) cited by T. Rourke in “YOU
DECIDE” Current Debates in American Politics 2010, was passed to improve the strategies for
fighting it.
In The United States geographically speaking, the continent is divided into four parts
such as: NE (North-East), MW (Middle West), S (South) and W (West). A survey coming up
will show the percentage of violent crime, robbery, murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault
property crime, larcenies, theft, burglary and motor vehicle that varies from one state to another.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the percentage of crime in 2007 was
14.5 in NE whereas 23.1 in West. In our case Jeffery Dahmer committed a lot of crime for the
simple fact that nobody helped him and understood his behavior earlier. Today we have
condemned him as a serial killer at the top desk. This is one of the good example for all of us to
wake up and not to be blind with our laws; rule made by us to free us should not to become

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coercive. A law or a rule or statute which is not going to give us happiness and joy need to be
revised and adjusted or canceled according to the need of people in the current time.
Anyway, Dahmer is a criminal because of the laws and statutes voted and used by the
Senate, Congress, our Federal Government and the highest hierarchy of the Judicial System, the
Supreme Court through the Constitution, and the supreme law of a land. The FEDERAL
SENTENCING GUIDELINES of 1987 in the following statement argue that: The guidelines
provide for “very precise calibration of sentences, depending upon a number of factors. These
factors relate both to the subjective guilt of the defendant and to the harm caused by his fact.”
(Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 820, 1991).
Before that let us put in mind that many laws and statutes have been occurred over time
regarding the way to control crime and their authors. Therefore the crime control Act has been
put in place from 1973 up to 2002. These act has been improve each year referring to
Criminology code of Mar. 4, 1909, Ch. 321. 35 Stat. 1088.
Jeffery Dahmer was born normally as any other human with a good childhood. However,
when he was 15, he started withdrawing from his peers and from children activities. Instead of
biking he would rather go find dead animals and cut them up at home. He was disorganized. In
fact who really is Jeffery Dahmer? He is a native born of Milwaukee, from Lionel and Joyce
Dahmer whose father was severely alcoholic. Jeffery was immobilized at birth until the fourth
month because he had problem with his legs. After that he grew up healthy but his mother refuse
to breast feed him at one point.
Having unstable behavior due to neighboring noises, his mother used a lot of
antidepressants and psychotics drug. After their marriage, they moved six times before reaching

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Iowa. Jeffery was sick regularly. When his father got a job promotion as a nurse, Jeffery helped
him in the lab with chemistry work and other task. In his project and job description, his father
found some dead animals and especially owls and Jeffery liked to play with it and broke its
bones in pieces. His father’s occupation left him lonely. On the 19th of the month of March 1964,
he had hernia surgery and when he woke up from anesthesia him though somebody cut his
genitals. Jeffery was in the middle of his parent’s continuous litigation and quarrels.
The observation made by his teacher to the parents was that Jeffery was not interested in
school work and was shy. He was growing more and more isolated while his mother was sent to
a neuropsychiatry structure because of her psychology problems. No matter his behavior in
elementary school Jeffery Dahmer went to high school with an apathy disorder and was
considered a bizarre student, who was strange. He started to drink a lot. Again Jeffery loves dead
animals and was showing necrophilia aspects. After the divorce of his parents Jeffery experience
single life and invited his friend for drink and got drunk and smashed his friend skull and
strangled him.
At Ohio State University, he seemed normal to his classmates and later started showing
other mood even though he signed for the army he went to be with his grandmother in West Allis
and he found a job. Let us keep in mind that Jeffery Dahmer after having a minor surgery and the
divorce of his parent, became increasingly insular and lacked of self-confidence. From 1987
through1991, he killed 17 young men. Even though he pleaded not guilty he was sentenced to
jail. He grew up with more series psychology problems. Jeffery Dahmer was qualified as a
murder and a serial killer with the name of the criminal “who ate parts of his victims”. Now the
question is as follows, what brought Jeffery Dahmer to that point and what are the most
significant reasons from his childhood through adulthood and socio-economic-environmental

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and psychology? Well, the next paragraph will help us to discovering this other aspect of
Dahmer by drawing some relevant factors and element from the psychiatrists.
The medical record and statement have shown that Jeffery Dahmer was a psychotic, with
mental illness long time ago and has never been recovery, in addition to his hallucinating beliefs.
The diagnostic also state through many psychiatrists that he has been sadism maniac. Jeffery
Dahmer aggressiveness and anger feelings have pushed him to kill. Talking about his brain and
mental illness and his psychology stand, Jeffery Dahmer was unable to construct any relationship
and the frustration took effet and end up with anger and hate. One of the definitions of his
behavior was the sexual desire which merely is the only way for these feeling to be exposed.
Focusing on Dahmer mental illness, his psychological profile has sketched more that he
killed people for the reason to destroy the attraction he had for them but not the opposite.
Moreover, he has been drinking a lot of liquor. The rubric demonstrate that Jeffery Dahmer as a
premeditating criminal in this environmental. He was organized before committing crime. We
have seen Dahmer as not sadist but paraphilia. All these characteristics have made Jeffery
Dahmer as a sane mind. In consequence we could assume that this case likely is related to the
Insanity Defense Reform Act. By the way our current book defines insanity as
WRIGHTSMAN’S declared: “Insanity refers to the defendant’s mental state at the time the
offense was committed.” (Wightman, 2013, p. 226). As we move on, we will emphasize more on
insanity and competency on Jeffery Dahmer.
How can we combine his family issue to his murder or how his family issues such as:
traits and genetics and behavior have made him become a serial killer. This other idea called for
family’s dynamics. Many Psychiatrists had testified at the court that Jeffery Dahmer had a long

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time mental illness, creating disturbance during infancy, disorders. The relation between him and
his mother was a critical situation based on synchronicity and reciprocity. Jeffery’s mother has
refused brutally to breast feeding him. This new behavior had prorogued a distortion and
distance as she was unable to carry him physically. These factors helped negatively to develop
the issues of Jeffery Dahmer in term of paradigm.
As a child Jeffery Dahmer liked dead animals at one point, it was not enough and his
fantasy increased during puberty likely to be interested in male especially concentrate on their
abdomen as a paraphilia. The Diagnostic and the Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM IV
TR) has recognized that they are many form of paraphilia but those who were concerned in on
our case here are fantasies, paraphilia and homosexuality related to Jeffery Dahmer mental. It is
clear that he did not get a chance to observe the Oedipal stage which is a manifestation of loving
opposite sex as a teenager and further in the society. Most of the time, children who were not
capable to resolve healthy Oedipal conflict suffer of psychological disorders according to
psychodynamic theories. Sigmund Freud was one of these thinkers and scientist who had
developed the mechanism of childhood evolution to adulthood and more on psychoanalyses.
Furth more Jeffery Dahmer did not have a skill to exercise eye contact; this pattern is
attributed to social incompetence. He was unable to build a relationship; he was not close to his
parents. The characteristic of DSM IV are lack of securities, emotional, cloners, solidarity life
style in brief lack of interest in social relationship. As we saw it, Jeffery Dahmer psychology
issues are huge and enormous; from incident exposure to hard facts of murder, he has become a
serial killer and responsible for his crime because he had a plan before doing so for upon his
strategies of crime and the diagnostic made by psychologists have shown that he was admitted as
a competence man to stand for trial. Competency is, according to our power point study in the

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class the right to be present at trial after observing the entire step required by the Law. In this
situation, one case remind accurate in term of crime competency with legal standard: “Dusky v.
United States, 1960.”
By knowing that Jeffery Dahmer already had criminal records after several sentencing to
jail and adjustment, the law enforcement believed that he was going to behave well enough and
he was given another chance to familiar with the community for a while even though he was
detected as a criminal. Unfortunately it did not happen. In fact one of his victims named Konreak
is going to be the effective evidence of Jeffery Criminal matters. Sandra Smith eyewitnesses saw
the boy naked running the street early in the morning and called 911. Two police men came to
find out what was going on, whether or not it was any criminal affair going on there. Many
scenes were also identified with this situation and the police put more investigation in Jeffery
Dahmer case.
The investigation came up later on with prove of bodies in his apartment and photograph
of most his victim. The hard facts of murder concerning our case classified Jeffery as unlawful,
illegal, and premature. He was entitled lead to first and second degree murder and a lot more. In
1989, his defense lawyer Gerald Boyle has presented his argument to judge William Gardner’s
by saying that Jeffery Dahmer treatment within the community was extremely bleak. In addition
to that he argued that he was sick and needed treatment not prison.
In the Legal System in the United States, such case of relation with sentencing and
Jeffery Dahmer refers to Federal laws, statutes, and administrative procedures. By the way
sentencing really according to history had nothing to do with the Constitution, but a lot of factors

11
needed to be considered by the court of each state like: sufficiency and necessity, the court shall
analyze the historically event related to the circumstances of the offense.
After being in probation for 5 years, Jeffery Dahmer kept making the same crime: kill.
Even 9 years of his first victim he always kills. His next arrest will come from Tracy Edwards in
Milwaukee where Jeffery Dahmer forced Edwards into bathroom acknowledge terrible smells, in
state of panic, Edwards has kicked Jeffery and sprinted out on the street , and has waved the
police car back in 1991 and the police has found what was occurred. After two weeks of court
process, the court found Jeffery sane and guilty on 15 counts. He was sentenced to 15 life terms
or 95 years prisons.
In Forensic Science, many cases present deep controversies in term of Forensic
Psychiatry when it is related to insanity defense. Jeffery Dahmer was qualified justly because of
his mental, brain, family dynamic, psychology pattern; he was responsible and competent to
stand for trial. This case refers also to one or more serial killer such as Albert DeSalvo and john
Wayne. Despite a short comment and analyze on Jeffry Dahmer, It looks like this case had drawn
the most important factors in criminals matters regarding the Psycho-Legal System. Moreover
this case also illustrated the process and the techniques of insanity and competency for a person
to be able to participate for a trial and final give the right to the court to make a correct verdict.
In addition to the court decision to be granted, and taken place and effet, many
components need to be observed and roads to be followed carefully. The first one is the
investigation which is another way to catch criminals related to interrogation strategies
regardless deception and confession with a valid criminal profile. Yet, but we have seen this
aspect in Jeffery’s case. The second one is to determine in combination with the psychologist the

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mental health of the criminal. Here the diagnostic had sketched Jeffery with depression,
psychopath and antisocial behavior a growing man. The third one is the modus operandi and
signature explaining how he has planned and committed crimes using the bodies to bring home
and so one. Finally the eyewithnessesse added to these factors above are likely tied to Jeffery
process.
By analyzing carefully this case one could discover that parents instead of being
irresponsible for their children, have to be first responsible for them as educator and controller
before any other institution coming to reinforce the family discipline in the society. In the same
order of ideas among parents, mothers appear to be if health to breastfeed children with tender
and love at certain age and the father most importantly to control the household with a good
ethical and moral virtue using the strategy of soft power. Children by growing and having
relationship with the society in school will install a truth communication between them and
teacher and authorities on any other behavior up to adult stage.
We did not find these element in the case of Dahmer’ family instead a mascaraed of
disorder due to incomprehension and ignorance somehow and unwanted psychology issues.
Although the laws, the rules in general prescribe a set to observe for better life, it also
recommends observing and analyzing individual good rule versus group and society which need
to be considered and rethink. As we are in the middle of criminal case, such crime and other ones
brought a series of reform, act, statutes and regulation to control criminal behavior as we cited
earlier in one of our paragraph. Even the Chief Executive of our current Government regarding
the killing of innocent children in our State Connecticut especially in Newton and previously in
Boston has strengthened the criminal law and code and statutes and security by emplacing more
on gun control. Yet, I will say crime control start at home with parents.

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Again Jeffery Dahmer did not request to be born or to get sick. It is a matter of
proliferation and genetic traits and the mechanism of chromosomes and ovaries carried by his
parents, issues, and socio patterns have made him loose control at certain period of his life and
pushed him hard to become a serial killer in nowadays history. It is simple as a farmer with his
legacy of cultivating crops, when a seed is in good conditions or perfect environmental, talking
about sun, area, water, soil the seed would likely give a good result, fruit and so one. The
contrary event we know is going to be like Jeffery Dahmer.
The story of “Kermit and the Keyboarding” in education socio-life and Psychology is one
of the contrary life of Jeffery Dahmer in term of self-regulation to get a humanistic asset to
contribute to the society not to destroy. This example was coded by Marcy P. Driscoll (2005) in
his famous book –“Psychology of Learning for Instruction. ”
Conclusion
My Choice of “The Relationship between Sentencing and Jeffery Dahmer’s Case in the
Psycho-Legal System” is not a revanchist on racial issue but one of many examples of criminal
aspects to awaken our nation and the world. It happened. We do not want it to happen again no
more, but it is still happening. What do we have to do? We all have been call to try on many
ways to prevent criminal behavior and it ramification at the root from family and evolution of
human in the society, nature, and on all plans. Also to avoid getting into psychology issues this is
one of human principal engine guiding us to control our behavior. Finally, to observing the great
book of health and rules, moral virtue and current regulations in different ways to improve
human potential are to be point out. Jeffery Dahmer, one could say that he followed
independently from his free will or he did what he wanted to do. It was sentenced even though

14
psychialists found him in sane and competence to stand for trial because none has the right to
take away somebody’s life. The court decision was fair enough after having all legal accurate
information and the documentation regarding his criminal profile. In our contemporary world,
crime becomes a daily handicap of our life, I suggest no matter any criminal behavior to observe
the strategy of Attention-Issue-Circle which sound like the iron triangle in real life.

References
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. 3rd edition. Pearson Education,
Inc.
Edie, G., & Kirk, H. (2013). Psychology and the Legal System: 8th edition. Cengage Learning.
ISBN-10: 1133956564
Paper, The case of Jeffery Dahmer: Sexual Serial Homicide from a Neuropsychiatric
Developmental Perspective. J Forensic Science, Nov. 2002, Vol.47, No. 6 ID
JFS2002051_476 www.astm.org
Roberson, C. (2009). Constitutional Law and Criminal Justice. CRC Press. ISBN: 978-14200-
8610-2. EBook ISBN: 978-14200-8611-9
Rourke, T. (2010). You Decide: Current Debate in American Politics. 7th edition. Pearson.
University of Connecticut. ISBN-10: 0205745474.
Satter, R. (2004). Under Gold Dome. Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. ISBN-10:
0971460817
Schmidt, M. A. (1994). Dahmer Discourse and Gay Identity: The Paradox of Queer Politics.
Critical sociology, 20(3), 81.

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