NCJ Number
155428
Journal
Criminology Australia Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (February 1995) Pages: 21-25
Date Published
1995
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This discussion of the serial murderer Theodore Bundy concludes that sociological and psychological theories are more likely to be complementary than contradictory in the explanation of serial killers.
Abstract
Bundy murdered at least 35 females between 1961 and 1978. Bundy's recollections of his childhood and adolescence focused on the financial and social inequalities of his milieu. He committed his first murder at age 14. He later claimed a compulsive need to act on his fantasies, which developed in a context of social isolation, personal rejection, and poor familial communication. His addiction to pornography progressively escalated. Satanism also had an important influence on him. His behavior included characteristics of both the organized or disorganized offender types classified by the FBI. Although diagnosed as mentally ill in 1987, he was under different motivational influences at different times and his psychopathology may have been fostered within a social context such as Satanism. Another problem in the effort to understand Bundy was the reliance on self-report measures. Cohen's subcultural theory suggests that serial killers are most likely to disclose their secrets to those they perceive as sharing their social reality and that McKenna and Shaefer were in this position. Overall, Bundy's case demonstrates the assertion that serial murder results from interaction between disposition and culture, rather than one or the other. Photographs and 25 references