The primary source I chose is a newspaper article from The Capital Times dated Wednesday, Sept. 11, 1991 the title of this article is “Dahmer offers plea of insanity”. This newspaper article grabbed my attention for many different reasons. Learning from others sources, I found out that Jeffrey Dahmer had some mental illnesses and was out of the ordinary so when I found this source I was determined to read more.
In “Dahmer offers plea of insanity”, Lisa Hotewa writer for The Capital Times newspaper describes what would happen to Dahmer if he pleaded sane or insane. If Dahmer were found sane, he would serve in the Wisconsin state prison for each murder. Hotewa goes into detail on what would happen if Dahmer were insane. Dahmer would be places in a mental hospital and prove he is no longer insane. The District Attorney said he saw the insanity plea coming and that he would fight it. Hotewa lists all of the murders and where they took place, Dahmer killed seventeen men over a period of thirteen years. Most of the killings took place at Dahmer’s apartment in Milwaukee Wisconsin. This article was directed towards Wisconsin residents following the Jeffrey Dahmer case. This source is useful to Wisconsin residents at the time, because it provides information on what would happen to Dahmer if proven insane or sane and information on the killings.
This source is believable in many ways, it has specific dates, and Hotewa quotes the District Attorney E. Michael McCann and the Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Laurence C. Gram Jr. I doubted this source when Hotewa said Dahmer could be released from the mental hospital after one year of rehabilitation. Knowing Dahmer killed seventeen men; you would think the doctors would keep Dahmer for many years.
This source contributes to my research question by giving information on the consequences Dahmer would have to face if proven sane or insane. I learned where the murders took place and what the police found when they entered Dahmer’s apartment. I also learned what would happen to Dahmer if he had pleaded sane or insane. This source is valuable to me; this will help me support my research question and back up what I think about the insanity sentence. It would have been nice if Hotewa mentioned how the District Attorney would prove Dahmer sane, which would have been more helpful for my research. I want to look more into why Dahmer committed the murders. I want to find out if his parents divorce, mothers drug problem and his mental state had anything to do with the reason he committed the murders.