For my second source I chose an article called “Serial Killer: Nature vs. Nurture” from the American Academy of Experts in Stress. This article explains why Jeffrey Dahmer might have committed the murders. This is a great source for my research question because it has theories on Dahmer’s “childhood experiences” and “repeated psychological trauma”. In this article, the author describes what happened in Dahmer’s childhood and how Dahmer was a normal little boy until his father uprooted the family to move to Ohio for his Ph. D in chemistry. After the move Dahmer seemed to have changed, he was acting more shy and distant to his parents, and would collect dead animals off the side of the road. When Dahmer’s parents would get into fights, Dahmer would run into the woods and sit on a pile of corps that he had collected. Dahmer claimed that the dead carcasses comforted him, pleasured him and gave him an emotional release. Because of Dahmer’s homosexuality he felt rejected from his parents. Dahmer turned to other boys to comfort him but then he would kill them for pleasure. “Criminologists and social behavioral psychologists have come to argue that ‘‘childhood experiences’” and “‘repeated psychological trauma,’” during the early stages of growing up can cause a child to seek relief through activities of violence such as killing small animals.” Experts say this explains for Dahmer’s wrongful actions.

The one thing that makes me concerned is that there isn’t an author posted and the end of the article. I believe this source is reliable, because experts on stress wrote this it. This article is cited and the author or authors did a study on murders’ brains and compared them to normal peoples’ brains. All of the information sounds credible plus it is posted on the American Academy of Experts in Stress website.

This source answers my research question, why did Jeffrey Dahmer commit the murders? I learned that studies have shown Dahmer’s childhood and psychological trauma was the cause of the murders. Also that Dahmer was a normal boy until his father moved the whole family to Ohio. His parents’ annual fights and divorce was really hard for Dahmer to cope with. This is a valuable source because it has credible information that will answer my research question. It would have been nice if this article talked more in depth about Jeffrey Dahmer instead of just general serial killers. This source was helpful to my research and gave me great facts about Dahmer and his conditions. I am going to continue my research on why Dahmer committed the murders. I am going to look at some more primary sources like newspaper clippings and magazine articles from the time Dahmer’s case took place.

After reading many articles about Jeffrey Dahmer I have been questioning his childhood. What was his relationship like with his mother? Why did he run to dead bodies for comfort instead of talking to someone? If his parents had stayed together, would that have changed Dahmer’s motives? Many things come to mind when you read about a serial killer that cuts the carcasses up and eats it.

Work Cited

“Serial Killer: Nature vs. Nurture.” American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. aagets.org. Web. 31 Oct. 2013