PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH ON CRIMINOLOGY

Psychoanalytic criminology is a method of studying crime and criminal behaviour that draws from Freudian psychoanalysis.

Here, I would be explaining the case study of the famous serial killer Ted Bundy where malfunctions in his childhood development led to him being America’s most notorious serial killer.

Criminal behaviour is attributed to maladjustment and dysfunctional personality. Ted Bundy was an American serial killer and necrophile who kidnapped, raped, and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more than a decade of denials, before his execution in 1989 he confessed to 30 homicides that he committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978. The true number of victims is unknown and possibly higher.

Psychodynamic theorists believe that this disorder begins during infancy when infants either develop trust or mistrust towards their caregivers. In the case of Ted this very issue caused a lot of turmoil for him. He grew up thinking that his grandparents were his parents and that is sister was his mother. I think that this was very hard for him to accept and he felt like he could not trust anyone. Researchers have supported the psychodynamic theory by claiming that people with disorder have been subjected to family violence and parental conflict or divorce. Ted’s grandfather was said to be violent towards Ted and his other siblings. I believe that Ted’s environment played a huge role in his developing antisocial disorder.

This for me was an interesting topic discussed in our lecture and I could highly relate to the case study of Ted Bundy.