Aksinya Masse

English 10

Criminal psychology is the study of the mind of a criminal, though it is mostly based

upon serial killers, all types of criminals fit into this category. It dives deeper into the mind of a

criminal and explains through psychology, why the criminal committed the crime he/she did. ​A

large part of what a criminal psychologist does is studying why people commit crimes. However,

they may also be asked to assess criminals in order to evaluate the risk of recidivism (how likely

the person is to re-offend in the future) or make educated guesses about the actions that a

criminal may have taken after committing a crime.

There are many famous cases involving criminal psychology that have been solved by

using the tactics of criminal psychology. For example the Ted Bundy case that was recently

solved was in part because of criminal psychology. The psychologists used the mind of Ted

bundy, who he killed, how he killed them, and where to determine where his next victim would

be. Luckily they found him and put him between bars before he caused anymore harm. If you

have seen the netflix original about Bundy, you notice that Ted was highly sex driven in

choosing his victims and where he raped and killed the woman. It is very clear to see based upon

his victim list, that he went for young woman around the age of early 20’s who were wearing

easily removable clothing. Though this does not excuse his actions, the criminal psychologists

dove deep into Ted as a child and could easily with psychology, understand how, where, and

who he killed. This eventually led to the hearing of Bundy and the arrest of this famous killer.
 The entire field of criminal psychology takes a lot of college years, classes, and

time. It also involves a lot of close work with the FBI and close work with many famous cases,

like the Ted Bundy case. In full scale the needed degree to enter this field is 6 years minimum

with a major in psychology and a minor in criminal justice. This will take a lot of time, but the

outcome is worth the hard work. As a college student, you can internship with the FBI to more

closely evaluate what exactly they do and how it all works. You will most likely evaluate old

cases that have already been solved so you can get a feel of the field and fully understand what a

criminal psychologist does.

As far as the job goes, you will look into new and old cases, that havent been

solved yet, and you will, by using psychology, solve the case and stop another killing from

happening. It is very important that you fully understand what makes a serial killer do what they

did to help ensure another attack doesn't happen. By looking into the killers childhood, you can

determine what may have lead to their killings. For example one main reason for killing is the

neglect the child receives in their younger years. This may be from parents, friends, teachers, or

other adults and children. The constant neglect and lack of love can lead a child to hate humans

and disrespect the human race which untreated, can lead to the death of innocent lives. To fully

understand why they may have killed people it is crucial to understand their younger years and to

understand what kind of teaching their elders gave them, or lack thereof.

There are many famous cases that have been solved by the criminal psychologists in

history. These few criminals cases were cracked by criminal psychologists who ended the killers
reign of terror. ​The first case we will dive into is the Ted Bundy case that was officially solved in

August 16th, 1975 in Utah, New York. Growing up Ted always had a special desire towards

young girls and the idea of sex, but he simply could not act upon it. Along with his obsession in

sex and girls, his mother often would neglect him and fail to raise him as a child, and to teach

him morals (Women's health magazine). Using this vital information, the criminal psychologists

could easily depict what brought Bundy to kill all of those innocent people. As the random

killings seemed to happen almost like clockwork, and with the victims all being of the same type,

the criminal psychologists could only come to the conclusion that it was one person. A case

similar to Ted’s is the John Wayne Gacy case.

John Wayne Gacy was a notorious serial killer whose reign of terror officially ended in

1994, when he was sentenced to death by electric chair. Growing up Gacy depicted himself as a

straight, normal looking guy who worked in construction. The one clear motive that he had for

his killings was his hate for homosexuality and gay men. His victims were young boys that he

would molest, rape, and eventually kill them and put them under his floor boards in his house.

Once the killings began to start, the criminal psychologists couldn't help but notice a strange

pattern between all of the “random” killings. The victims were all young boys straight and gay,

that were all raped, then killed. The criminal psychologist had a difficult time in knowing who

the killer could be, and they often looked past John as he was a “normal guy with a passion for

contracting” (psychology today). As the killings became more apparent, the criminal

psychologist couldn't help but notice how open John was for his hate towards young men. As

they began to research him more, they went to his house for a simple chat when they noticed
something odd about his floorboards. Most of the floorboards seemed to be sticking out of the

floor. Under investigation, they found 29 dead corpses lying under Gacy’s floorboards. They

finally arrested him in 1994. Without the help of the criminal psychologists, finding the killer

would not have been possible. By examining the dead bodies, the pattern of young men around

the same age was clear to see. In hindsight they thought John was a gay man because he raped

young boys, but in his interview, he told the police and criminal psychologist that the young boys

were “worthless little queers and punks” (psychology today). Knowing who got killed and the

pattern of the killings, the criminal psychologists were able to find Gacy and eventually lock him

behind bars. Those are a few of the big cases, but lets dive deeper into the actual killings and the

motives behind the killings.

John Wayne Gacy is one of the most famous serial killers in the late 1970’s who killed and

sexually abused more than 34 young men and teenage boys. His killing spree was based in his

illinois ranch style home. His motives for his killings remain partially unknown but it is said that

his work was so busy and he didn't have enough time to sexually indulge, so he raped and

tortured the young men as a way to quickly get off. In his so called “free time”, john liked to

dress up as a clown with makeup and hair and go to children's birthday parties. His clown alter

ego was named Pogo. Another notorious serial killer is Ted Bundy, who you may know from

recent news and the new netflix show about him.

The next serial killer is a more recent killer in the news, Theodore Bundy. Bundy

admitted to killing 30 people but there may be more killings he's not admitting to. As you may
have seen from the news, Ted Bundy was your average attractive, hardworking, middle class

citizen to whom family didn't think was capable of killing people. Ted had a pretty good

childhood but resented his mother for retaining information about his real father. He grew up

playing football in the yard of his friends house and swimming in the local ponds and lakes. Ted

had an extremely weird habit for looking into trash cans in hopes of finding naked woman and

reading crime magazines and watching crime documentaries in hopes of seeing a naked,

mutilated body. Whether or not this uprising brought him to mutilate and rape young woman is

unclear, but it is clear to see Ted Bundy is a force not to be reckoned with.

These are a few famous serial killers who lead their life of murder, rape, and mutilation

of young teenagers and woman. Some motives seem unclear but one thing in common is their

uprising had a major effect on them which lead to the killings of all of those innocent people.

With all of these horrific killings, there are many motives present on why these specific serial

killers did what they did. The main motives that keep appearing are neglect from family and an

obsession in their younger years.

Serial killers have many known motives for why they do the things they do. One motive

that seems to keep repeating itself is their childhood years were filled with anger and neglect.

This is not the only recurring motif throughout serial killers. Another main motive is the

obsession in woman or young children, or sex. The obsession can lead to anger if the subject

does not oblige, so it's no wonder the serial killers killed them before indulging.
 Some of the most famous serial killers like Ted bundy had an overwhelming obsession

with sex and young children In the Netflix Original series ​The Confession Tapes, ​it dives deeper

into the motifs behind why Ted killed the innocent people. It was known that Ted was neglected

by his mother in his younger years so he always had anger behind the wall of “Innocence”. It is

also known that he was obsessed with young ladies and sex but couldn't seem to get anybody to

help him indulge. Of course the neglect as a child never helped with the anger with no being able

to have sex. These two obsessions and issues could have led Ted to kill all of those innocent

people. These killings and their motives behind the killings would not be stopped without the

help from criminal psychologists.

As you can clearly see, without criminal psychologist, these cases would not have been

solved. As you study and learn more about criminal psychology, the importance of the field is

clear and apparent. The one main takeaway from learning about criminal psychologist, is

understanding what makes a killer to help stop another chain of killings from happening. The

criminal psychologists want everybody to know and to be able to detect what childhood events

could lead somebody to kill innocent people.

With knowing the information about somebody’s life and by taking a look closer into a

person's private life, you can help the criminal psychologist catch the next killer. The takeaway

from this is to learn as much as you can about the people around you and to notify police about

any strange behaviour that people might have. This may be an obsession in sex, young teenagers,
or neglect from parents. As you can see it doesn't take much for an obsession or built up anger to

bring somebody to kill innocent lives.

Works Cited

Canning, Kristin. “There Are Some CRAZY Theories About Why Ted Bundy Became A Serial

Killer.” ​Women's Health​, Women's Health, 8 May 2019,

www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a27407386/ted-bundy-motives/.

Cherry, Kendra. “What Criminal Psychologists Do.” ​Verywell Mind,​ Verywellmind, 16 Dec. 2018,

www.verywellmind.com/criminal-psychologist-a-career-profile-2795649.

“Criminal Psychologist Career.” ​Criminal Psychologist Career: Job Duties, Skills &

Education,​ www.psychologyschoolguide.net/psychology-careers/criminal-psychologists/.

Durham College. “Criminal Psychology & Behaviour (Certificate).” ​Durham College,​

durhamcollege.ca/academic-schools/school-of-continuing-education/programs-and-cours

es/programs/program?dept=DIPL&prog=CRPB.

“John Wayne Gacy: The Diabolical ‘Killer Clown.’” ​Psychology Today,​ Sussex Publishers,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201405/john-wayne-gacy-the-diabolical

-killer-clown.

“Opinion | Inside the Mind of a Criminal.” ​Google,​ Google,

www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/opinion/sunday/studying-crime-in-

progress.amp.html.