Violent crime in the world: Ted Bundy case study

Ted Bundy

Although he was executed more than 20 years ago, serial killer Theodore Robert Bundy remains one of the most fascinating criminals in modern history. This is largely because Bundy defied then-held beliefs about the face of evil. Bundy was a good-looking, seemingly successful man. He volunteered on behalf of victims, had a series of interpersonal relationships with women that seemed successful to outside observers, and was of above-average intelligence. However, something in his makeup led Bundy to seek out women for victimization, killing a number of different women. His criminal behavior escalated towards the end of his killing career; at one point in time he assaulted four women in a span of 15 minutes.

The information about Bundy's early life is somewhat unreliable, and it does not seem to feature the expected level of physical violence or neglect that one typically associates with serial killers, although his childhood was unusual. He was born to Eleanor Louise Cowell, a single mother, on November 24, 1946, but his grandparents raised him as their son for the first part of his childhood. One of the things that make it difficult to assess Bundy's childhood is that his own personal accounts of his childhood vary tremendously. Furthermore, because of the proven incidents where Bundy intentionally misled the press, he is simply not a credible source. However, other people give accounts of his childhood that starkly contradict with Bundy's account in his final interview, in which he characterized his childhood home as a good Christian home. There is significant evidence that his grandfather was both physically and emotionally abusive to Bundy and his mother (Montaldo, 2012). Bundy's adoptive father, his mother's first husband, appears to have treated him well though their relationship was strained (Phillips, 2011). Despite that, Bundy was a loner in his childhood and established an early fascination with death and sexual violence began at a young age.

There was nothing about Bundy's interview that seemed even remotely genuine. As far as Bundy's psychology is concerned, it is important to realize that there is a significant difference between being psychotic and being a sociopath (previously referred to as a psychopath). Most people suggest that Bundy, and most serial killers, are sociopaths, and that, while they may be able to intellectually process the difference between right and wrong, they have not internalized the societal cues that make them feel bad for breaking societal taboos. However, in post-interview discussion of his interview with Bundy, psychologist James Dobson makes a very interesting point. James Dobson says, "It was not difficult for the Nazi warlords to find people to do the kind of things that Ted Bundy did. I mean, they found them by the thousands in society," (the Jeremy Kyle Show, 1989). He suggests that the human capacity for violence is oftentimes just below the surface, waiting to be exploited. Therefore, Bundy's explanation that his exposure to violent pornography is what pushed him from a normal man into a violent serial killer lends some credence to Dobson's position.