Violent Behavior: Psychoanalytic Theories

“Tommy Lee,” a good-looking man in his 30s, was charged with multiple counts of murder for which he was facing death in the electric chair. His 10 victims, many of whom were reportedly prostitutes, were all young women who had voluntarily gotten into his car and driven off with him to wooded areas. The women were raped and ritually bound prior to being killed. Their bodies were dumped and displayed in signature ways designed to alert legal authorities that these killings were the products of one killer.

The community was outraged at the viciousness of the killer, who apparently tortured his prey prior to [Page 503]disposing of them. When asked why he had abducted and killed these women, the killer, a man of abovenormal intelligence, had ...