In February 1992, Dr. Park Dietz spent several hours testifying that Jeffrey Dahmer was not legally insane when he murdered 151 young men in the state of Wisconsin. Nor was he legally insane when he committed acts of necrophilia, cannibalism and dismemberment upon their bodies. Or when he attempted to create ‘sex zombies’ by way of applying muriatic acid to living brains.
Dietz (a forensic psychiatrist who had previously consulted for the FBI) argued that although Dahmer was sexually deviant, he wasn’t out of control. Numerous instances where Dahmer had premeditated murders, taken steps to hide evidence, resisted killing in front of witnesses – and even protected himself against disease by wearing a condom while defiling corpses – were provided by the doctor as proof of Dahmer’s ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and circumstantially tailor his behaviour.
A jury verdict of 10-2 echoed Dietz’s assessment and Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms. Making him eligible for parole sometime in the year 2934.
In response to the high number of requests he recieved from the media, researchers and those who were just plain curious to hear more from him, Dr. Dietz prepared a statement following the verdict and had it sent to his inquirers.
Obtained from a source who reached out to Dietz personally in ’92, it appears this full statement has never been published online in its entirety prior to now.
STATEMENT OF PARK DIETZ, M.D., IN REACTION TO DAHMER VERDICT
2/15/92; Newport Beach, California
“A serial killer’s personality does not involve deep secrets. It’s the coincidence of two problems… Character [and] perversion.”
The jury finding that Mr. Dahmer was sane– the often misleading legal term for a finding that he was responsible for his crimes– is important for the families of the men he killed and for the city of Milwaukee to whom he brought such shame. But the verdict is also important as a message to countless other men who long to commit sexual crimes.
If the jury had found Mr. Dahmer insane, it would have been open season for sex offenders, because the core of the defense theory of the case was that sexually deviated (“paraphilic”) men cannot control their behavior. Experts on both sides of the case diagnosed Mr. Dahmer as suffering paraphilias, including necrophilia, that are precisely analogous to the disorders found among most child molesters, serial rapists, and serial killers, as well as many of those committing sex offenses.
Defense experts testified to their opinions that a paraphilia is a mental disease and that in this case it caused Mr. Dahmer to lack substantial capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law when killing to obtain corpses for sexual use. I testified to my opinion that a paraphilia did not meet the requirements of Wisconsin law for a mental disease because a sexual interest, however unusual, does not substantially affect mental or emotional processes; it merely determines what fantasies, mental images, or actions are sexually arousing. More importantly, a paraphilic interest does not in itself cause one to behave criminally, for paraphiles do not necessarily commit crimes to fulfill their sexual desires. Mr. Dahmer, like countless other men with unusual sexual desires, was able to gratify himself without committing crimes, and often did so.
One message for those who long to perform harmful and antisocial sexual acts is clear: society is not prepared to excuse you, however bizarre your actions. Another message, however, remains unspoken: if you long for such actions, it is your responsibility to seek treatment, to avoid situations that tempt you, and to find lawful ways of satisfying your urges until– through treatment– you change the direction or intensity of those urges.
With respect to Mr. Dahmer, I only hope that the trial served to clarify that his crimes were not motivated by racial prejudice or homophobia. His attraction to particular aspects of masculine physique drew him to men of all races, both in his crimes and in his consenting encounters. I think the jury judged him fairly, but it remains to be seen whether his fellow inmates will judge him as fairly as the criminal justice system so many of them mock and distrust.
Dr. Dietz’s official statement from February 15th, 1992 – the day Dahmer was deemed sane under Wisconsin law
A huge thank you to Steve Giannangelo for this great piece of true crime history
Steve further discusses this statement and Dr. Dietz’s take on insanity in his new book: Irresistible Impulses: Defending the Insanity of Serial Murder
The book also features new and exclusive interviews with lawyer Wendy Patrickus and psychologist Dr. Fred Berlin – both of Dahmer’s defence team!
Sources:
- FBI files
- Cornell
Footnote:
- Dahmer killed 17 men in total, but was not tried for the murder of 25-year-old Steven Tuomi due to lack of evidence. For the death of his first victim, 18-year-old Steven Hicks, Dahmer was tried in Bath, Ohio – where the murder had taken place over 10 years prior. Dahmer did not attempt to plead insanity for Hicks’ murder ↩︎
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Wow, it’s great to see my correspondence from Dr. Dietz that he sent me after I contacted him upon the conclusion of the trial. It’s staggering thats it’s been so long! I have followed this case from Day 1.
I think Dr. Dietz’ comments ring as true today as they did then, which is why I included it in my new book. (Thanks so much for the mention!) It’s a great statement.
Such an informative and well-researched blog! Keep up the great work!
Stephen J Giannangelo
You’re very welcome! It’s great that you finally let me share it 😛 Very excited to read the new book and so happy for you that you got to interview them!
Does the fact that Dahmer is still so popular within the TCC make it feel like the case was far less than 30+ years ago? It must be kinda odd both remembering it breaking on the news and then still having him be such a big part of pop culture and conversation.
Thank you! x
Well, the weird thing was, watching it play out in real time, watching the trial every day and following it up until his murder, at one point it felt like that was the end of that story in 1994.
But his story has always been a little different than most. People were always interested in it. Then when the Netflix series hit, it made a wild pop culture resurgence like no other case ive ever experienced. Suddenly people were discussing details about the case that I hadn’t thought about in years.
Very unique in my view.
I check your blog every day to see if there is a new post 🖤. Dr Dietz was very qualified doctor, I can’t deny that. But I don’t agree with he says. According to him there was a lot of evidence that Jeffrey was sane as in the article you shared . I don’t understand , did Jeffrey commit all these murders just because he had paraphilic disorders ? I don’t think so. Jeffrey was a very complex individual and there were many reasons that drove him to these madnesses . In my opinion, even if Jeff had a delusional disorder, he would not have been sent to a mental hospital. Because if the people in charge of this had sent Jeff to a mental hospital, society would have revolted and they didn’t want to deal with that. I think Jeffrey was treated unfairly. Did he have to be cross-eyed, with his tongue hanging out, and barking to be considered crazy? Do you think Jeffrey should have been sent to a mental hospital or to prison?
Hey! Thank you so much 🥰 I’m flattered you check every day (though sure wish I was able to post something that regularly 😅)
This is a really great comment. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I try to post objectively (partly because there are excellent points on both sides of the sanity argument) – but off-record, I probably agree most with Robert Ressler, who basically said what you did: that there’s a gradient to insanity and a person doesn’t have to be wild-eyed, foaming at the mouth and constantly out of control in order to be insane.
“There are insane people who can frequently appear to be functioning sane human beings even though, deep down, at a fundamental level, they are beyond sanity. Dahmer, in my view, was one of those people.” – Robert Ressler
You’re right that Jeff was very complex and that finding him insane would’ve led to public outcry (as well as insulting the victim’s families who’d have seen it as undermining the severity of what had happened to their loved ones). Balancing treatment for genuinely ill perpetrators with justice for victims is tough. Even among the victims’ families, most believed he deserved to rot in prison, but a few came to believe he was sick and not completely beyond redemption.
The kind of psychiatric facility Dahmer would’ve been committed to back then would’ve been terrible though. In that sense – much like there was never a definitive explanation for why exactly he came to do what he did – I don’t think there is a definitive explanation for what exactly to have done with him after he did it. It reminds me a bit of this quote:
“It seems to me that there was no appropriate place for Jeff to go, except for where he is now, with his Lord.” – Lionel Dahmer in ‘95
It’s another reason why the case is so fascinating and constantly generates discussion!
As for Dr. Dietz: I think the defence focused too much on Dahmer’s paraphilia being the cause of his actions instead of any mental health issues, so Dietz’s statement is apt in its response to the specific defence presented in court.
I also agree with him that it’s the responsibility of the offender to get that help before they become dangerous. I think where it gets complicated with Dahmer, though, is that we know Jeff abandoned trying to get help at a Mental Health Complex in 1990 after waiting just 15 minutes; refused to participate with Dr. Rosen; and explicitly said he had no interest in trying to form conventional relationships, etc. Yet that doesn’t take into account all the issues he’d already harboured by 18-years-old, right before he killed Steven Hicks. IMO, we can sympathise more with a child // very young adult not feeling like they can (or should) reach out to someone for help than we might do with a grown-man in his 20s. But, of course, by his 20s, Dahmer had already killed and that window to help himself before he’d harmed anyone had long closed. Essentially he’d slipped through the cracks and wasn’t even given a chance to have his mind potentially remoulded before stepping foot on a path of no return.
When he did try to go on the “straight and narrow” to avoid causing more harm, that too eventually came undone by drugging people in bathhouses and murdering Steve Tuomi, and he just continued on in “that mode” like some kind of self-fulfilled prophet (for want of a better term).
That said, while I have a huge amount of empathy and sympathy for Jeff, it’s impossible not to also see him as extremely selfish. Him being sick isn’t carte blanche to coddle him like he couldn’t also be icy, manipulative and self-serving. Many people are mentally ill and lonely, they don’t go on to kill 17 people. However, I do believe his contrition was genuine. Just like his claim that he could not stop his compulsions – regardless of whether one views them as a result of mental health issues, paraphilia or something else entirely.
I think Jeff was so internally isolated that it was easy for his fantasies to consume him and for him to see people as props and background characters which he could draw into his own private world and use as-and-when required. When he was arrested, that bubble of isolation burst and he could reflect more on his actions from outside of it – and alongside people he developed humane connections with (Kennedy, Wendy, etc.), even if those were clinical and relatively evanescent. By his own admission, the compulsions never really left him though.
I have a soft spot and a massive amount of respect for Park Dietz. He’s cool as fuck and very engaging and easy to listen to. Dream dinner party guest, for sure! I get what he’s saying when he says that to excuse Dahmer would lead to “open season” on sex offenders excusing their crimes on their paraphilias – although the sum of Dahmer’s crimes was so unique and bizarre it could be countered as an extenuating circumstance, IMO.
Great find! Thanks for sharing!
You’re very welcome! Thank you for your comment 🙂
Thanks for this. Do you think Doctor dietz will ever release the tapes he made with Dahmer? He’d make a lot of money from them….
No worries! 🙂
Unfortunately, client confidentiality prohibits him from publicly sharing them. That was legally maneuvered with other recordings, but I know Dietz won’t be releasing his to a wider audience (or at least not for a very long time). By all accounts, he’s pretty loaded, so it’s not like he needs the money.
I hope they show up in a documentary at some point though or can be transcribed in a book like parts of Ressler’s were!