Ted Bundy’s Crimes, Mental Instability, and Compulsive Behavior
Introduction
The rapist, cannibal, and necrophile Ted Bundy is one of the most heinous murderers in US history. On his account, at least thirty-six killings occurred; however, some accounts place the number of victims closer to a hundred. The serial killer was active in America in the 1970s, from Florida to Washington state. Only after Bundy had killed his twentieth victim did the police succeed in tracking him down. However, his acts of sexual aberrations could be legitimized in court, as he could have considered them to be normal.
Crimes and Mental Instability
As noted in the murderer’s testimonies, Ted Bundy had seen violence as something that is an everyday activity, that is closely connected with sexual pleasure, hinting at his mental instability. According to Bundy’s admissions describing his rape and murder of two 12-year-old girls, he awoke that morning with the intention of killing, as he had done numerous mornings before (Holmes & Holmes, 2008). After missing his first desired victim that day, he then felt that the urge to commit rape and murder was so strong inside of him that he would kill the next person he met (Holmes & Holmes, 2008). Later, he encounters two twelve-year-old girls, one of whom he rapes and kills in a stadium dressing room, mere minutes after meeting her.
The second girl is then kidnapped, brought to his house, and cruelly tortured for 18 hours. (Holmes & Holmes, 2008). These assertions demonstrate a personality that has established a crucial link between lethal aggression and sexual pleasure, with both being perceived as normal activities that can be casually engaged in. Furthermore, for Ted Bundy, raping and killing women was considered to be serious leisure for him. Participants in serious recreational activities find them so fascinating and fulfilling that they decide to make a career out of them, gaining specialized knowledge, abilities, and experience in the field. As a result, serious leisure demands preparation, a lot of work, and persistence (due to the costs involved), offers advantages and rewards, and is linked to a distinct leisure identity and ethos (Williams, 2019).
Serious Deviant Leisure and Compulsive Behavior
In Bundy’s comments, serious leisure characteristics are frequently mentioned, especially when they relate to planning, skill development, effort, and perseverance. Bundy had a strong desire to become a serial murderer, which, in line with his serious leisure characteristics, drove him to carefully plan, put in effort, learn abilities, and assume a serial killer persona (Williams, 2019). Bundy continuously improved his strategy for enticing victims to decrease the possibility of being caught. He selected carefully where to dispose of bodies, and painstakingly examined police investigations and news stories. Hence, Ted Bundy perceived his crimes as serious leisure, a hobby that requires professionalism and dedication.
Moreover, several studies show that serious deviant leisure can still be considered compulsive, thus allowing it to be defended as a compulsive urge in court. Serial killing is a special form of compulsive criminal homicide that is defined by conscious consideration, deliberate control, deliberate action, and the pursuit of personal gratification (Williams, 2019). Hence, while Bundy’s serious deviant leisure required deliberation and planning, it still could have been defended in court as a compulsive act that is evidence of insanity.
In support of his deeds being compulsory urges, Bundy viewed his crimes as a game. Bundy had to take more risks as his talents improved for psychological rewards (Williams, 2019). When he believed he could, Bundy enjoyed taking victims home to up the ante and create more of a challenge (Williams, 2019).
Recent studies have revealed that “playing games” is a recurring theme in many sorts of serial homicide instances (Williams, 2019). Bundy used theft to feed his apparent desire for thrills before committing killings (Williams, 2019). Hence, Ted Bundy committed crimes for thrills, which is evidence of his mental instability, which in turn could have been presented in court in his defense.
Lack of Empathy and Possible Mental Disorders
Ted Bundy lacked empathy, as is evident from his portrayals of his victims and the way he persuaded himself into killing them. Similar to many serial killers who kill for their own pleasure, Bundy originally had to persuade himself to commit a murder. Unsurprisingly, Bundy used psychological defenses and neutralizing strategies to enable himself to kill repeatedly (Williams, 2019).
Additionally, his victims would be sufficiently depersonalized, so he could not muster that natural, normal ability to feel compassion for that individual (Williams, 2019). Supporting this claim is the fact that serial sexual killers are more likely than one-time offenders to have schizoid, narcissistic, and/or obsessive-compulsive tendencies, as well as to have indulged in various paraphilias (Williams, 2019). His justifications for killing people demonstrate his lack of empathy, which is frequent among a variety of psychological disorders that make people afflicted with them dangerous to the public.
In addition, Ted Bundy himself claims that the urge to kill was uncontrollable and compulsive, which could have been used in court to reinforce the notion that he was clinically insane. Bundy often referred to “the entity”, insisting that “this second self” was not integrated with “the normal self” (Williams, 2019, p. 9). Bundy frequently focused on a distinct personality that could not control urges to kill, consistent with pathological compulsion, when explaining why he murdered.
After perpetrating a murder, according to Bundy, this separate personality did not look back; it looked forward. It did not want to focus on the previous incident but started to prepare, anticipate, and think about the next instead (Williams, 2019). These statements hint at Bundy possibly having a multiple personality disorder, thus giving him the possibility of claiming insanity in court.
Conclusion
Ted Bundy’s acts of sexual aberration had many nuances that could have been used in court for legitimization. As mentioned above, several studies note that killing as a serious leisure activity is a compulsive urge, despite the planning and dedication involved (Williams, 2019). Moreover, there are hints of Bundy’s mental instability, with him viewing his crimes as a game. Ted Bundy’s evident lack of empathy towards his victims also portrays his troubled psychological state. Lastly, in his testimonies, he explains his acts as a compulsive urge, as something that he was made to do by his “second self”, which could have been used in court to prove his insanity.
Additionally, the killer viewed his crimes as normal, considering them a hobby. For him, sexual pleasure and violence were linked, with one being an integral part of the other. Moreover, for Ted Bundy, crimes were considered to be serious leisure, requiring a lot of effort, dedication, and preparation, just like with any high-effort hobby. To summarize, Ted Bundy could have legitimized his actions in court by pleading insanity, and his actions were considered a regular “hobby” by him.
References
Holmes, S. T. & Holmes, R. M. (2008). Sex Crimes: Patterns and Behavior. Sage.
Williams, D. J. (2019). Is Serial Sexual Homicide a Compulsion, Deviant Leisure, or Both? Revisiting the Case of Ted Bundy. Leisure Sciences, 42(2) 205–223. Web.