Jeffrey Dahmer

Is it wrong to feel sorry for Jeffrey Dahmer?

...of course the victims deserve the most sympathy. But I've just read a book detailing Dahmer, his psychology - a life of unrelenting failure and lonliness - and I can't help feeling real sympathy for him. Is that wrong?

Public Comments

1. uh kind of
2. I think it's good to be able to sympathise with people, any people.
3. Why did you read the book?
4. Very good question. Socially it would be unacceptable to feel for a 'monster' like Dahmer. But, if someone is a victim of their childhood, I guess as a society we should have some form of empathy. Difficult one but interesting. Harold S eh ???? Very funny.
5. no, we are all different and we all respond and react to different things in different ways. thats whats so great about the human race.
6. Its his victims and their families who deserve sympathy, not the killer.
7. I don't think its wrong to feel sympathy for a fellow human being no matter how evil they turned out to be. I believe he has been judged by his Maker.
8. No hun, far from it , it's not wrong at all , if anything it shows us that you are the exact opposite of a character like Dahmer ! The fact that you can have empathy towards such a monster shows a warm heart and a great understanding . I read a lot of real crime stuff and of course I have read all about old Jeff and I too feel sympathy towards him. Let's face it, no one would choose to do the awful things that he did, he clearly was unhinged and therefore out of control .
9. I don't think it is right. No matter our situation, we all make choices and have to live with them....regardless of our past or psychological state.
10. My daughter and I were just talking about a similar thing while we were watching the news, and they had caught someone who had killed someone. I think it's natural to feel compassion for people in general, and the mistakes they make, and the ways they were raised, even if they have done heinous crimes. Guess that's why Jesus forgives our sins. We are all His children, and we all sin. I wouldn't have wanted to read the details on Dahmer, though.
11. nah, i think it just means you have a good sensitivity to the world, you can humanize even the sickest of beings. the world needs more like you. it would be wrong to condone his actions,cos a lot of innocent ppl were killed, but not to sympathise with a life gone so wrong (i find myself feeling sorry for the bad guy in a movie, when his carefully laid plans are foiled. but thats fiction, not life) xx
12. it soudns liek your a caring person and you cen see other peopels viewpoints. eveyoen does thgins for reaosns as it goes. it soudns liek your not judgemntal and sympathetic. you feel sorry for the "bad guy" because hes sufferd too
13. There is no right or wrong just people's perception. Murderers started off the same as anyone else a pure innocent little baby. It is a fact that most murderers' childhoods were a combination of neglect, abuse, both emotional and physical and great unhappiness. It is not surprising they are left with emotional scarring. Some people get over abuse and neglect in childhood, some don't. Some of the ones who don't , turn their repressed anger inward and commit suicide at worst or just have broken relationships as they get older. The others turn their anger toward others and commit murder. What they do isn't right according to the law but somehow understandable.
14. Of course it is, but I don't know why.
15. Of course it's not wrong. He probably would have to have been a very troubled young man to do what he did. I think that feeling empathy for violent people, rather than seeing them as monsters, is far more likely to solve the problems in the world.