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Ted Bundy Research Paper

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The infamous Ted Bundy once said, “Society wants to believe it can identify evil people, or bad or harmful people, but it’s not practical. There are no stereotypes” (Bundy). Despite Bundy’s beliefs, professionals had hope that they could get inside his head and their hope is what ultimately led to justice. The 1970s was the decade of criminals and the time period when Bundy was front and center of the reign of terror. Bundy struck fear into everyone, everywhere and with a jaw-dropping 30 victims and counting it was no surprise that he had a hand in the most widespread reign of terror ever seen at that time. His case introduced new advancements in psychology as well as impacting society in a previously unseen way. Theodore Robert Cowell was …show more content…

We are your husbands. We are everywhere.” (Bundy). Ted Bundy’s influence expanded beyond his help in developing modern psychology and criminal justice, he also impacted society in a rather huge way. Bundy’s crimes were publicized from the start and the media clung onto each and every brutal murder and disappearance. Young girls and even adult women feared for their lives. It was being reported that a man faking injury was responsible for luring away all the victims and everybody became wary. Citizens began to back away from people they did not know or refused help to somebody who might have actually needed it. Along with being much less trusting, people also began to look for causes to why somebody would commit such horrific crimes. This was how the age-old argument of nature versus nurture crept back into the limelight. Half of professionals and the general population believe that a criminal is made. A bad family life, traumatizing experience, or an introduction to something of horrific nature are what some note as being the cause of criminal activity. Others argue that a criminal is not made, a criminal is born (Brogaard). Ted Bundy’s case became a huge hot spot for the nature versus nurture argument because of Bundy’s claims that he grew up a fairly happy child in a nice home. Bundy was also described as lovable and easy to get along with. Believers of the nature side of the argument used this information to “prove” that criminals are …show more content…

Since Bundy, like the majority of serial murderers and other criminals, were introduced to some sort of violence at an impressionable age, many argued that this was the reason people came to be criminals. Across the nation, many began to express their opinions on violence being so out in the open for any young, impressionable child to see. If violence in a book could create somebody like Ted Bundy, who had over 30 victims, then what could television spread to children? Although some still argued that the violence Ted Bundy was exposed to was clearly not the reason he became a serial murderer, the majority of people needed something to blame for creating criminals. To most, the idea that a criminal is born and not created was hard to understand because in most situations, there is something or someone to put the blame on. Ted Bundy kidnapped and brutally murdered over 30 young women and he was blamed for their deaths, but what could be blamed for the reason he did it? Bundy’s family seemed wholesome, extremely religious, and level-headed so they could not be blamed for Ted becoming who he was. This is why people found comfort in creating an argument against violence; they needed something to blame. Even in this day and age, nearly 30 years after Bundy’s death, people are still arguing about the violence that young children have access to

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