Psychoanalytic Theory of Crime

Gunshots were heard from across the campus. Phones were ringing as students dialed 9-1-1, reporting what had just happened. Frightened students called their parents and friends, notifying them that were all right. Ambulances and news reporters rushed to the scene. Thirty-two dead and dozens wounded. The scene of the crime: Virginia Tech. Who was the one responsible for such casualties? Cho Seung-Hui, a 23 year-old student who often kept to himself and rarely ever spoke to anybody-not even his roommate. He stormed into classrooms in an engineering building, killing both students and professors. What was his motive? Did he even have one? Using the psychoanalytic theory of crime, we will explore the possibilities.

According to the psychoanalytic theory of crime, "crime may be a symptom of more deep-seated problems." In relation to the shooting at Virginia Tech, this can help to explain some of the possibilities of why Cho did what he did. Cho's classmates said that he had written gruesome plays and stories, and his teacher even went as far as recommending him to see a counselor (Potter 2). After seeing a counselor, they were able to establish that Cho was psychologically unwell. In order to get an idea of why he went on a shooting rampage, his past would have to be inspected thoroughly, citing any abnormal behavior or incidents in his past. If Cho had any problems in his past that were left unresolved, they might have resurfaced, driving him to attempt to resolve his problems in a psychopathic manner.

According to Sigmund Freud and the psychoanalytic theory of crime, psychopaths possessed "no sense of guilt, no subjective conscience, and no sense of right and wrong" (American Psychoanalytic Asssociation 5). This can be related to the case of Virginia Tech because there is absolutely no way that Cho understood what was right and what was wrong. If he could distinguish the difference, he would not have done what he did. Even in his videos that he sent to news stations he mentioned that he felt he was doing what he had to do. He did not seem to feel like there were any consequences and he definitely did not feel any hint of guilt for what he was going to do to innocent people. He seemed to be self-absorbed and cared only about his goals and himself, rather than all of lives he would shatter.

In addition to lacking a sense of guilt and knowing right from wrong, psychopaths also have difficulty in forming relationships with people. This is true in the case of Cho Seung-Hui. He did not have any friends and he had difficulty communicating with his peers. When his suitemates would greet him, he would simply grunt, brushing them off. According to Edward Falco, Cho's playwriting professor at Virginia Tech, Cho used writing to communicate to make up for his lack of oral communication skills. His screenplays and stories were always troubled and dark, signifying his cries for help. In addition to lacking friends, Cho was also accused of stalking two females at Virginia Tech. However, the girls described his stalking as plain annoyances and decided not to press charges (Callebs 3). This supports the claim that psychopaths are fueled by sex. The reason for his stalking is because of his longing for a companion and his need for sex. His difficulty in forming any sort of relationships with people should have been a sign that he was not normal and that he needed professional assistance. The community's failure to realize this has cost the whole nation dearly.

One of the key traits of a psychopath is that they cannot empathize with other people. When one goes on a shooting spree, injuring and murdering many innocent people, it is clear that there is no empathy involved. Cho Seung-Hui did not think about the lives of the ones he murdered and he did not think about how their friends and relatives would feel. This is possibly because he did not know how because he was unable to empathize. He did not feel guilt for what he did because he did not know the feeling of love; therefore he would not know what it would feel like to lose somebody he loved. The absence of his relationships with others makes it difficult for him to understand what it is like to care for somebody. He would not know the pain of loss or even the pain of being shot.

With the psychoanalytic theory of crime, it is easy to speculate about the reasons why the tragedy at Virginia Tech occurred. All of the descriptions of being a psychopath fit the descriptions provided of Cho Seung-Hui, making it possible to believe that he was indeed a psychopath, ultimately helping to explain his actions. With the pictures that Cho sent to news stations, it is also possible to infer that he was very aggressive, another trait in the psychoanalytic theory's description of a psychopath (Killer's images 'a second assault on us' 1). Pictures of him holding a hammer violently and pointing guns confirm his violent and aggressive nature.

Armed with these examples and the psychoanalytic theory, I asked my parents, both over the age of thirty-five whether or not they agreed with the theory, and why they decided to agree or disagree with it. With all of the coverage on the news and the media of the Virginia Tech tragedy, I believe that my parents and I had adequate knowledge of the whole incident. Watching the news and reading articles about the shooting helped to fortify the background information needed to support each argument for and against the psychoanalytic theory regarding what happened at Virginia Tech.

My mother, Sandy Tang, a mother of four and a housewife agrees with the psychoanalytic theory, which proves that with the signs that Cho Seung-Hui showed, he was a psychopath. She agreed with all of the signs that were revealed about Cho, from his anti-social behavior to his inability to distinguish right from wrong. She believed that these were vital clues in determining his motives for the massacre. She said that there is no way that Cho was raised normally and lived a healthy lifestyle due to the decisions he made to end his life and the lives of others so abruptly. Although she sympathizes with the victims of the shooting, she also sympathizes with the shooter. She felt very bad for the parents of Cho and she felt bad for him as well. She said that he "was not raised properly in a caring, loving family," and that was probably the reason he did what he did. She also sympathizes with the family of Cho, knowing what it means to work long hours and not have time to take care of the children. Thai Vinh Hoang, my father, also agrees with the psychoanalytic theory as it applies to the shootings at Virginia Tech. He agrees that Cho must have been a psychopath to act in such an emotionless way. However, unlike my mother, he cannot sympathize with Cho. He believes that what Cho did is unforgivable and unjustifiable by any means. He says that even though Cho had problems, taking it out on innocent people was a ridiculously selfish thing to do.