The Intersection of Mental Health, Marginalisation and Media: A Critical Analysis of Jeffrey Dahmer's Path to Criminality

This paper analyses the Netflix series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022) to explore media sensationalism and systemic failures that influenced the portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer and contributed to his prolonged criminality. It investigates whether the series merely sensationalizes Dahmer’s crime as a symbol of fear and morbid fascination for the shock value or presents him as a complex figure shaped by institutional negligence and missed opportunities, which ultimately reduced him down to the label of “Monster” By applying socio-psychological frameworks such as social disorganization theory, strain theory and labelling theory, this paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of the systemic breakdowns within society and its institutions that enabled his path to criminality to continue over a decade. The depiction of Jeffrey Dahmer serves as a critical entry point into broader discussions on mental illness, systemic failures and the ethics of the true-crime representation in media.