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A study of presidential assassins
Author(s) -
Heyman Marshall N.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.2370020204
Subject(s) - feeling , presidential system , identification (biology) , persecution , social psychology , psychology , frustration , computer security , internet privacy , computer science , politics , political science , law , botany , biology
Twenty‐two people who were presidential assassins and other similarly dangerous persons were assessed from information contained in Secret Service files and in published accounts. These documents were studied in order to determine common characteristics as well as other clues to the identification of potentially dangerous persons. Although there was no single pattern of development, there was a pattern of maladjustment that embraced common feelings of inadequacy or persecution, which led to similar patterns of behavior when attempting to resolve frustration. In practical terms, these profiles show: 1 A systematic pattern of inadequacy in dealing with social, intellectual, and vocational challenges. 2 A corresponding absence of any positive channel for achieving satisfaction or a sense of accomplishment.In uniquely personal ways, each of these chronically frustrated individuals came to view his or her target either as the personification of the oppressive system, or as the agent through whom he or she could achieve “one great act,” or otherwise gain instant attention and status.