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The Violence of Jim Jones: A Biopsychosocial Explanation
Candice Lys
Abstract
This article argues that intrapsychic (biopsychosocial) factors of Reverend
James (Jim) Jones’ personality contributed to the religiously sanctioned
violence that Jones, as the powerful leader of Peoples Temple, inflicted upon
his devoted followers. Particular components of Kenneth Roy’s biopsychosocial
model, modified by Stephen Kent to focus specifically on the role of sectarian
leaders in religious violence, will help to identify the risk factors that
provided the framework for violence within Peoples Temple. Using secondary
sources to situate Jones biographically, I investigate intrapsychic contributors
to Jones’ personality, including his mental illnesses, his alcohol and other
drug use, and his religious irrationality, which led to the mass murder and
suicide of more than 900 members of the Jonestown, Guyana, commune on November
18, 1978.
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