How Criminal Minds Fans Really Feel About Mr. Scratch's Victims

In its 15-season run on CBS, the harrowing serial killer procedural "Criminal Minds" conjured some of the evilest characters to ever grace the airwaves. The series delivered some truly memorable games of cat and mouse as the FBI's crack BAU crew tracked down its unsubs. One of the series' most thrilling tête-à-têtes began in its tenth season with the appearance of the nefarious Peter Lewis (Bodhi Elfman).

Series diehards no doubt know Mr. Lewis better by his nickname Mr. Scratch. Of all the unsubs who came and went in the "Criminal Minds" landscape, Mr. Scratch was not only one of the most infamous, but one of the slipperiest. After initially being captured, he was able to escape and relentlessly torment the BAU team —specifically Hotch (Thomas Gibson) for parts of Seasons 11, 12, and 13. As for what made Scratch so dangerous, he had deciphered a way to push unwitting victims into killing others via the use of a hallucinogenic toxin and some twisted mind games.

Scratch's modus operandi obviously caused some headaches for the BAU team as it was unclear how to handle the killer's surviving victims, as they had actually killed someone, but they were heavily drugged and therefore not aware of what they were doing. That predicament puzzled series fans as well, though many share a similar view on how Scratch's surviving victims should or shouldn't have been punished.

Mr. Scratch's first round of victims was selected because they were part of a disturbing event from his childhood. And in a demented sense of justice, Scratch didn't just have them kill random people, he pushed them to target someone they loved. That brutal twist has led many "Criminal Minds" fans to ponder the rightful punishment for Scratch's surviving victims on Reddit, with original poster r/Acheron6426 posing the question of how, or even if they should be punished. 

The overwhelming response is that Scratch's surviving victims have suffered enough. That view is also shared by r/Acheron6426, who first posted "one could say they are at no fault for their actions and have already suffered punishment enough by realizing they were technically responsible for the death of someone they loved." 

User r/book_w0rm_  agreed, saying, "I would say the knowledge that they were technically responsible for their loved ones death is punishment enough, especially considering they have no memory of the crime and cannot really be held accountable since they were induced into a psychotic break from the drug. They also aren't a danger to anyone else." User r/Beautiful-South-8010 was on board with that point of view too, posting, "I don't think they should be punished, the fact they found out what they did was enough." 

Oddly, the survivors' fates are never really addressed on "Criminal Minds," so fans can only hope they didn't end up incarcerated.