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psychological factors underlying criminal behavior
psychological factors underlying criminal behavior
psychological factors underlying criminal behavior
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David Alan Gore and Fred Waterfield are also known as the killing cousins, these men were two of the most brutal killers of their time. Not only did they kill their victims but they would brutally rape and torcher them before ending their lives. Throughout this paper I will discuss their biography, the crimes they committed, their criminal cases, and a theory of why the committed the crimes that eventually led to the death of one of these men.
David Alan Gore was born in Florida in 1953 on August 21st. David Gore was a Caucasian male that grew up to be around six feet tall and weighed about 275 lbs. Gore’s life ended when he was executed on April 12, 2012. David Gore had only one sister Wendy Gore. David was raised by his mother and father. His father was a manager at Hunter and Fruit Grove which is an orchard and his mother was an assistant librarian at Vero Beach land. Gore never showed signs of abuse from his parents or in school. David wasn’t thought to be good looking and was not very popular in school. Although the only problems he had in school were that he flunked gym class multiple times. When Gore was growing up there is no evidence that he tortured animals, started fires, or wet his bed. These actions can be linked to a majority of serial killers throughout history. Although throughout his life Gore did abuse drugs and alcohol. David Gore’s first encounter with getting in trouble involving girls was when he and his cousin Fred Waterfield watched the girls in their physical education class from an above balcony. Gore’s first experience with sex was when he watched his cousin rape his sister Wendy. It is not completely clear weather the events in Gore’s life were what triggered his violence towards women or the influence...
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...g Cousins killed six woman, there may have been at least five other victims that escaped being killed. Although the cousins didn’t just abduct and kill their victims, they would first rape and torcher their victims. The cousins didn’t stop there they would also mutilate their victims bodies after they were dead; David even tried eating part of a victim. The cousins had two methods of killing their victims; they would either shot their victims with a rifle or handgun. The cousins would also strangle them to death. The cousins would also bring handcuffs and rope to tie up the victims while they were raping and torturing them. Even though the cousins didn’t commit all of their crimes together Gore has stated that Fred Waterfield offered him $1000 for any pretty girl that he could girl and bring to him. David accepted his offer although he couldn’t always come through.
"Robert Latimer | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers." Robert Latimer | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. .
Though his killings occurred over thirty years ago Clifford Olson is still knows as one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers. Active through the years 1980-1980 he was responsible for eleven gruesome murders in that short span of time. The shocking nature of his crimes ensured nobody would forget his notorious deeds. To build on that, Olson is loathed because he extorted authorities into paying $100,000 for the locations of his victims’ remains, an agreement that haunted the survivors of Olson’s crimes, and ruined the careers of the officials who buckled under Olson’s outrageous demands. Furthermore, his crime spree led Neighbourhoods that once claimed to be “so safe you could leave your door open” to secure their doors; hitchhikers were seldom found on highways, and telephone poles were covered with posters warning that nearly a dozen adolescents were missing and a killer was on the loose. Had he not been apprehended by the authorities on August 12th, 1981 his spree of brutal slayings may have continued for much longer, as he showed no remorse for his ruthless crimes.
In 1875, Dr. Arthur Paul Davis and Alice Davis of Toronto, feloniously and willfully murdered Catherine Laing and then subsequently a week following on Sunday morning murdered Jane Vaughn Gilmour. They were found guilty of the crime committed to victim Gilmour as the case with Laing did not preced...
A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it. Unfortunately, such acts of rampage have become a prevalent factor in the Canadian culture. As a result of endless media coverage, Canadians now are constantly bombarded with numerous images of violence. Many of which often portray a victim avenging their opponent by means of force. Thus, indoctrinating a nation of individuals to believe that it is only through aggression that problems can be resolved. Rather than being punished for acts of violence, those who commit such offenses are often praised for their “heroism”. In addition, the success of films like The Godfather, Gladiator, and Troy further aid in reinstating the fact that we live in a society that praises violence. Furthermore, this ideology allows for individuals to partake in violent acts with little or no backlash from ones community. However, when an individual strays away from the “norm”, they are likely to then be viewed as a deviant. Such cases of rejection within a society, are often seen in the portrayal of serial killers. Although our society tends to condone violence when it is directed towards a specific individual(s), it does not allow the killing of innocent bystanders. Instead, crimes that are targeted against a number of people over a long period of time, entail the harshest forms punishments under the law. Sadly, in executing the law for said crimes, those in charge often face much public scrutiny. Such occurrences were apparent in the faulty murder investigations of Canada's most notorious serial killer Robert Pickton. This is due to the ...
A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it, (Lapham, 1985). Unfortunately, such acts of rampage have become a prevalent factor in the Canadian culture. As a result of endless media coverage, Canadians now are constantly bombarded with countless images of violence. Many of which often portray a victim avenging their opponent by force. Thus, indoctrinating individuals to believe that it is only through aggression that problems are resolved. Rather than being punished for acts of violence, those who commit such offenses are often praised for their “heroism”. In addition, the success of films like The Godfather, Gladiator, and Troy further aid in reinstating we live in a society that praises violence. Furthermore, this ideology allows for people to partake in violent acts with little or no backlash from ones community. However, when an person strays away from the “norm”, they are likely to then be viewed as a deviant. Such cases of rejection within a society, are often seen in the portrayal of serial killers. Although our society tends to condone violence when it is directed towards a specific individual(s), it does not allow the killing of innocent bystanders. Instead, crimes that are targeted against a number of people over a long period, entail the harshest forms punishments under the law. Sadly, in executing the law for said crimes, those in charge often face much public scrutiny. Such occurrences were apparent in the faulty murder investigations of Canada's most notorious serial killer Robert Pickton. This is due to the fact that, the negligence of the Vancou...
Charney-Perez, J. (2005, April 1). “History of Serial Killers”. Serial Killers. Retrieved April 23, 2014, http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/spring05/charney-perez/history.htm
Bowers, W, Pierce, G., and McDevitt, J.(1984), Legal Homicide: Death as Punishment in America, 1964-1982, 333
Beasley, James. 2004. “Serial Murder in America: Case Studies of Seven Offenders.” Behavioral Sciences and the Law 22: 395-414
Watching this tragic documentary left me with a lot of questions. I can relate this documentary to more than one theory that I have learned in class, but I think the best theory that explains what I saw is the Psychological School of Criminology. This documentary is a vivid picture of how a person’s life can devastate them psychologically and turn them into something deplorable. According to the Psychological School of Criminology crime results from inappropriate conditioned behavior or abnormal, inappropriate or dysfunctional mental processes stemming from the personality. Defective or abnormal mental processes have a variety for causes including a diseased mind, inappropriate learning, or inadequate conditioning, usually in early childhood. This theory best fits with the documentary of Aileen: The life and death of a Serial Killer. All the mental or psychological damage was done to her during her childhood. All that made an impact on her to the point where she has no self-respect.
In 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, aged ten at the time, abused and murdered a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. There was media uproar about the case with the two boys being described as ‘evil’, ‘monsters’ and ‘freaks’ in the media (Franklin & Horwath 1998). There were many references to evil in the newspapers; with the telegraph stating that Thompson’s nickname was ‘Damien’ (from The Omen) and declaring that Venables birth date was Friday the 13th. The majority of society was united in the belief that these two boys were the epitome of evil and it was the media that nurtured this belief. ‘Newspaper reports were unequivocal in their denunciations of Thompson and Venables as inherently evil, prompted perhaps initially by Justice Morland’s description of the murder as an act of unparalleled ev...
Leonarda Cianciulli was an Italian woman who believed that human sacrifice would save her son from dying while abroad at World War 2. She murdered 3 women promising them employment and prospects to lure them into her web. The most interesting part the Ciaciulli case was the methodology which was used to prep the women and dispose of their bodies. Ciaciulli meticulously cut the bodies, used the decomposed flesh to make soap, drained them of their blood, and dried the blood into a powder to make tea-cakes for her family and neighbors. This harrowing process would be continued -for all 3 of her victims until 1946 when she was finally arrested, tried, and sentenced to 33 years in prison (three of those in a Criminal Asylum).
John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, Henry Lee Lucas, Charles Manson, Timothy McVeigh, Ann Rule, Angel Resendez, David Berkowitz, Albert DeSalvo, Ottis Toole, Eddie Gein, and Herbert Mullin, what do all of these serial killers have in common and why did they kill? This is the question I am going to answer in my paper. I am going to examine several killers and their childhoods, mental disorders, and types of killings they performed.
Herman Mudgett, better known as Dr. H.H. Holmes, was born May 16th, 1861, and died May 7th, 1896. He was an American serial killer who trapped, tortured, and murdered possibly hundreds of people. It is believed that his early life is what influenced his love for death and killing. According to Jerrod Brown, Eric Hickey, and Blake Harris, “the childhood of Holmes was shaped by physical abuse, difficulties in socializing with peers, and cruelty towards animals” (Brown, Hickey, and Harris). Holmes obsession with inflicting pain on others would eventually lead him to becoming America’s first documented serial killer. In this paper, Holmes early abusive life and late life will be discussed as well as his life of a serial killer
Edmund Emil Kemper III was born on December 13, 1948 in Burbank, CA. He was born to the union of Edmund E. Kemper Jr. and Clarnell Strandberg. After his parents divorced, Clarnell took Kemper along with his two sisters to live by her very high standards and abusive ways. She berated Kemper mentally by having him sleep in a windowless basement because she feared of the harm he may cause to his sisters. In turn, this caused the hatred that he had for her to fester and turn into hatred against all women. On many occasions Kemper would break off the heads and hands of his sister’s dolls and also have them play the game he called “The gas chamber” in which he was the victim to be executed (Fisher, 2003a).
Dodd was born in Washington State, July 3rd 1981. He had two older brothers and often described his home as loveless. His parents divorced when he was 15 years old (Newton, M n.d.). “Dodd stated his dad criticized a lot of what he did and that he could never live up to his expectations.” (Branch, Bryan, Giovenco, Nichols, Yeatts, n.d.). At 13 it is believed that Dodd began abusing children. He would expose his self from an upstairs window or bike around the neighborhood and expose his self to children. Dodd never claimed to be sexually abused but he wasn’t educated about sex. “Westley’s father, Jim Dodd, told The Oregonian that he acknowledged his son’s sexual deviancy with “father-son chats,” but mostly avoided talking about it, despite Westley’s increasing arrests and warnings. The eldest of three kids, Westley was otherwise well behaved. “He never did drugs, he never drank, he never smoke” said the elder Dodd.” (Scott, S n.d.).