Introduction
Varying theories such as rational choice theory, trait theory, and social structure theory are commonly used to explain why crime happens. Application of these three theories in discussing the crimes of Richard Speck can help us to better understand which of the theories may apply and perhaps help give us insight into why he committed his crimes. But they are more beneficial when not looking at a single specific crime, but the person and all the crimes they may have committed throughout their criminal careers.
The Crime
Richard Speck is without a doubt what is considered a chronic offender having been arrested over 40 times prior to committing the crime for which he is best known; the 1966 murder, rape, and robbery of eight student nurses. His victims were female students between the ages of 19 and 24 who lived together on Chicago's South Side. Speck forced his way into their dorm at gunpoint, rounded the women up, and ordered them to empty their purses before tying them up. He then proceeded to brutalize them. The women were robbed, raped, beaten, and then strangled or stabbed to death (BIO, 2013). Cooper and Smith (2011), tell us that crimes of this nature involving 3 or more victims represent less than 1% of all homicides committed each year (p. 24) and crimes of this nature are more likely to be carried out by use of a gun (p. 27). Additionally, young adults aged 18-24 continue to experience the highest homicide rates, but homicides across the spectrum have fallen since the early 1990s (Cooper & Smith, 2011). Fang, French & McCollister (2010) estimated the cost to process a murder for our court systems was $390,352, the crime victim costs were $737,517, and the criminal’s activities other than the homici...
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...ebruary). Bureau of Justice Statistic. Homicide trends in the United States, 1980-2008. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2221.
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In 2012, there were an estimated 14,827 murders and non-negligent manslaughter crimes reported by all agencies in the United States according to the Uniform Crime Report at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Murder and non-negligent manslaughter are defined “as the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another.” A 1.1 percent increase occurred from 2011 to 2012. But it should be noted, this is a 9.9 percent drop from the figure for 2008 and a 10.3 percent decrease from the number of murders recorded in 2003. Of the murders that occurred in 2012, it is estimated that 43.6 percent were reported in the south, 21.0 percent were from the Midwest, 21.0 percent were accounted from the west, and 14.2 percent were from the northeast of the United States. There were 4.7 murders for every 100,000 people in 2012. The murder rate went up 0.4 percent from 2011 to 2012. It went down in 2008 by 12.8 percent and dropped 16.9 percent from 2003. The majority of offenders were over the age of eighteen and they accounted for 9,096 of offenders in 2012. According to the Uniform Crime Report, the number of offenders who murdered in 2012 totaled 14,581. The majority of these offenders were male, totaling 9,425. Female offenders totaled 1,098, and 4,058 were unknown offenders. Black males topped the list as far as race was concerned with 5,531 committing murder. White males followed with 4,582 offenders. There were 4,228 classified as race unknown regarding offenders who murdered in 2012. The victim data reported was 9,917 male victims and 2,834 female victims. Of those victims, 11,549 were over the age of eighteen.
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On December 6th in 1941, a boy named Richard Benjamin Speck was born in Kirkwood, Illinois. He was the seventh child born out of eight children in his family. Early in Richards childhood when he was just six years old his father passed away. Richards mother had gotten remarried immediately to a drunk abusive man and moved everyone to Dallas, Texas. He and his siblings childhood was filled with juvenile delinquency and alcohol abuse from his new stepfather. In early November of 1962, he married Shirley Malone and they had one daughter, Bobby Lynn. Their married was extremely short. Speck was sentenced for theft and check fraud, in 1963. He lasted only four weeks free, before being arrested again for aggravated assault, he was then jailed again
...(2004). Applying the principles of effective intervention to juvenile correctional programs. Corrections Today, 66(7), 26-29. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4bd9d7f2-8ac5-42c6-a100-a2443eda9cbf@sessionmgr4002&vid=1&hid=4213
"Anybody living in the United States in the early 1990s and paying even a whisper of attention to the nightly news or a daily paper could be forgiven for having been scared out of his skin... The culprit was crime. It had been rising relentlessly - a graph plotting the crime rate in any American city over recent decades looked like a ski slope in profile... Death by gunfire, intentional and otherwise, had become commonplace, So too had carjacking and crack dealing, robbery, and rape. Violent crime was a gruesome and constant companion...
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The goals of juvenile corrections are too deter, rehabilitate and reintegrate, prevent, punish and reattribute, as well as isolate and control youth offenders and offenses. Each different goal comes with its own challenges. The goal of deterrence has its limits; because rules and former sanctions, as well anti-criminal modeling and reinforcement are met with young rebellious minds. Traditional counseling and diversion which are integral aspects of community corrections can sometimes be ineffective, and studies have shown that sometimes a natural self intervention can take place as the youth grows older; resulting in the youth outgrowing delinquency.
Introduction: Recidivism or, habitual relapses into crime, has time and time again proven to be an issue among delinquents, which thereby increases the overall juvenile prison population. This issue has become more prevalent than what we realize. Unless a unit for measuring a juvenile’s risk of recidivism is enacted and used to determine a system to promote effective prevention, than the juvenile prison population will continue to increase. Our court system should not only focus on punishing the said juvenile but also enforce a program or policy that will allow for prevention of recidivism. So the question remains, how can recidivism in the juvenile prison population be prevented so that it is no longer the central cause for increased juvenile delinquency? Simply put, we must create a means of measuring juvenile’s level of risk and in turn, form an effective rehabilitation program that will decrease their risk level for future recidivism.
Bureau of Justice Statistics. 1973–1997 National Crime Victimization Survey data [Web site data files]. Available Online at http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/qa125.html. 30 September 1999. Washington, DC: BJS, 1998.
In regard to trying to prevent homicides law enforcement officers have engaged in the broken window theory, or “community policing” where their main focus is to tackle small low-level crimes, in hopes of reducing more serious ones (Roeder, Eisen, Bowling, 65). As stated by Jeffrey Fagan, Franklin E. Zimring, and June Kim, “…broken windows” theories of aggressive enforcement, gun interventions, general increases in police enforcement resources, strategic targeting of police efforts through computer mapping, and precinct-level management accountability for crime trends” (1332). Therefore, the decline in homicide can also be caused by the changes in the drug markets, police response to gun carrying by young males, the economic expansion, and higher gun restrictions, as well as and increase in incarceration (Blumstein, Rivara, Rosenfeld, 505). Therefore, the decline in homicide was a combination of factors that came together, to help the law enforcement authorities prevent and diminish the homicide
Loeber R., and D.P. Farrington. “Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions.” Thousand Oaks. 1998. First Search. Feb 2007
The U.S. Department of Labor (2011) reported the national average of unemployment for 2008 was 5.8 percent. The rate dramatically increased in 2009 with an average of 9.3 percent and 9.6 percent for 2010. While unemployment rates have increased, the FBI’s preliminary reports for 2010 show that law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have reported a decrease of 6.2 percent in the number of violent crimes for the first 6 months of 2010 when compared to figures reported for the same time in 2009. The violent crime category includes rape, murder, robbery, and aggravated result. The number of property crimes also decreased 2.8 percent when compared to the same time last year. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson decreased 14.6 percent when compared to the same time periods of 2009 (FBI, 2011).
Juvenile delinquency is one of the major social issues in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is when “a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Merriam-webster.com). Although we have one justice system in America, the juvenile system differs from the adult juvenile system. Most juvenile delinquents range from as low as the age of seven to the age of seventeen. Once the delinquent or anyone turns the age of eighteen, they are considered an adult. Therefore, they are tried as an adult, in the justice system. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. In addition, there are a variety of effects that juvenile justice systems can either bad effects or good effects. Finally there are many different solutions that can reduce juvenile delinquency. As a result, juvenile delinquency is a major issue and the likeliness of it can be reduced. In order to reduce juvenile delinquency there has to be an understanding of the causes and the effects.