In 1836, the gruesome death of a prostitute encaptivated the public eye and began a newspaper frenzy that centered on a morbid fixation of the life and death of Helen Jewett. Patricia Cline Cohen's The Murder of Helen Jewett pieces together the facts of Helen's life and death in an attempt to describe gender inequality in America by giving a meticulous account of life in the 1830s. (Insert small biography)
According to Simpson & Haven, the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman was a shock to the nation, but what was more appalling is the fact that O.J. Simpson was the one on trial for those murders. The authorities were more concerned of the victims’ rights were being neglected (Simpson & Haven, 2008). This paper will expose Nicole Simpson first time reporting intimate violence to the authorities long before her death. I will also examine stalking and intimate violence, victim rights as well as protection provided by the regulation and how it pertains to the case of Nicole Simpson. In addition to the connection in homicide, intimate violence and stalking. Particularly, the case of Nicole Simpson. The theories of criminology
Aaron Hernandez is a previous NFL player for the New England Patriots. In 2013 Hernandez was discovered blameworthy of first degree murder. The next year he was likewise discovered liable of a double homicide. Why might a 40 million dollar rising star perpetrate such a wrongdoing? Numerous theories have been produced to clarify criminal conduct. While a few theories are not as regular, others have developed and are utilized as a part of numerous criminal reviews today. Cutting edge criminologists consolidate the most important aspects of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and biological theories to advance their comprehension of criminal behavior. Rational choice theory, psychological, biological, and strain theory are used to analyze the
This theory clearly rules out the effect of inherited or innate factors, and the last is the cognitive theory, which is based on how the perception of an individual is manifested into affecting his or her potential and capability to commit a crime. (Psychological theories of crime) Relating these theories to the case under study, it’s clear that the behaviour can be traced most times to faulty relationships in the family during the first years of
This deals with the thoughts, intentions and reactions of criminals. This also includes all that partakes in the criminal behaviour. In comparison to anthropological criminology, psychology deals with everything that makes the criminal “tick”, as opposed to the physical evidence. The questions that I formed can easily be related to the article because they are thought-provoking, and they ask about the actual intentions and thought process related to the crime. All of my questions could explain why certain things happened that was stated in the article, including why cigarettes and money was stolen, why the crime was committed at 4:00 AM, and many more. I determined these questions by thinking about what professional profilers might ask if they were studying this crime as
In this assignment the case study of Ted Bundy and how many biological, social and cognitive studies affect the perspective of criminals. In this case biological theories are our genetics and what we inherit from our parents and further on. These theories will be linked to Ted and if they affect how he performed the criminal acts.
Between the mid-late 1970s and the early 1980s, Dennis Nilsen began mass murdering young men in Great Britain that had at least 15 men through strangulation (Crime Investigation, 2014). In analyzing his life, many of contributions throughout his life could have influenced his criminal behaviour when committing his crimes. Many theories such as broken home hypothesis and schema therapy theory use psychological explanations that determine how the individual resulted into committing their crimes. With schema therapy theory, not only does it discuss the justification for criminal behaviour, but suggests how to reduce the relapse of criminal acts by identifying the cause or the trigger of the individual’s criminal behaviour (Vos et al., 2016). In Dennis Nilsen’s life, there are several indications such as the abandonment of his family members, the termination of a past relationship, and the reclusiveness from society that could have resulted
As societal crime rate continues to escalate, the epidemic of homicides and mass murders remains a prevalent social problem. Thus, the emergence of serial killers has caused alarm among many criminologists and psychologists. Serial killers usually have an impulsive desire to kill for no particular reason, which makes it difficult for law enforcement and criminal professionals to understand their motives. Thus, the motives of serial killers have led to heated debates and challenged the nature vs. nurture theory. Many scientists believe that serial killers are genetically incline to commit murders, while criminologists associate violent crimes to childhood and surroundings. Essentially, exploring how and why serial killers commit crimes is an important area because it will help
One of the most debated topics throughout the world is nature versus nurture. When psychologists debate this topic, they are studying what influences a person’s personal development. Some say that a person’s nature influences personal development while others say a person’s nurture influences personal development. A lot of people spend time contemplating which one actually does the influencing but what some do not realize is that, perhaps, both nature and nurture help shape a person’s personal development. One topic that comes up quite often is whether or not a person is born a criminal. Today, there are proven facts that people who have parents that are criminals have a high chance of becoming criminals themselves. Not only can people become criminals because of their family but they can also become criminals because of the environment that they surround themselves in. This is where nature versus nurture comes into play.
Houston, Texas, was home to Andrea Yates; a wife and a mother to Randy Yates and their five children. One morning in the year 2001, she dialed, 911 breathing heavily into the phone “I need a police officer,” (O’Malley). The news over Andrea Yates drowning her children spread like wildfire across the nation, horrifying Americans. Following her confession, she pleaded innocent with the “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity” (NGRI) plea, yet the jury rejected her appeal and found her guilty of five accounts of first-degree murder. However, in the retrial of 2006, Yates’ abiding murder convictions were overturned, and Andrea Yates was found NGRI. The change in her verdict instigated disputes whether Andrea Yates was in fact mentally “insane” or criminally aware of her acts and avoiding her consequences.
Custody sentences are for punishment, rehabilitation and education, however, there are different views to youth imprisonment. Some critics say if you commit a crime you should take responsibility and jail will give you a ‘short sharp shock’ and you will receive rehabilitation. Whilst some say it is damaging to children and would lead to further reoffending once they are out due to learning crimes off other criminals. Evidence does suggest that children who have more than one risk factor present are more than likely to be involved in criminal activities (Hopkins Burke, 2016 p. 232). There are three penal institutions sometimes called secure estates - local authority secure children's homes, secure training centres and young offender’s institutes.
Her severe depression and postpartum psychosis played a huge role in the state of mind she was in while committing the crimes. Another factor that played a role in the commission of the crime was that she chose to stop taking her antipsychotic medication, Haldol. Yates stated that the reason for her crime was because she felt as though she was condemned , an idea that stemmed from Woroniecki’s sermons about the role of women and “women being derived from the sin of Eve and that bad mothers who are going to hell create bad children who will go to hell” (Andrea Yates Murderpedia). Her husband deciding to leave and go to work that morning is also a large factor that led to the commission of the crime, had he obeyed Dr. Saeed’s orders, Andrea may have not had the opportunity to drown all of their children.
People often make a confession to crimes they did not commit. This can be attributed to a number of reasons. Psychologists believe because people are responsive to reinforcements and thus are subject to principles of conditioning. In addition, people are by nature social beings and vulnerable to influences from other people. Modern day police interrogations use these biological responses to their advantage to elicit conformity, compliance, obedience, and persuasion in suspects. Furthermore, the use of trickery and deceit is not uncommon. With the widespread use of DNA evidence, many once guilty victims have been exonerated of their crimes and set free. If psychology has proven that certain practices can influence ideas and behaviors,
According to Andrews and Bonta (2010) the psychology of criminal conduct ( PCC) can be defined as an approach to scientifically understand the criminal behavior of individuals through a systematic approach. Additionally, the psychology of criminal conduct is considered to be interdisciplinary, and considers all aspects of science that will assist in the further comprehension of an individuals criminal behavior, and the causes of criminal behavior (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). Andrews and Bonta ( 2010) stated that the psychology of criminal conduct can be considered a subfield of criminology and psychology due to common beliefs and common interests with both disciplines. Furthermore, the psychology of criminal conduct can be described as using
“The positivist approach assumes that deviance is real, that it exists in the objective experience of the people who commit deviant acts are those who respond to them.” (Conrad, Schneider 1980) Positivism is a perspective on knowledge and reality that assumes human behavior can be studied and explained by utilizing the same principles and practices used to study the natural behavior. Applying the scientific method to the study of human beings. The view that human behavior and attitudes are influenced by forces both internal and external to the individual. Positivism helps discover and accept the science over theology. Also, faith that the scientific method could provide the source of knowledge and the solutions to society’s problem. For the novel My Lobotomy by Howard Dully, it shows a perfect example how these scientists started to study humans like nature.