Austin Harrouff Case Analysis

Large Paper: Analysis of Austin Harrouff
Roxana Serra
April 18, 2023
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PSYC 3270: The Psychology of Criminal Behavior
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Holly Goller Large Paper: Analysis of the Austin Harrouff
Introduction
Austin Harrouff was a 19-year-old college student attending Florida State University and was majoring in biology. Austin was a good student who graduated from Suncoast High School with an International Baccalaureate diploma (IB), was part of the football team, and was even part of the wrestling team his sophomore year. However, on August 15, 2016 Austin fatally stabbed 59-year-old John Stevens and his wife Michelle Mishcon, 53, in their home in Martin County. Austin was in the couple's driveway when Jeffery Fisher, a neighbor, heard screaming and

Harrouff had a long history of abusing alcohol and illegal substances including marijuana, mushrooms, Adderall, and various other illegal substances. His history of alcohol abuse began at the young age of 17 years old when he began drinking in social settings due to pressure from his peers. Mr. Harrouff continued drinking and gradually began consuming alcohol more and more frequently. During high school, Harrouff also began to experiment with drugs and illegal substances. His history with drugs began with his introduction to marijuana by his peers during social events and continued to occur several times a month. His abuse of alcohol also continued throughout college, becoming so severe that “He reports drinking as much as three times per week during parties and that “blackouts happened a lot”. He indicated he could not control how much he tolerated and, at times, he would “wake up in places without knowing how I got there” (Landrum, 2020). For an adult, drinking three times per week may seem like a normal habit, but for Mr. Harrouff, who was only 19 years old when he committed the murders and attack, this was not considered legal and would be considered an excessive amount of consumption of alcohol for a

Later that day Austin meet with his friends at the beach when they joked about his unusual attire but things quickly escalated when Austin threatened to kill his friend over the joke. As the group decided to walk to a local restaurant Austin wanted to test his powers of invisibility and tried to walk into incoming traffic. Fortunately, his sister was able to get him onto the sidewalk before anyone was harmed. That evening Austin met his father at Duffy’s where he reports feeling “as if time was standing still and like he was “the grim reaper”” (Landrum, 2020). Austin left the restaurant and ran home where it was reported he was found drinking oil, but his mother was able to stop him. Austin changed his wardrobe and was dropped off at Duffy’s by his mother. Austin joined the table but then snapped at his father and stormed out of the restaurant once again. Austin