CRIM 326 Criminological Analysis of Homicide PDF

CRIM 326- Criminological Analysis of Homicide Lecture 1- January 9th ​ Ted bundy, unsolved epidemic book ​ Term paper- pick any case of homicide worth 30 percent Criminological Perspective on Homicide ​ Homicide is the exception, not the norm (DeLisi, 2001) ​ Cost of homicide...

CRIM 326- Criminological Analysis of Homicide Lecture 1- January 9th ​ Ted bundy, unsolved epidemic book ​ Term paper- pick any case of homicide worth 30 percent Criminological Perspective on Homicide ​ Homicide is the exception, not the norm (DeLisi, 2001) ​ Cost of homicide ○​ Juvenile 4.2 million USD ○​ Adult 3.5 million ○​ Medical care costs, lost future earnings, public program costs, property damages and losses, and quality of life losses. ○​ DeLisi et al. (2010) each murder coasts 5.16 million in direct coasts and over 12 million in willingness to pay coasts ○​ Willingness to pay: attempt to quantify pain and suffering ​ Types of Homicides and Definition ○​ Homicide ​ The killing of a human being by another human being ○​ Murder ​ The unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought ○​ Flicide ​ Murder of a child by parent ○​ Infanticide ​ Murder of a child in the first year of life ○​ Neonatice ​ Killing of a child in the infant first 24 hours of life ○​ Fatal child assault ​ Death of a child from acts of violence perpetrated by another person ○​ Parricide ​ Killing of ones father, mother, or another close relative ○​ Patricide ​ Killing of ones father ○​ Matricide ​ Killing of ones mother ○​ Fratricide ​ Killing of ones brother or sister ○​ Uxoricide ​ Aka, intimate partner homicide, domestic homicide or spousal homicide- killing of an individual by their intimate partner usually a spouse  ○​ Eldercide ​ Homicide of a person age 65 years or older (not used as much) ○​ Homicide- Suciide ​ Aka, murder-sucidie or dyadic death- killing of one or more individuals followed by the sucicide of the perpetrator ○​ Sexual Homicide ​ Homicide in which some form of sexual activity occurs with the victim prior to, during or after the death of the victim ○​ Mass Murder ​ Aka multicode- killing of multiple victims during a single event with roughly the same location or place and occurring at the same time ○​ Spree homicide ​ Lies between mass murder and serial murder- homicides at multiple locations over a relatively short period of time that can be hours, days, weeks LECTURE 2- JANUARY 16TH ​ Correlates of homicide-race ○​ Other than heart disease, homicide is the main reason for life expectancy differences between whites and blacks ○​ blacks= between 5 and 10 times more likely than whites to kill or be killed ○​ One explanation: adversary effect= offenders tactical response to the threat posed by an adversary ○​ UCR= females accounted for 7.7% of homicides in the US ○​ Females= more likely….. ​ Correlates of homicide- age ○​ Younger individuals more likely to kill and be killed ○​ Individuals aged between 15 and 34 account for half of the homicides in the US ​ Theoretical Perspectives on Homicide ○​ Homicide and the regional perspective ​ Southern effect- homicide more prevalent in southern parts ​ More temperate weather enabled greater social interaction, thus more opportunities for conflict and violence ​ Southern subculture of violence- honor based culture exists in the south potentially conducive to violent provocation and retaliation ​ Slight affronts + provocation (arguments, staring at someone, bumping into someone)= direct threats that must be responded to with aggression ​ Not to is to lose face ​ Or your status in not treated ​ Herding economies and culture of honor culture nisbett ​ The Southern US is populated with celtic people from Scotland and ireland with a long history…….. ​ As a result, herders cultivated a swift violent response to anyone who attempted to steal their animals= emerged a  broader honor culture where one's reputation and self were built upon the steadfast use of violence to prove one's worth ○​ Internalized (and somewhat exaggerated) form of self-defense. ​ Empirical linkages- degree of southerness explains more of the homicide rate than demographic/socio economic explanations (Gastil, 1971) ​ Homicide and the code of the street perspective ○​ Video- street codes- code of the street, elijah anderson ​ Drug trades ​ Manhood- don't care about others means you can't care about yourself ​ Street cred is high maintenance ​ Kill or be killed ​ Defend yourself because police system is not trusted ​ When they did trust police it did not meet the standards ○​ Code of the street (anderson, 1999) subcultural theory of african american violence specific to large urban centers in the US ○​ 2 basic types of people live in large cities ​ Decent people ​ pro social and abides by conventional norms of society ​ Value school, wor, self discipline ​ Crime or violence are not adequate courses of action, even resolve disputes ​ Street people ​ Antisocial, tacitly or explicitly reject involvement in conventional social institutions ​ Extensively involved in crime and violence, especially to resolve interpersonal disputes ​ The use of violence- even homicide- is expected and culturally normative ​ Protection their self image at all cost ○​ Fatalism and hopelessness are important emotions in the street code ​ Greater feelings of hopelessness- greater likelihood of identifying with the street coe attitudes ​ Compatible with the fatalism in herrent to the kill or be killed culture that typifies crime ridden neighborhoods ​ Society is designed against them from the start- so little….. ○​ Empirical Linkages ​ Young black males account for 1 percent of the US population but account for between 10 or 35 times that proportion of homicide offender and victim ​ Repeat shootings in philadelphia ( ratcliffe and rengert 2008) 33 percent increased likelihood of a shooting within 2 weeks and 1 city block of a prior shooting ​ Cool pose homicides more common among younger and unemployed african americans (hall and pizarro, 2011) ​ Homicide and the lifestyle perspective ○​ Lifestyle Theory ​ Criminal involvement is largely stratified by the roles, behaviours, and customs of various social statuses ​ Offenders and victims tend to match demographically beccause crime represents social interaction and social access among similarity situated people ​ People tend to associate ith others who are most like themselves- a process called homogamous interactions ​ Eg. going to bars and clubs which are crowded with alcohol- using persons at ​ Liestyle criminality (walters, 1990) life of pattern of irresponsible, self indulgent, interpersonally intrusive, and social rule breaking behaviour ​ These components are distinct yet interrelated ​ Irresponsibility ​ Generalized unwillingness to be accountable for ones behaviour, involved a neglect of the social and moral obligation ​ Self indulgent ​ Comprised of a lack of self restraint and respected desire to search for personal pleasure ​ Interpersonal intrusiveness ​ most destructive aspect of the criminal lifestyle- involves aggressive and violent acts, interpersonal hostility abuse of others, and a desire to control others ​ Social rule breaking ​ Disregard for societal norms and problem with authority (getting in trouble at school/ work, expulsions and repeated arrests ​ Additional component ​ Disrespoblitiy in intellectual effort in which a person attribute their actions to their causes and other people ​ Empirical linkages ​ Lindqvist (1986) homicide offenders and victims very strongly matched on a variety of demographic, lifestyle and behavioral characteristics ​ Scheyett et al (2013) 64 percent of prison releases were homicide- resulting from argument or ongoing criminal activity ​ Sex trade work ​ Sex trade workers are 51 times more likely to be killed on the job than the next most dangerous job among women (potterat et al 2004) ○​ Homicide nad self control perspective ​ Self control ​ Basic ability to regulate ones emotions and behaviours especially toward long term consequences versus short term benefits ​ Self control= important reason for behavioural differences between criminals and non criminals, as well as between those who commit violent acts and those who do not  ​ In psychiatry ​ The intermittent explosive disorder links self control and violence ​ In psychology ​ sensation-seeking = tendency to seek novel experiences and excitement often in an impulsive way- discounts future costs of behaviour ​ Gottdfredson and hirschi (1990) self control theory ​ Low self control causes crimes and other forms of maladaptive behaviours (smoke drink, drugs, cheating) ​ Includes 6 elements ○​ Low gratification delay ○​ Low persistence ○​ High activity level/ physicality ○​ Temper ○​ Low cognitive or verbal skills ○​ High self centeredness or narcissism ​ Empirical linkages- ward et al 2015 ○​ Offenders with low self control were most likely to be violent victimised- including homicide victimisation such as being shot or stabbed during robbery ○​ Disorganized murderer in sexual homicide (ressler et al 1988) SEXUAL HOMICIDE ​ Sexual Homicide is rare ○​ Approx 2 percent of all homicide ​ To be considered as a sexual, a homicide has to present at least one of the following characteristics at the crime scene ○​ Victims attire or lack of attire ​ Easiest to be called for false positive ○​ Exposure of the sexual parts of the victim's body ○​ Sexual positioning of the victim's body ​ To humiliate the victim further (even if they are dead) ○​ Insertion of foreign objects into the victim's body cavities ​ Will do usually if no sexual pleasure ○​ Evidence of sexual intercourse ○​ Evidence of substitute sexual activity, interest, or sadistic fantasy ​ Victims of sexual homicide may be classified as missing persons when a body has not been located ​ In some cases, the disappearance of the victim is never even reported to the police ​ Moreover, in some cases the offender is successful in destroying the victim's body (burning the victim's body) and eradicating all evidence of the crime ​ When human remains are found, the police are not always able to establish the identity of the remains ​ If so few cases, why care ○​ Crime seriousness surveys have assigned it the 2nd highest rating among over 200 crimes, just below an act of terrorism killing 20 people (wolfgang, Figlio, tracey and singer, 1985) ​ Although rare, sexual homicide provokes fear in the community, probably due in part to the potential brutality and gruesomeness of the acts but also to the apparent randomness of victim selection ​ Moreover, these crimes tend to receive the greatest news media coverage, which may contribute to the moral panic surrounding these crimes (roberts and grossman, 1993) ​ Gaining valuable and reliable knowledge about these crimes and offenders has proven to be very difficult ​ Accumulating knowledge that can inform effective investigative practice has been problematic. ​ Description of the offender and his crime ○​ 350 cases, 250 solved, 100 unsolved ○​ “A descriptive study of sexual homicide in canada: implications for police investigation (beauregard and martineau) ○​ 1 provide a representative description of the sexual murder and his offense ○​ 2 Identify potential myths or misinformation related to sexual homicide ○​ 3 Suggest practical implication ○​ Viclass database police use ​ Characteristics ○​ 80 percent- no prior sexual convictions ○​ ⅓ engage in social activities and 11.2 percent avoid contact with people ○​ More than half sm used a weapon, knife ○​ 2 out of 5 SM used a con or a ruse ○​ Genitalia mutilation, biting dismemberment, necrophilia= less than 11 percent of cases ​ Investigative implication ○​ Prioritizing known sex offenders ineffective ○​ Investigation should not necessarily focus on loners or socially isolated individuals ○​ Even when COD is strangulation, SM may use a weapon, which could be traced to the offender ○​ Contradict the image of the introverted socially inapt offender ○​ Not typical of SM case so should not become the focus of the investigation ​ READING DELISI ○​ Interested in personality- why look at all other factors ​ Alcohol and drugs alter state of mind ​ Goal is to control for other variables, if we have constant other factors, are we observing signact factors for sexual homidide, yes, significant relationship ​ 3 groups ​ Not homicide sex offender ​ Violence not homicide sex  ​ Sexual homicide offender ​ 3 groups to control because they are different, unfair to compare all 3 in the same category because some are non violent. ​ Key difference show what offenders are different ​ Beauregards 1999 typology ○​ Sadistic ​ Offense premeditated ​ Victim a target stranger ​ Victim selected ​ Victim humiliated ​ Victim mutilated ​ Use of physical restraints during offense ​ Duration of offense more than 30 minutes ​ Victims body hidden ​ Delay discovery of body ​ High risk of being apprehended ○​ Anger ​ Spontaneous offense ​ Victim may be known ​ Victim not selected ​ Victim not humiliated ​ Victim not mutilated ​ No use of restraints ​ Duration of offense less than 30 minutes ​ Victims body left on the crime scene ​ Low risk of being apprehended ​ Beauregards 1999 typology complementary results ○​ Sadistic ​ May torture victim ​ May dismember victims body ​ Positive affect before crime ​ Joy, wellbeing, sexual arousal ​ Deviant sexual fantasies prior to crime ​ Separation problem prior to crime ○​ Anger ​ Anger before crime ​ Give himself up after committing the crime ​ Admit all acts committed during the crime ​ Admit responsibility ​ Use off prescription drugs hours prior to crime ​ Loneliness problem prior to crime ​ Is the sexual murderer a different type of sex offender ○​ Test whether NHSOss, Violent NHSO and SHO present several differences as tot their criminal career ○​ Test whether SHOs specialize in sexual crimes or present versatility in their criminal career ○​ Violent NHSOs vs SHOs ​ Homicide 0.43  ​ Assault -0.31 ○​ NHSOs vs SHOs ​ Homicide 1.38 ​ Assault -0.13 ○​ NHSOs specialist 63.3% ○​ SHOs versatile 68.2% ​ - ​ Looking at their developmental factors ○​ Test whether exposure to violence, experiences of victimaztion and total ace increased the risk of sexual homicide ○​ Violence exposure and sexual homicide ​ 5x violence exposure types jump very high compared to 4 ○​ Victimization and sexual homicide ​ After 3 victimisation exposure types the odds jump up ○​ Total ACE and sexual homicide ​ After 7 the odds increase ​ Adverse child experience (ace) ​ Foreign object insertion ○​ FOI ​ The unwanted placement of any object, by another individual, into any orifice (mouth, vagina, anus, ear) of the victim ○​ homicide= as low as 1%BUT sexual homicide= rates vary between 11.4% and 23.6% ​ These rates may vary ○​ Schlesigner and colleagues (2010) FOI can be seen as a ritualistic behaviour (actions that exceed those required to cause death) ○​ Koppel and colleagues 2019- 260 cases of sexual homicide from the FBI BAU ○​ 65 FOI most common categories being tools and natural materials (sticks logs rocks) other objects were weapons, clothes, and food. ○​ Largest category of objects inserted= miscellanegous (umbrella, chairleg, garbage bag, cutoff genital of victim, soap, beer bottle, toilet brush and cigarette) ○​ 55.4%= phallic like ○​ 67.6%= obtained at the crime scene ○​ Only 31.8% of cases FOI was vic=sible at the crime scene, the rest being discovered by autopsy ○​ Almost half of FOI were pre-mortem ○​ Motives- most (73%) explained that they did not know why they did it, whereas some offenders reported the motives was sexual, to kill, to keep the victim quiet, to hide evidence or accidental. ○​ Beauregard study ​ Given the lack of research on FOI in general and the dissemination of untested ideas regarding the correlates of this behaviour specifically, the current study aims to shine light on sexual homicide cases involving FOI by examining the offender, victim and crime charcteristics associated with FOI ​ Using a sample of 662 cases of sexual homicide, chi square and logistic regression analyses were used to compare cases……  ​ Findings ​ victim/ offender characteristics ○​ Victims more likely to be ​ 65 years or older ​ Have used alcohol/drugs prior to the crime ​ Loners ​ Involved in domestic activities at the time of the crime (home, sleeping) ○​ Offenders more likely to ​ Experience sexual dysfunction ​ Use alohol/drugs prior to the crime ​ Crime characteristics ○​ Contact location is victims residence ○​ Beaten ○​ Ashyxiated (strangulation) ○​ vaginal/ anal fisting ○​ Mutilation of genitals ○​ Unusual acts ○​ Postmortem sexual activities ○​ HOWEVER, less likely if ​ Stranger offender ​ Fellatio ​ Discussion ○​ Mentally ill/disorganized offender? ​ Not likely, study showing manifestation of sadism, due to unexperienced offenders Serial Homicide ​ Intro ○​ Serial Murder is neither a new phenomenon, nor is it uniquely american ○​ Dating back to ancient times, serial murders have been chronicled around the world ○​ Dr richard von krafft-ebing conducted some of the first documented research on violent, sexual offenders and the crimes they committed ○​ Best known for his 1886 textbook psychopathia sexualis, dr kraft- ebing described numerous case studies of sexual homicide, serial murder and other areas of sexual proclivity ○​ Serial murder is a relatively rare event, estimated to comprise less than one percent of all murders committed in any given year ○​ However, there is a macabre interest in the topic that far exceeds its scope and has generated countless articles, books and movies  ○​ This board based public fascination began in the late 1880s, after a series of unsolved sex trade worker murders occured in the whitechapel area of london. These murders were committed by an unknown individual who named himself “jack the ripper” and sent letters to the police claiming to be the killer ○​ Myth- serial killers are all dysfunctional loners ​ The majority of serial killers are not reclusive, social misfits who live alone ​ They are not monsters and may not appear strange ​ Many serial killers hide in plain sight within their communities ​ Serial murderers often have families and homes, are gainfully employed, and appear to be normal members of the community ​ Because many serial murderers can blend in so effortlessly, they are oftentimes overlooked by law enforcement ○​ Myth- serial killers are all white males ​ Contray to popular belief, serial killers span all racial groups ​ There are white, african american, hispanic and asian serial killers ​ The racial diversification of serial killers generally mirror that of the overall US population ○​ Myth- serial killers are only motivated by sex ​ All serial murders are not sexually-based ​ There are many other motivations for serial murders including anger, thrill, financial gain and attention seeking ○​ Myth- all serial murderers travel and operate interstate ​ Most serial killers have very defined geographic areas of operation ​ Thye conduct their killings within comfort zones that areo ften defined by an anchor point (place of residence, employment or residence of a relative) ​ Serial murderers will, at times, spiral their activities outside of their comfort zone, when their confidence has grown through experience or to avoid detection ​ Very few serial murderers travel interstate to kill ○​ Myth- serial killers cannot stop killings ​ It has been widely believed that once serial killer start killing they cannot stop ​ There are however some serial killers who stop murdering altogether before being caught ​ In these instances, thre are events or circumstances in offenders lives that inhibit them from pursing more victims ​ These can include increased participation in family activities sexual substitution and other diversions ​ READINGS ○​ We often talk about what offenders do to not get caught, investigations are important information that's not easy. The decisions or lack there of is important of why some murders commit so many homicides ○​ James and peru ​