...John Wayne Gacy Summarize the case, including a description of the offense(s), the investigation, and the outcome (such as the trial and sentencing). Analyze the psychological history or path that took the criminal to commit his or her crime(s). Describe the psychological, behavioral, environmental, and cognitive factors that you believe led to the offender’s criminality. Consider the various theories we have discussed in class including the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theory, the behaviorist/social learning theory, the cognitive/social cognitive theory, and the humanist and interactionist theories, and provide examples. The goal here is to provide an analysis of the psychological history or path that took the criminal to commit his or her crime(s). Explain the impact of social, psychological, and biological theories of aggression on your chosen criminal’s behavior. Describe the crime typology. Did the offender have a personality disorder that might have played a role in the criminal behavior? If so, explain and provide examples and supporting references. Discuss the laws that are in place for protecting individuals with mental disorders. Describe whether your case study was a homicide offender or sexual offender. Discuss the typology (i.e., single murderer, serial murderer, spree murderer, mass murderer, child molester, or rapist). If applicable, discuss whether your offender was given a competence to stand trial evaluation, or was found to be not guilty by reason of...
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...conclusion that reaffirms your thesis. 6. Must use five to eight scholarly sources from the Ashford University Library. 7. Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. 8. Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. a.Summarize the case, including a description of the offense(s), the investigation, and the outcome (such as the trial and sentencing). b.Analyze the psychological history or path that took the criminal to commit his or her crime(s). Describe the psychological, behavioral, environmental, and cognitive factors that you believe led to the offender’s criminality. Consider the various theories we have discussed in class including the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theory, the behaviorist/social learning theory, the cognitive/social cognitive theory, and the humanist and interactionist theories, and provide examples. The goal here is to provide an analysis of the psychological history or path that took the criminal to commit his or her...
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...In the non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (1965) gives his own narrative of the Holcomb tragedy in which a family of four living out on a secluded farm were slaughtered with a shotgun by the collaboration of two individuals for a seemingly few dollars. In this novel, Capote gives a thorough character description of the two murderers, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, as he recreates their experience (much as he sees it as it would be from their eyes). He gives accounts preceding the event, through it, and eventually into their trial and execution. From the descriptions Capote provides, a psychological analysis of the mental states of Hickock and Smith can be asserted. Richard Hickock can be seen as possessing significant traits of psychopathy, while his partner Perry Smith is seen with traits similar to that of a life-course persistent offender. Through the described personality characteristics and brief histories of Hickock and Smith, this essay will address this assertion with the two in question as individuals themselves, within their relationship to each other, and also as other characters see and analyze their psychological well being. The reader gets to “know” Perry Smith very well throughout the novel and acquires the sense that Capote feels sympathetic to his situation as compared to that of Hickock. Smith, introduced as much the loner type, is described by the narrator and the character Smith himself (in a letter to a psychiatrist) as growing up in a low...
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...as “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Criminal Minds”. However the FBI calls its form of profiling “criminal investigative analysis”; another profiler, a prominent forensic psychologist, calls his work “investigative psychology”; and another calls his “crime action profiling” only further proving the lack of agreement in terminology (8). Often a criminal profiler is thought to be a perceptive unknown or an unconventional intellectual who can solve crimes by trusting a combination of intuition and strong insight into the criminal mind (9). Criminal profiling is a method used by criminal investigators to develop profiles for murders, rapists, and other violent criminals who haven't been arrested yet (4). Profilers rely on perceptive trail and error to predict others’ behavior. They use the growing knowledge from psychiatry, psychology, criminology, and sociology, and utilize each in the field of criminal profiling. (3) Like in every job, criminal profilers have specific responsibilities that their job entails. It is a world of investigation and research impacted by inductive and deductive reasoning, crime-solving experience and knowledge of criminal behavior, facts, and statistical probabilities (1). Profilers are there to help investigators examine evidence from crime scenes and victim and witness reports to develop an offender description including psychological variables such as personality traits, psychopathologies and behavior patterns, as well as demographic variables such as...
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...innocent, and evolves into a monstrous and calculated serial killer. It will mention several different specific serial killers and their histories to support the facts. Another area that is explored is the difference between mass murderers and serial killers. Many times theses terms are used simultaneously; however the fact is that they are different. Reviewing the classifications, behaviors, motives, childhood neglect, sanity, and how profiling and other methods will assist in catching a serial killer. Understanding and studying serial killers can help in preventing them to start killing, or in catching them before they continue killing. Research shows that the problem of serial killing can be addressed by understanding its causes, identifying common behaviors and motivations of serial killers, and using this information to develop tools for law enforcement to prevent initial or repeated killings If a person commits a murder, it doesn’t constitute to be tagged a serial killing. I will be including material in order to define what serial killer is, and why we are so obsessed with understanding them. To fully discuss and understand serial killers, we must first distinguish the differences between them and mass murderers. The term mass murderer is often used interchangeably; however, the two terms are technically different. Mass murder occurs when a large number of people are killed at the same time or within a short period of time, or ritualistic manner. (Time Life staff...
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...1959 the U.S. reported about two serial murder cases a year. By 1969, six cases per year were logged. During the 1970s that number tripled. "An average of three per month have been reported since 1985."(Newton 120). It is still not determined why serial killers kill, however, understanding the causes and recognizing the traits of a serial murderer will help the public better prevent and protect themselves from falling victim to a serial killer. North America has produced eighty percent of serial killers. Europe runs a distant second with a mere sixteen percent, and Third World nations spawn four percent of the world's known serial killers, but recent numbers from South Africa and Latin America are beginning to alter those statistics. "Though the U.S. has only about 5 percent of the world population, it has produced 76 percent of known serial killers since 1900" (Apsche 76). Serial murder is a national problem in America and authorities are beginning to develop techniques to track, identify, and capture these predators. Psychological profiling, DNA testing and violent criminal data bases are all tools used to identify serial killers. Psychological profiling is a young, investigative tool. It was developed in the 1950's and has been improved upon ever...
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...time. On one hand, there are those who are of the opinion that the death penalty is a cruel punishment which is morally wrong and a violation of the right to life for its victims. Others defend their opposing views by citing the wave of abolition of other types of corporal punishment such as branding and flogging and propose that imprisonment should also replace the death penalty (McCord and Latzer 9). However, the death penalty has proved to be a punishment befitting certain crimes such as horrific murders as it is the ultimate punishment. It has taken many harmful elements off the streets besides acting as a deterrent for both the convicted criminals and other potential murderers out there. In essence, it has saved many innocent lives that otherwise would have fallen prey to the evil schemes of murderers. Indeed, there is no course more worthy than saving innocent lives. This essay presents an argument in support of the death penalty by considering its numerous benefits as backed up by ample evidence from credible sources. In order to build the argument, the essay shall also consider some of the opinions of those who oppose the death...
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...will learn that there are many types of this crime. I will try to analyze them below. Homicides are divided into murder, manslaughter, killing at war, artificial death or euthanasia and execution. All these cases belong to different sorts of crime. Murder is the easiest and the most understandable kind of homicides. A murderer is the criminal who kills intentionally. Who wants to kill the definite person or group of people and does his best to reach this goal. He has a specific plan of his actions and possesses specific tools for it. Of course, there are spontaneous murders but the source of this action is the same. A person has decided to murder another person. Murder is a serious crime and it is punished strictly. If we speak about the USA, murderers receive life imprisonment or life penalty. The first punishment is the most common one. When a criminal murders another person, he is imprisoned for his entire life. In fact, many criminals are released after 20 or 25 years of imprisonment if they behave well. Judges believe that these people have changed and gone through the process of socialization. Of course, no one guarantees life imprisonment for dangerous murderers and serial killers. When one murders a...
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...time. On one hand, there are those who are of the opinion that the death penalty is a cruel punishment which is morally wrong and a violation of the right to life for its victims. Others defend their opposing views by citing the wave of abolition of other types of corporal punishment such as branding and flogging and propose that imprisonment should also replace the death penalty (McCord and Latzer 9). However, the death penalty has proved to be a punishment befitting certain crimes such as horrific murders as it is the ultimate punishment. It has taken many harmful elements off the streets besides acting as a deterrent for both the convicted criminals and other potential murderers out there. In essence, it has saved many innocent lives that otherwise would have fallen prey to the evil schemes of murderers. Indeed, there is no course more worthy than saving innocent lives. This essay presents an argument in support of the death penalty by considering its numerous benefits as backed up by ample evidence from credible sources. In order to build the argument, the essay shall also consider some of the opinions of those who oppose the death...
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...A1) Identify the link between imprisonment and suicide [10] Imprisonment very often has negative effects on offenders, in some cases they turn into victims of abuse themselves. Prison causes psychological distress, through overcrowding and bullying. This can lead to offenders self-harming and in many cases it can lead to suicide, which is more common in prison than the general population. Deaths in prison can be given various rulings by the coroner such as suicide (the prisoner had the intention to kill themselves), death by misadventure (accidental death) which in some instances can be self-harm gone wrong, and open verdicts. Dooley et al wanted to examine the unnatural deaths that occurred in prisons in England and Wales from 1972 and 1987. This research was in the form of a content analysis of prison department personal papers of prisoners’ records. Dooley compared verdicts of suicide with verdicts of unnatural causes or death by misadventure rulings. The research found that 300 suicides occurred in the time frame, 52 of which were due to self-inflicted harm gone wrong. There was little difference between the suicide group and the group that had self-harmed. However there were some real differences. For example, it was found that the prisoners who committed suicide were more likely to do so at night (this is so there is a less likely chance of them being caught in the act) and that the self-harm gone wrong group were more likely to be found during the daytime (this...
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...behaviour are also involved in terrorist activity, and how some criminals convert to a terrorist behaviour while they are doing their sentence in prison. They also put their focus on the effectiveness of the Patriotic Act and how this Act has helped to capture terrorists over a certain period of years. To this end, the authors’ analysis is dichotic, focusing on the pros and cons of the Patriotic Act and the potential danger to the rights of privacy of American citizens, and the association of the American gangs with terroristic activity. Yet ,Orvis and Rush’s analysis insufficiently addresses the complex psychological traits that are a key factor in the developing of the criminal mind in gang members and later on the conversion of these criminals to a terrorist- like behaviour. For instance , their discussion about the arrest of the Chicago street gang, El Rukn, fails to addresses the development of this criminal thinking and behaviour that led to their affiliation with terrorist activity, which is grounded deep in themselves .Moreover, the authors scratch only the surface of these individuals’ minds , and don’t go in depth of what psychological factors may have contributed to the state they are in. In a nut shell; how does the mind of an ordinary American gang banger convert into a terrorist- like mind? The convergence of a regular gang member behaviour to a terrorist behaviour is influenced by certain trait theories that theorists have concluded over the years. ...
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...Frankenstein Psychological Analysis Victor can blame himself and feel extremely guilty about many situations easily, show love and care towards the people he is close to, but be distinct at times, and he can be obsessive. Victor’s obsession with creating life from inanimate objects starts out during his time as a university student. His professor M. Waldman sparked Victor’s interest in science, chemistry, and of the balance and contrasts between life and death. Victor then wants to figure out how to create life. He came up with the idea of creating a “new human”, and he spent years trying to create it, while neglecting his family, friends, studies and social life. He became very lonely and grew pale, and had devoted his life to making the “new human”. In today’s society, (the 21st century) this kind of obsessive behavior would make people believe Victor was crazy, and he would need professional help. Some people might be scared of the idea of creating a new human, and accuse him of playing God. Victor cares very much for his family and friends, but especially his sister Elizabeth. Adopted by Victor’s mother Caroline from a peasant cottage in Italy, Victor loved Elizabeth and vowed to cherish and protect her. In the story they are very close, but Victor’s time away from home and lack of communication during his years working on the monster, caused Elizabeth to feel distant from him. In chapter 22 of the book, Elizabeth confesses her love to Victor, but feels as though there...
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...Analysis. The author of this text is Jerome K. Jerome. He is a popular English writer. The most famous works are Three Men in a Boat, The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, Novel Notes and Three Men on the Bummel which belong to the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century. He is famous for his art of story-telling and his humour which is based on misunderstanding. He is good at revealing the weak sides of human nature. This extract is about three men who decided to cook an Irish stew. They began cooking from peeling the potatoes. They threw another products which they wished to get rid of and mixed all carefully. At the end Montmorency bought fresh caught water-rat. After some discussions these three men decided to try something new and added the rat. Eventually, they were very happy by their cook masterpiece. By this text the author wanted to tell us that it had better to try something new than to be indifferent and do everything as usual. People ought to develop in this case world progress would go ahead. Jerome presents his story as 1st-person narration with descriptive passages. This extract may be divided into the following parts. The first one is a description of Sonning. The second is decision of cooking an Irish stew. The third is Montmorency’s contribution to the dinner. The last one is about great success of Irish stew. This text is written with the cheerful, humorous, emotional and optimistic prevailing mod. The...
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...In the 1920 film, The Cabinet of Caligri, Cesare symbolizes how the common folk can be lead to commit atrocities by a brutal government (Doctor Caligri). The people watching the film are represented by Francis, whose own sanity is shown to be questionable towards the end. This essay will conduct a visual analysis of The Cabinet of Caligri and focus on the characters Cesare, Doctor Caligri and Francis to establish how they represent different parts of society. The story takes place with Francis telling an older man about how his life was altered. He explains that he lived in Holstenwall, and everything begins to go shadowy. Francis tells the story about a string of murders that happen when a local fair comes to town and Doctor Caligri obtains...
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...James Raley PSY 101 Research Paper Psychopaths (Antisocial personality disorder) Psychopathy was one of the first personality disorders to be recognized by psychiatry. Today this disorder is known as antisocial personality disorder. Those diagnosed with the disorder often share a multitude of similar yet non-universal characteristics. These characteristics may include: superficial charm; egocentricity; need for stimulation; irresponsibility; impulsiveness; shallow emotions, lack of empathy, guilt, or remorse; pathological lying; and above average intelligence like serial-killers Dennis Radar and Ted Bundy. When encountered, the typical psychopath will blend in and seem some-what normal. They will have the tendency to be smooth, inviting, interesting, and educated. "More than the average person, he is likely to seem free of social or emotional impediments, from the minor distortions, peculiarities, and awkwardness so common even among the successful" (1). Despite their apparently smooth and attractive exteriors, Psychopaths are riddled with complex and often terrifying behavioral abnormalities. For instance, Psychopaths rarely fulfill or honor obligations and commitments. Their irresponsibility stems into various stages of their life, including work and finances. They frequently fail to pay off loans and bills and have a tendency to perform assignments in a carefree demeanor. Psychopaths have difficulty developing...
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