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A critical analysis of research related to the criminal mind of serial killers
A critical analysis of research related to the criminal mind of serial killers
Psychology behind serial killers
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Daniel Harold Rolling did not have an easy childhood. Throughout his adolescence, his father, James Rolling, would physically and emotionally abuse him, his brother, and his mother (Donnelly, 2009, p. 434). As described in WordPress, “escape would become a method of survival for Rolling” (“In The News,” 2006). Some of the punishments that he received from his father included whippings, beatings, and suffocation (Donnelley, 2009, p. 434). Consequently, because of both his father’s cruelty and mother’s emotional breakdowns, as a child, teachers and other adults often described him as “suffering from an inferiority complex, with aggressive tendencies and poor impulse control” (Donnelly, 2009, p. 434). At the age of thirteen, Rolling had his first …show more content…
Even though some of the crime scene characteristics may portray him as an organized offender, predominantly, the evidence he left behind at the crime scenes is synonymous with a disorganized criminal. As described by Turvey, a disorganized crime scene would be sloppy/messy, no effort made to conceal the body, and frenzied execution(s) (Turvey, 2014, p. 76). Almost all of the crime scenes perpetrated by Rolling are typical of these qualities. By first looking at the Grissom family from Shreveport, one can see how disorganized of an offender Danny was. Although Rolling brought his own weapon, and other tools, to the crime scene, he did not make sure that his main target was alone in the household (“Serial killer,” 2006). All three residents of the Grissom household were about to have dinner when Rolling entered through the unlocked door (“Serial killer,” 2006). Surprised by the presence of the other family members, Rolling quickly stabbed Tom and Sean before moving onto Julie (Fisher, 2006). After killing the girl, Danny then mutilated the body and posed it in plain view for the authorities to find (Fisher, 2006). After carrying out the crime, Danny would then quickly flee, leaving the bodies, tools, and other evidence that may have linked him to the murders (Fisher, …show more content…
After arriving in the college town, Rolling set up a makeshift campsite in a wooded area. Consequently, his five other victims were in close proximity to his camp (Branich, Gallimore, Hutchison, & Obispo). One of the characteristics of a disorganized offender is someone like Rolling who lived close to the crime scenes (Turvey, 2014, p.76). In the early hours of the morning on August 24, 1990, Rolling broke into Sonya Larson and Christina Powell’s apartment (“Danny Harold”). Despite the fact that he brought “both an automatic pistol and a marine corps K-bar knife,” other factors in the crime scene contribute to describing Rolling as a disorganized offender (“Danny Harold”). After repeatedly stabbing Larson, Rolling then sexually battered Powell before stabbing her too. Furthermore, after both girls were murdered, Rolling went back and raped Larson’s body (“Danny Harold”). As mentioned in Turvey, one of the characteristics of a disorganized offender includes sexual acts postmortem and leaving evidence, such as semen, at the apartment (Turvey, 2014, p.76). Like the Grissom family, Rolling positioned the bodies in plain sight, as well as leaving the apartment in a disarray (“Danny Harold”). The next day Danny killed Christa Hoyt; he beheaded her corpse and cut off her nipples before arranging the body parts for the police (Goodnough, 2006). The last two murders did not show any
I am reading the book Shooter by Walter Dean Myers. In my book the main character's name is Cameron Porter. He is a seventeen-year-old boy that attended a school called Madison High. There one of his closest companions Leonard, Len for short, has killed someone and maybe himself. I have only read about half of the book and only two of the five sections, so I don’t know exactly what led up to everything. But from what I’ve read, It seems like both Cameron and Len came from troubled backgrounds. Like both of Cameron’s parents are well off people and have lot’s of money but he doesn’t have a good relationship with his father because his father doesn’t treat him well and his mother doesn’t really notice him either. Cameron is bullied in school
Mark worried about his cousin considering that her son and husband had abusive tendencies and contacted the authorities. Officers checked the house twice and both times a note was on the front door of the house claiming the family was away. The police returned a third day and forced their way in. The police found the bodies of Randy and Karen Ringquist frozen in the freezer Jeremy had purchased to hide the smell of decay. Mark told the paper; “Karen and her husband didn’t get along. He was abusive to her. And then their son moved in and he was also abusive. He’s a 300 pound kid.” He continued with; “Her life was miserable and I tried to tell her to get out. I said ‘You’ve got to get out of there,’ but she said she had no money and no place to go. There’s no relatives close. I’m probably her closest
He then continues to say, “Do you want to miss a match? Blow your ride?” The pressure that his dad puts on him to be rebellious like him made Andrew get into detention in the first place simply because he got caught. Andrew describes that he “taped Larry Lester’s buns together”, he then goes on to say “that the bizarre thing is that I did it for my old man.” This further proves that Andrew’s dad has influenced the way he has behaved, and his parent-adolescent conflict worsens as his push for freedom establishes a harsher, goal-seeking father. Instead of becoming close in a new, harmonious way, it appears Andrew and his father will eventually distance themselves from one another. He wonders if he will end up like his parents or not: “Oh God, are we gonna be like our
There are many stories shared in this book about the boys and their crimes. Most of the boys have physical abuse, drug addictions, gang affiliations or a combination of these in their background. Several of them have been bounced around to their grandparents, aunts and uncles or even foster care.
Jennifer Thompson-Cannino was raped at knife point in her apartment. She was able to escape and identify Ronald Cotton as her attacker. The detective conducting the lineup told Jennifer that she had done great, confirming to her that she had chosen the right suspect. Eleven years later, DNA evidence proved that the man Jennifer Identified, Ronald Cotton was innocent and wrongfully convicted. Instead, Bobby Poole was the real perpetrator. Sadly, there are many other cases of erroneous convictions. Picking cotton is a must read for anybody because it educates readers about shortcomings of eyewitness identification, the police investigative process and the court system.
What are the root causes of a person becoming a serial killer? There have been many different serial killers over the past years, but only one is the infamous “Green River Killer.” Gary Ridgway was dubbed the “Green River Killer” because many of his first victims were found near the Green River in Washington. There are many factors which contribute as to why a person turns and takes their anger out on other people. Some people have a normal childhood with a loving family, while some are not so lucky. A loving family is built around the parents, but if the parents choose violence over love, then that is what the child will grow up only knowing. Gary Ridgway is an American serial killer who killed over sixty women within a twenty year period.
To better understand the case of Gary Ridgway it is important to comprehend a bit more about serial killers in general. Serial murders are extremely heinous crimes that are known to draw in the attention of the public. Serial murder is “the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period” (Knight). There have been numerous studies done by researchers to try and determine what exactly makes up the mind of a serial killer to lead them to do such things. They have theorized that it may be linked to aspects that are biological, neurological, or sociological; however none of them can be pinpointed as the actual cause (Knight). What theorists have concluded is that it most likely is not just one of those aspects, but a combination of them all as well physiological, psychological, and environmental elements (Knight).
The victim is nineteen year old Khadijah Stewart. Stewart had grown up in the south side of Richmond, Virginia (a high crime area) where she met a boy named Tommie. Both were in middle school but Tommie soon got arrested for robberies and gun charges, he was sentenced to life as a juvenile. As time goes on Stewart forms a history of dating bad boys. The main on and off again boyfriend throughout her high school years was a young man named Lionel. In High school Stewart is skipping school to hang out Lionel and his gang members. Afraid how the streets could impact Stewart, the mother moves the family to Chesterfield County, a successful middle class suburbs, to create new life. As her life is changing for the better her heart longs to maintain
Dave’s mother claims that she saw Dave playing on the grass which is forbidden. However, Dave never played on the grass at school. It didn’t matter whether he did or did not, because his mother already had a plan. She told him that she read an article that a mother had her son lie on top of a hot stove and she wanted to test it out. She gripped his arm and put it the flames burning his skin. The reward of playing on the grass was a burned arm. It Another incident happened the summer of 1971, by now Dave knew what to do and what not to do to receive his mother’s punishments. The punishments would vary from no food, a slap in the face if he looked at anyone without permission, and if caught stealing food he would be forced to vomit it and eat or something worse. One episode of abuse that stood out for me was the stabbing. The day for Dave was one of the worst punishments ever. As he sat on his hands on the bottom of stairs towards the basement waiting for ‘the family’ eat and wait until he was called to clear the table. This was a normal occurrence and also praying to receive anything to clinch his hunger. He
Ridgway, an extreme incarnation of a brutal misogynist, considered killing female prostitutes a “career.” He felt proud of what he did, and thought he was good at it. However, in Ridgway’s mind, he even believed that he was helping the police out, as he admitted in one interview with investigator (Silja J, 2003). It took almost eight minutes for the names of 48 women to read aloud. Each time, Gary Leon Ridgway calmly said “guilty,” admitting to being the nation’s most prolific serial killer as part of a plea deal that keep him off the states’ death row (Vries, 2003). However, deeply in his mind, he never felt guilty of what he had done. To date, the killings have been the subject of one A&E television documentary, “The Riverman,” a well-regarded made for TV 2004 film and an obscure 2005 film, Green River Killer (Mayo, 2008). Most of the people that have met him before, would never know he could be one of the most serial killer in the United States, everyone thought he was a nice person; but sometimes his behavior is a little bit weird. Family could be one of the biggest reason to make what kind of person we are, or who we want to
CeCe McDonald was a resident of the Minneapolis area and identified herself as an African American transgender woman. She had experienced many times the rude comments, the jokes, and the nasty looks she received but she always learned to ignore them. While walking with her friends in a downtown area of Minnesota, the group passed a bar named the Schooner Tavern and a group of Caucasian individuals who were in their mid forties, who were standing outside of the bar. The group began using racist and hateful language such as “faggots” “niggers” and “chicks with dicks”, and also implied that CeCe was dressed that way so that she could rape Dean Schmitz, one of the attackers from the bar. CeCe stood up to them and stated that she and her friends would not tolerate this racist and hateful language, especially since it was completely unprovoked. Upon doing this, a woman smashed her glass into CeCe’s face, which punctured her cheek so severely that it lacerated her salivary gland. A fight erupted and in an act of defense, CeCe fatally stabbed Dean Schmitz with a fabric scissors from her purse. Out of all those who taken part in the altercation, CeCe was the only one to be arrested that night and placed in the Hennepin Country men’s jail (Support CeCe!).
Magnuson, Ed. “Child Abuse: The Ultimate Betrayal.” TIME for Kids. 05 Sep. 1983:7. 6 May 2011. Web.
In Green River, Running Red, author Ann Rule describes a killer without remorse, who is the product of both personal and social influences, in effect forcing him to murder women and to continue to do so for over a decade as a fulfillment of his fantasies. When endeavoring to rationalize the causes of such a mind, theories of deviance, when separated into two distinct categories, positivist and constructionism. Positivist theories, such as the general theory of crime, allows for individual's to piece together events in the life of Gary Ridgway, the Green River killer which would undeniably lead him to a twisted sense of reality, combined with sexual fantasies and a tendency to justify perverted acts of murder. Constructionist theories, specifically conflict theory, are able to shed light on the lives and decisions made by the victims, who were all led to such lifestyles through outward sources. In determining the causes and motivations behind both the offender and the victims, theories of deviance leave little to be speculated on when placing blame on either psychological or social factors.
James Garbarino (1999) discusses the boys who are lost and ways that they can learn to see again in his book Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them. He takes an in depth look at what he calls the "epidemic of youth violence" in America in order to determine its causes and origins. By gaining an understanding of the problem, Garbarino hopes to be able to ascertain some sort of solution. He provides useful advice and insight about steps we as a society can take to ensure our boys do not become lost. In order to develop Garbarino’s ideas in my mind, I thought it would be interesting to apply some of his points he makes in his book to a case. I chose to write on the two main characters, Derek and Danny, in the movie American History X. I will provide a brief summary of the movie, followed by an extensive examination of the characters, using Lost Boys as a critical lens. First I will discuss the importance of viewing the boys lives in their entirety rather that isolating one incident. I will then look at the risk factors and the racial implications involved in Derek and Danny’s life. The next two sections will focus on the lack of a father figure and the powerful influence Derek has as a result of the absence of a father. Then I devote a short section to Garbarino’s idea of affirmation instead of discrimination and how this could have helped Derek and Danny. Before concluding, I take into account psychologist James Gilligan’s ideas on violence and how they apply to this case. In my conclusion, I look at Garbarin...
“Early Signs of Serial Killers.” crimemuseum.org. National Museum of Crime and Punishment. 2008. Web. 29 Oct 2013.