‘The Dating Game Killer”
April Smolkowicz
Criminology 3200
Georgia Gwinnett College
Introduction
Rodney James Alcala, a California convicted serial killer. Alcala is also known as the “Dating Game Killer”, from when he was chosen in 1978, as a contestant on the ABC prime time show, “The Dating Game.” Alcala served as a clerk in the U.S. Army from 1960, and in 1964 Alcala was discharged on medical grounds, after being diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder from the U.S. Army’s’ military psychiatrist. Rodney Alcala is a highly manipulating, using very persuasive skills and influential charm by posing as a photographer. Beginning in 1968, Alcala would use his photography as his abduction technique in order to abduct young
…show more content…
Crimes are deliberate acts, with the intent of benefiting the offender. 2. Benefiting unsuccessfully in choosing the best decisions because of the risks and uncertainty involved. 3. Decision making significantly varies with the nature of the crime. 4. Involvement decisions are quite different from the commission (event decision) of a specific act. 5. Involvement decisions are divided into three stages: first time involvement (initiation), continued involvement (habituation) and ceasing to offend (desistance), 6. Event decisions include a sequence of choices made at each stage of the criminal act, involvement model, background factors and situational life styles, initiation (of becoming involved in a crime), habituation (deciding to continue with crime), distance (deciding to stop criminal behavior) and event model – criminal even …show more content…
While looking at the convergence in space and time of the three minimal elements of direct-contact predatory violations: 1. Motivated offenders, 2. Suitable targets, and 3. The absence of capable guardians against a violation (Cohen & Felson, 1979, p. 589).
References
Beauregard, E., & Leclerc, B. (2007). An application of the rational choice approach to the offending process of sex offenders: A closer look at the decision-making. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 19(2), 115-133.
Beauregard, E., & Rossmo, K. D., & Proulx, J. (2007). A descriptive model of the hunting process of serial sex offenders: A rational choice perspective. Journal of Family Violence, 22(6), 449-463. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10896-007-9101-3
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44(4), 588–608. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2094589
Paternoster, R., & Bachman, R., (2001). Explaining criminals and crime. Essays in contemporary criminological theory. New York City, N.Y.: Oxford University
Witt, P., Greenfield, D., & Hiscox, S. (2008). Cognitive/behavioural approaches to the treatment adult sex offenders. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 36(2), 245-269, retrieved from EBSCOhost
Pratt, T. C. (2008). Rational Choice theory, criminal control policy, and criminology relevance. Policy essay, 43-52.
Offenders are able to identify weaknesses in a child’s personality or life circumstances and then exploit them. There can be many different characteristics a Child Molester or Pedophile uses for their selection process. The characteristics are the foll...
Lilly, Robert J., Francis T. Cullen, and Richard A. Ball. 2011. Criminological Theory: Context And Consequences. 5th ed. California: SAGE.
...aker, J. (2007). Public perceptions about sex offenders and community protection policies. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 7(1), 1-25.
Akers, R, & Sellers, C. (2009). Criminological theories: introduction, evaluation, and application. New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
The acceptance that the court system often treats female offenders differently than male offenders is an accurate statement; however, it comes with many caveats. Generally, the public views women as nurturers, motherly and incapable of harming a child. Research indicates that female sex offenders capable of committing such acts have serious psychiatric and psychological problems. In comparison, research indicates male sex offenders are more callous, more antisocial, and promiscuous, involved in the criminal justice system, and have more victims (Miccio-Fenseca, 2012, slide 7). The consensus is that men commit their acts for sexual pleasure while women commit their acts due to psychiatric and psychological problems. Law enforcement, juries, and judges tend to empathize more when there are additional mitigating factors such as emotional or psychological problems. Due to these mitigating factors, it appears treatment of female sex offenders is more lenient than male if their crimes are similar in nature. Research by Miccio-Fenseca (2012) indicates that in comparison to their male counterparts, “female sex offenders rarely use force or violence far less than often…rarely use threats of violence to silence victims…rarely use threats o...
Criminals use the rational choice theory in society when they are trying to avoid any kind of pain and are in a mindset of looking for pleasure. Criminals find the easiest way to have fun and find a ...
Brown, S & Esbensen, F & Geis, G,. Criminology, Explaining Crime and it's Context. 7th ed.
In today’s society, juveniles that commit a sexual assault have become the subject of society. It’s become a problem in the United States due to the rise of sexual offenses committed by juveniles. The general public attitude towards sex offenders appears to be highly negative (Valliant, Furac, & Antonowicz, 1994). The public reactions in the past years have shaped policy on legal approaches to managing sexual offenses. The policies have included severe sentencing laws, sex offender registry, and civil commitment as a sexually violent predator (Quinn, Forsyth, & Mullen-Quinn, 2004). This is despite recidivism data suggesting that a relatively small group of juvenile offenders commit repeat sexual assaults after a response to their sexual offending (Righthand &Welch, 2004).
Winfree, T., & Abadinsky, H. (2nd Ed.). (2003). Understanding Crime: Theory and Practice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth publishers.
Alcala is known to be very smart with a high IQ, but it was his charming ability that got him selected for ABC prime-time show, the dating game in 1978. Although Alcala was a convicted rapist and registered sex offender, he was accepted as a contestant. On the show he was introduced as a “successful photographer who got his start when his father found him in the darkroom at the age of 13, fully developed between takes, you might find him skydiving or motorcycling. Please welcome Rodney Alcala!” Alcala won over Bradshaw with his charming personality, but she would later refuse to go out with him. This was not his first victims though as his first victim was an eight year old little
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes(Oakes 99). This presents a
Criminology is the study of crime and criminals; a branch of sociology. More accurately, it is the study of crime as a social trend, and its overall origins, its many manifestations and its impact upon society as a whole. That makes it more a form of sociology than a law enforcement tool. But the trends it studies have a huge impact on the way the police do their jobs, the way society treats its criminals, and the way a given community goes about maintaining law and order. The writer will describe and give examples of the three perspectives of viewing crimes. The perspectives that will be highlighted are the consensus view, the conflict view or the interactionist view. Each perspective maintain its own interpretation of what constitutes criminal activities and what causes people to engage in criminal behaviors (Siegel, p.12).
Rodney Alcala was a young dashing ladies man, said to have a near genius IQ, through utilizing his so called photography skills combined with his persuasive smooth talking charm in order to abduct, rape and kill his victims of young girls and women. In 1978 due to his influential charm, he was selected to compete with two other bachelors’ on the ABC prime-time show called, “The Dating Game”. On this particular episode the lady bachelorette whose name is: “Cheryl Bradshaw” chose Rodney Alcala to be her date. Only they never