On November 14th, 1939, Mr. Anthony Marston was speeding intoxicated in his sports car, near Cambridge, England, when he unfortunately struck and killed two children, John and Lucy Combes. The victims were allowed to explore beyond their cottage, unbeknownst to them that these would be their last moments before Mr. Marston came in and unlawfully took their lives. The evidence prepared for the reader is enough to condemn Mr. Marson for second-degree involuntary manslaughter. One of the witnesses claimed Mr. Marston said, “‘The legal life’s narrowing! I’m all for crime!’” (Christie 74). Mr Marston had previously brushed off the topic of the victims’ deaths when questioned about the victims’ deaths as it was not a huge deal to him. He shows no remorse or any feelings about taking the lives of the victims. …show more content…
Marston mentions, “‘...legal life’s narrowing...’” (Christie 74), the reader can assume he is speaking about his crimes. In context, a witness had spoken just before claiming that all Mr. Marston wants is a “...thrill...” (Christie 74), which goes to say that Mr. Marston is capable of committing another crime for that same thrill he spoke about. One might say that Mr. Marston is not speaking about his crimes; he may be speaking about going to court another time or being tried for the second time. But moments prior he spoke about the stories of other witnesses' experiences in the matter being, “‘...thrilling’” (Christie 74), and thought of these crimes to be somewhat amusing to him. Mr. Marston was known as a person who liked to travel at high speeds. Dr. Edward Armstrong, a witness to Mr. Marston’s behavior, had seen him “...rush past him at eighty miles per hour” (Christie 13). This evidence points out that Mr. Marston was prone to such speeds and therefore was capable of hitting the victims with little to no
Convicted for the murders of his wife and two kids, thirty-four years ago, Dr. MacDonald still endures the agony of being accused of killing his family. Even after twenty-four years of imprisonment and several unlawful court hearings, additional documentation continues to up hold Dr. MacDonald’s testimony.
In Truman Capote’s famous non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, there is evidence that supports the injustices of the trial: death penalty. The final outcome of the trail was never to be any different than death. “Of all the people in all the world, the Clutters were the least likely to be murdered” (Capote 85). We know the two men who killed the Clutter family, Perry Smith and Bill Hickock, preplanned the crime with malice and forethought. Although the actions were crul and grusome, does Death Row fit what they did if their pasts, childhood environments and situation, are bad. Capote shows the effect of childhood on the killers and if the death penalty is fair. Capote gives the killers a voice to show their humanity by giving childhood accounts of their lives. He questions the justice of is the death penalty fair, and if inherent evil is a product of childhood or society. Is it nature or nurture? Capote gives a look into the minds of the killers and the nature vs. nurture theory. The detailed account the killers’ childhoods makes the reader sympathize with the Clutter family’s killers Smith and Hickock. Should they reserve the death penalty? Did Truman Capote take a stand on the death penalty? By giving the readers a detailed accounting of Perry Smith’s and Dick Hickock’s childhood, Capote sets up the reader for nurture vs. nature debate on the death penalty. The question then becomes, do the effects (if any) caused by environment in childhood make for a trained killer or a natural born one?
How much are you willing to sacrifice for another? Whether they are a family member or a complete stranger. In the novel The Kite Runner Baba was was willing to risk his life when he had stood up and was trying to stop the Russian soldier from rape the young woman as payment for letting them pass through one of the checkpoints. Then there had been Amir it was when he had suffered extreme injuries, nearly losing his life when he had fought Assef, so that he could save Sohrab for the abuse he was suffering from the Taliban. Both Character Baba and Amir were willing to sacrifice themselves for another person, regardless of who they were. Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, teaches the reader sacrificing your life can lead to another person’s happiness through Baba saving the woman from the Russian soldier and Amir fighting Assef.
In 1875, Dr. Arthur Paul Davis and Alice Davis of Toronto, feloniously and willfully murdered Catherine Laing and then subsequently a week following on Sunday morning murdered Jane Vaughn Gilmour. They were found guilty of the crime committed to victim Gilmour as the case with Laing did not preced...
A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it. Unfortunately, such acts of rampage have become a prevalent factor in the Canadian culture. As a result of endless media coverage, Canadians now are constantly bombarded with numerous images of violence. Many of which often portray a victim avenging their opponent by means of force. Thus, indoctrinating a nation of individuals to believe that it is only through aggression that problems can be resolved. Rather than being punished for acts of violence, those who commit such offenses are often praised for their “heroism”. In addition, the success of films like The Godfather, Gladiator, and Troy further aid in reinstating the fact that we live in a society that praises violence. Furthermore, this ideology allows for individuals to partake in violent acts with little or no backlash from ones community. However, when an individual strays away from the “norm”, they are likely to then be viewed as a deviant. Such cases of rejection within a society, are often seen in the portrayal of serial killers. Although our society tends to condone violence when it is directed towards a specific individual(s), it does not allow the killing of innocent bystanders. Instead, crimes that are targeted against a number of people over a long period of time, entail the harshest forms punishments under the law. Sadly, in executing the law for said crimes, those in charge often face much public scrutiny. Such occurrences were apparent in the faulty murder investigations of Canada's most notorious serial killer Robert Pickton. This is due to the ...
[which] includ[es] family members, [and] spouses.” (Miller, 2014). Arguably this helps society function because the one that has taken another’s life is not making capital gain from their crime; therefore, they cannot act in such a way and expect to be rewarded from it. Also, on a social institutional level other family members and the public are, understandably, distressed over the death of the one that they lost, but if the one that caused the death of the person were to make gain it would hardly be fair on a moral and norm basis. Though there is mixed research whether there can be deterrents within the laws, this perhaps can be a deterrent as the MPs have struck down on not providing capital gain to the assailant but then again, there is can be the mentality of ‘getting away with it’ as well. Nevertheless, this follows the functionalist model of lawmaking because it reinforces a behaviour as wrong, and unproductive to societies members and institutions.
A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it, (Lapham, 1985). Unfortunately, such acts of rampage have become a prevalent factor in the Canadian culture. As a result of endless media coverage, Canadians now are constantly bombarded with countless images of violence. Many of which often portray a victim avenging their opponent by force. Thus, indoctrinating individuals to believe that it is only through aggression that problems are resolved. Rather than being punished for acts of violence, those who commit such offenses are often praised for their “heroism”. In addition, the success of films like The Godfather, Gladiator, and Troy further aid in reinstating we live in a society that praises violence. Furthermore, this ideology allows for people to partake in violent acts with little or no backlash from ones community. However, when an person strays away from the “norm”, they are likely to then be viewed as a deviant. Such cases of rejection within a society, are often seen in the portrayal of serial killers. Although our society tends to condone violence when it is directed towards a specific individual(s), it does not allow the killing of innocent bystanders. Instead, crimes that are targeted against a number of people over a long period, entail the harshest forms punishments under the law. Sadly, in executing the law for said crimes, those in charge often face much public scrutiny. Such occurrences were apparent in the faulty murder investigations of Canada's most notorious serial killer Robert Pickton. This is due to the fact that, the negligence of the Vancou...
“Trial by Fire” by David Grann written on September 9th, 2009 is a piece that unearths everyone’s innermost fear of being punished for a deed that they did not commit.Grann argues that capital punishment is a crude and unruly sentence, given the fact that many of these cases are not conducted properly. So called arson investigators that used a “systematic method” to corroborate a case against a man because of his troubled history. Cameron Todd Willingham was charged with murder of his children by arson due problematic evidence against him such as pour patterns and puddle configurations leading investigators to believe that he used a liquid accelerant to start a fire. This evidence would later be disapproved by Gerald Hurst, an acclaimed scientist
... fair to say that Williamson’s conviction and death sentence resulted from a combination of mental illness, junk science, political pressure, unscrupulous police work, and incompetent counsel.” (Coyne)
Bowers, W, Pierce, G., and McDevitt, J.(1984), Legal Homicide: Death as Punishment in America, 1964-1982, 333
In Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay presents Dexter Morgan, a serial killer who kills only criminals, and in doing so, generates controversy about what constitutes morally justifiable behaviour. Lindsay’s protagonist blurs the lines between right and wrong, exposes the inherent flaws of justice systems, and ultimately forces the reader to evaluate his or her principles. While many North Americans believe that murder is unquestionably evil, I disagree on the basis that this stance overlooks the need to take into account the circumstances of the situation—such as who the victim is, who has committed the murder, and why he or she has done so—which are crucial factors in passing moral judgement on an offender’s actions. I argue that Dexter is correct to channel his sociopathy into something positive—disposing of individuals who have committed atrocious crimes in a vigilante fashion—because North American justice systems are incredibly flawed, as they allow heinous criminals to walk free too often due to prevailing social biases, systematic loopholes, and lack of manpower. Dexter compensates for this defect because, unlike justice systems, he eliminates criminals without prejudice towards the offender or the victim, operates on a straightforward basis free of political rigmarole, and achieves results in an efficient fashion, all of which make North American society a safer place, save lives of would-be victims, and spare their families mental anguish. Ultimately, this reveals that the line between what is right and wrong is not as clear as one might initially think, as well as the troubling notion that North American institutional structures are in need of reconstruction if readers are more confident in justice delivered by a ...
In 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, aged ten at the time, abused and murdered a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. There was media uproar about the case with the two boys being described as ‘evil’, ‘monsters’ and ‘freaks’ in the media (Franklin & Horwath 1998). There were many references to evil in the newspapers; with the telegraph stating that Thompson’s nickname was ‘Damien’ (from The Omen) and declaring that Venables birth date was Friday the 13th. The majority of society was united in the belief that these two boys were the epitome of evil and it was the media that nurtured this belief. ‘Newspaper reports were unequivocal in their denunciations of Thompson and Venables as inherently evil, prompted perhaps initially by Justice Morland’s description of the murder as an act of unparalleled ev...
“Closure and its myths: Victims’ families, the death penalty, and the closure argument” is an article from the International Review of Victimology written by Judy Eaton and Tony Christensen. Both Eaton and Christensen are faculty members at Wilfrid Laurier University in the Criminology/Law and society department. If an individual is murdered, Family members of the victims are allowed to
Judith Flanders, in her monograph, “The Invention of Murder,” writes an argument for “How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime.” In her discussion of the many murders throughout the book, she delved into how the public responded and how the police changed to more efficiently catch criminals. From the brutal Marr family murders and the Burke and Hare body-snatching murders, to the poison panic and the highly sensationalized Jack the Ripper, murder greatly impacted how the Victorians viewed murder, and how they responded to it. However, her argument leaves much to be desired in terms of the actual murder argument. In chapter one, the discussion of the Marr family murders revealed the sad state of the police
Law Reform Commission (2001), Consultation Paper on Homicide: The mental element in murder. http://www.lawreform.ie/_fileupload/consultation%20papers/cpMentalElementinMurder.pdf. Accessed at 6/11/10.