Scenario Three The final scenario is a case of an admired college football assistant coach who created a charity organization to assist disadvantaged children. There were many youth assisted by this organization over the course of many years specifically young boys. The assistant coach had a tremendous support system and those that cared for him were proud his hard work helping the young people. This coach had a major issue which on the surface was not readily present, over thirty years he was molesting boys in many places both he and the boys frequented (Laureate Education, 2016). This may have been his motive for creating the charity to assist the young children, it provided him with access to the boys for him to groom for sexual encounters. …show more content…
The causes of pedophilia can be ascribed to both biological and environmental factors. Cerebral dysfunction can be a causal factor of pedophilia including issues with self-control, extreme urges, and cognitive distortions (Miller, 2012). For this reason, the self-control theory of criminal behavior can best explain this coach’s crime. The self-control theory also labeled the general theory of crime implies that lack of individual self-control is the main element of criminal behavior. As Miller (2012) explains, those individuals with “low self-control are highly impulsive, egocentric, action-orientated, thrill-seeking, frustration tolerant” … (p.71). These individuals often find themselves caught up in “maladaptive, self-defeating, aggressive, and criminal behavior” (Miller, 2012, p.71). The self-control theory of criminal behavior has identifiers that are closely related with frontal lobe impairments which can be contributed to cerebral dysfunctions as described …show more content…
For the coach, the crime was committed because it was pleasurable in itself. Crimes of passion such as sex crimes are categorized as expressive due to the emotion and irrationality of the offender (Cohn & Rotton, 2003). The decision the coach made to commence his pedophilic tendencies and continue to participate in this behavior for so many years was an irrational one as he put so much of his life at risk for the pleasure. With expressive crime, the behavior normally appears quite irrational and has no specific component of gain (Cohn & Rotton, 2003). The purpose of the crime in this scenario had no purpose to accomplish and merely answered to the sexual desires of the
He chose the treatment programme but was expelled after propositioning female staff. The night before he was due to be transported to prison, he went to the emergency room complaining of a severe headache. There he continued to solicit sexual favours from staff. An astute neurologist ordered an MRI scan after Michael wet his trousers without showing any apparent concern. The MRI revealed a tumour growing from the base of the orbitofrontal cortex. After the tumour was resected, Michael’s behaviour returned to normal, and he was reunited with his wife and stepdaughter. After several months of normal behaviour, his wife discovered child pornography on his computer. Michael was re-examined, and it was discovered that the tumour had regrown. It was resected for a second time, and for at least 6years after the resection Michael’s behaviour has returned to normal. The case comes almost as close as one can get to a causal connection between ventral prefrontal brain pathology and deviant behaviour — a pendulum moving from normality to brain dysfunction to paedophilia to neurosurgery to normality, and back again. In the face of the order in which events occurred, was Michael responsible for his inappropriate sexual behaviour with his stepdaughter?”
This topic is crucial when considering the decision to penalize a criminal for a felony. Scientifically speaking, there is a difference between the brains of individuals, causing some people to be more aggressive than others. As Gazzaniga (2005) states in his book, "Whether through neurochemical imbalances or lesions, brain function can become distorted, perhaps explaining certain violent or criminal behavior" (p.89). If all people with such neurochemical imbalances displayed similar types of behavior, the conclusion would be obvious. However, not all people who have lesions or schizophrenia are violent. (Gazzaniga, 2005, p.95) An inconsistency in behavioral outcomes requires an alternate explanation of the concept of free will. Some philosophers criticize neuroscientists, arguing that, according to the article Neuroscience vs. Philosophy, "researchers have not quite grasped the concept that they say they are debunking" (Neuroscience vs. Philosophy: Taking an Aim at free will, 2011). In order to fully understand the concept of free will, it must be understood from synthesizing lessons from human experiences. Aristotle spoke of an internal moral compass that all humans possess; one that guides the concept of what is good (Eshleman, 2014, p.3). It becomes a necessity to compile the scientific perspective of a moral dilemma with the philosophical perspective in order to draw a reasonable
The number of sexually abused children is five times what it was in 2012. Jerry Sandusky has contributed to this statistic. Jerry Sandusky was the head coach of the Pennsylvania State Football team (Penn. State). He has a wife and a few children, some adopted from his charity organization, the second mile, but this did not stop him from committing the crimes he did. Jerry Sandusky was convicted of raping ten innocent children, some of which he met through his charity. This earned him thirty-sixty years behind bars. There are issues from this case that are similar to some issues in the play, Twelve Angry Men. Ultimately, throughout both cases the jury was faced with difficult decisions. In both cases the verdict took a long time and a lot of thinking. But, in the end both came out with the right resolution. Sandusky’s reputation of being the guy everyone looked up to made the overall decision of the jury, in this case, inordinately difficult.
... from now on I would be a little more forceful. I would no longer accept no as an answer to my requests.” (Dodd, W.A., Steinhorst, L. 1994). While in Seattle, Dodd realized children were less likely to turn him in out of embarrassment. At this time Dodd was still attending counseling sessions for his pedophilic urges. Here his attacks turned more brutal as he started to fanaticize about killing his victims. Later in his book he stated, “The more I thought about it, the more exciting the idea of murder sounded. I planned many ways to kill a boy. Then I started thinking of torture, castration, and even cannibalism.” (Dodd, W.A., Steinhorst, L. 1994). Dodd’s intelligence allowed him to manipulate the justice system and stay out of jail. He had become a killer in his mind; a sexual sadist that was stimulated by his thoughts and fantasies of murdering his next victims.
If children have not developed a good level of self-control they are susceptible to live a life of crime and partake in other socially unacceptable behavior. They are often focused on the immediate pleasure and don’t consider the risks or harm that cou...
It is a common stereotype that all sex offenders have some form of psychopathy, and therefore they cannot be treated, however most sexual offenders do not have major mental illness or psychological maladjustment (Ward, Polaschek and Busch, 2006), therefore it is not impossible to treat them. Finkelhor’s (1984) precondition model was made with the assumption that the psychopathology of an individual will only take us so far in explaining sexually abusive behaviour, Finkelhor states that 4 stages of preconditions must exist before sexual abuse can take place, these are; Primary motivation to abuse a child sexually, overcoming of internal and external inhibitions and dealing with a child’s resistance to sexual abuse, for each subsequent precondition to occur the previous one must be achieved. Finkelhor argues th...
Eysenck, H.J., & Gudjonsson, G.H. (1989). The causes and cures of criminality. Contemporary Psychology, 36, 575-577.
A major component in Gottfredson and Hirschi 's theory is the relationship between parenting and self-control (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 2001). As previously mentioned, Tim and Lionel receive very little parental oversight and guidance. According to low self-control theory, this absence in Tim and Lionel 's life can be seen as an essential factor in their participation in sexting. Due to the lack of parenting in childhood, the youth were unable to develop the necessary self-control to resist the easy temptations offered by crime. Accompanying the lack of parenting, Tim and Lionel 's association with equally perverse individuals at school only served to further exacerbate their impulses and guide them towards delinquency. As such, Tim and Lionel
...f brain abnormalities on psychosocial development, criminal history and paraphilias in sexual murderers." J Forensic sci 50.5 (2005): 1204-8.
Studies concluded that an injury may impair the impulse control mechanism in the brain causing increase in aggressive behavior (King, 2012). The cerebral cortex has been the fundamental part of the brain considered when looking at violent behavior. The cerebral cortex is the external part of the brain that is partitioned into two halves comprising of four lobes. The frontal and temporal lobes manages the impulses and emotion, these regions of the brain are most contemplated when studying violence. The limitation of the brain injury is that it does not explain all occurrences of violence as everyone who exhibit violent behavior does not have a brain injury (Ali & Naylor,
In Aristos Bouius's essay, Pedophilia Versus Abuse, it is suggested that a real pedophile loves children and doesn't want to hurt them in any way, but rather wants a relationship with the child which can be an enjoyable and loving experience on both sides. Pedophiles often take on a parental role toward the child, and the child, craving love and attention, accepts the touching, holding or even the act of sex. Most likely, the child has never experienced "normal" parental love and confuses it with what the pedophile has to offer.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Firstly, the author discovered that sexually motivating behaviors stem from one’s personal disposition and serves as a pathway for social variables to act on. For instance, Jeffrey Dahmer found dissections in biology class to be exciting which lead the way to “obsessive thoughts of violence intermingled with sex” (Sandfort 8). The preconceptions and yearning for sex were already embedded in his brain but emerged fully when exposed to a social environment which was the classroom which soon evolved into serial killer tendencies. Later on, Dahmer’s yearning involved into killing young men he was attracted to due to his sexual motivations for them which he viewed as a weakness. This behavior was “largely motivated by his loneliness and his coalescence of violence and sex” (Sandfort 14).
Olivia Mathis November 20, 2017 Professor Maksuta General Theory of Crime General theory of crime, a developmental theory introduced by Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi that links self-control and impulsivity to crime. This theory is based on that if a person lacks self-control they are more likely to commit a crime than a person with high self-control. This is because one who lacks self-control tends to be more impulsive, insensitive, adventurous, active, self-centered, and are more of the “in the moment” type. While they are usually unstable and incapable of keeping healthy relationships this gives them no sort of shame about how they act and since it’s only them they don’t really care about the consequences after. These acts
Psychological criminology has helped us understand paedophilia and child sexual abuse in a few perimeters. First we have been able to understand what is paedophilia and child sexual abuse. Paedophilia refers to the sexual attraction towards prepubescent children, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-4), defines it as “recurrent, intense sexual arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving activities with a prepubescent child” and child sex abuse does not have to involve force, penetration, pain, or even touching, If an adult engages in any form of sexual behavior such as even showing or looking with a child to meet an adults sexual needs then it is considered child sexual abuse. But to be a pedophile is
Criminality constitutes strategic mannerisms characterized by apathy to misery inflicted on others, egocentricity and depressed self-control. Habitual criminal behaviour seeks to satisfy the offender’s desires for material prestige, power or pleasurable feelings regardless to damage inflicted to victim or society. Such behaviors extend mistrust, fuel prejudice, and largely corrupt social cohesion. Biological, psychological and environmental attributes are thought to heavily influence antisocial and criminal behaviour. Numerous studies have proven that active emulation, genetic predispositions and psychosocial labeling are all complementary to development and expressions of criminal behaviour. There has historically been a myriad of theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour through different perspectives, all which constitute intricate paradigms that play a role in expressio...