Gorton Homicide Final Exam
Mothers
Based on data presented in the text, who is the most likely person to murder a baby?
African American
Based on the data presented in your text, what category of person is most likely to kill a child?
Infanticide
The killing of an infant child is generally less than one year old
Filicide
The killing of one's own child (including stepchild) and thus could include the killing of ones adult child
Negligent homicide (Involuntary manslaughter)
Types of homicide: -Failure to perform some duty and in result, someone dies -no malice (to do harm), no intent (to kill), no premeditation, no heat of passion -Ex: Parents leaving their child in a car and they die from it
Voluntary murder (Second-degree murder)
Types of homicide: -Intent (to kill), malice (to do harm), heat of passion, but no premeditation
Manslaughter (Voluntary manslaughter)
Types of homicide: -Malice (to do harm), heat of passion, but no intent (to kill), and no premeditation
Murder (First-degree murder)
Types of homicide: -Premeditation, malice (to do harm), intent (to kill), and afterthought
Those who are in the 17-19 year old range
What age interval of which is there the highest number of homicides?
-Killer: 61% were white, 94% were male, average age was 29 years old, 69% used firearms, 27% killed in a public setting, under half (40%) killed family members, 36% killed acquaintances, and 24% killed strangers -Victim: The average is 28, 72% were white, and 55% were male
What are Duwe's findings of mass and spree murders from 1976-1999?
Disgruntled citizen
-Expresses his/her anger and rage by killing others -Tends to be angry at the world rather than certain people
Project Ceasefire
-A so-called lever-pulling strategy that aims to stop violent crime by being extremely tough on crime -The plan is to pull every lever or, in other words, use every strategy that can be employed to prosecute and punish anyone who uses a gun in the commission of a crime
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
-Also known as "factitious disorder" and is a controversial diagnosis -Caretakers who suffer from this report fictitious symptoms or cause symptoms in a person they are taking care of so they can gain attention
Disgruntled employee
-Current employees who are unhappy about something happening at their work or they are former employees who have been fired and return to retaliate against those who they believe have treated them wrongly -Although the focus of the killer's revenge is aimed at those who have mistreated him/her, others are often killed in the rampage
Victim impact statement
-Introduced into criminal trials as a way for victims to indicate the impact the crime has had on them -When an offender is found guilty, the judge or jury may use this in determining the sentence the offender will receive
Set and run
-Killers that use methods such as bombings or poisoning to kill their victims to allow their own escape -EX: Timothy McVeigh
Hate Crimes Statistic Act
-Mandated that data be collected on hate crimes across the US -Signed in 1990 by President George H. Bush
Laura's law
-Mandates that the Ohio Parole Board make upcoming parole hearings public by posting them on internet sites open to the community -Also requires the Ohio Department of Corrections to update inmate pages
Pseudo-commandos
-Mass murderers who are obsessed with weapons and often bring an ample supply to complete their massacre -Not impulsive; carefully select a public place with many possible victims -Usually commit suicide (sometimes force cops to do it)
Capital murder
-Murders in which punishment may be the death penalty -EX: The killing of a correctional or police officer
Year and a day rule
-States that one is responsible for a death only if the victim dies within a year and a day of the act believed to have caused the death -If the victim dies after the year and a day mark, the offender would not be charged with homicide, although they may be found guilty of aggravated assault
Restorative justice - victim/offender mediation
-The goal is to allow the offender to work towards repairing the harm he or she has caused and to reintegrate him or her into society -Is also seen as beneficial for the victims
Spree Killers
-Those who kill several victims at different locations within a short period of time -Minimum of 3 to 4 victims
Family annihilators
-Those who kill their entire family and often themselves in once incident within the home -Often, the killer is the patriarch of the family , who is depressed and frequently an alcoholic
Felony murder rule
-When the death of a human occurs during a dangerous felony -EX: arson, burglary, rape, or robbery -Even if there was no intent to murder, a person may still be accountable for the murder
Lower-class, white males; late 20s or 30s
According to Fox and Levin (2001) and Hickey (2006) most serial killers are _________ in their _______
Young women who were alone and children
According to Hickey (2006), most of the strangers murdered by serial killers are who?
-Strangers who are not likely to be reported missing or those who are otherwise vulnerable -*Young women who were alone and children account for most of the strangers sought out by serial killers
According to Hickey, what type of victims do most male serial killers target?
Availability, vulnerability, and desirability
According to the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC), serial murderers target their victims based upon _________, _________, and ________.
7 years old
According to the US common law, what is the youngest age at which it is possible to form an intent to kill?
7 to 12
According to the text, the average serial killer murders how many victims?
$22 billion is 2001
According to the text, what are the approximate financial costs associated with homicide in the US?
35
According to the textbook, what is a reasonable estimate of the number of serial killers active in the US?
Serial killer
An individual who kills multiple victims at different times and often in different places with cooling-off periods in between the killings
10 to 20; 6
Children make up ___ to ___ percent of the US homicide victims; approximately ___ per day.
Parents (fathers more than mothers; 31% vs. 30%)
Children under the age of 5 are most likely to be killed by _________
Winter
During which season are increases in homicides of children under the age of two most likely to occur?
-You are unlikely to kill someone (or commit some lesser offense) if you believe you are certain to be punished and the punishment is something so severe that you wish to avoid it -Research does not show that the death penalty actually serves as a deterrent
Explain the death penalty and its relationship to deterrence
Selective incapacitation is intended for those who are believed to be very likely to offend because they have offended in the past. If a convicted murderer is put to death, it is certain that he/she cannot commit future murders
Explain the death penalty and its relationship to incapacitation
-Death penalty can increase homicide; can legitimately make someone decide to a commit homicide -After an execution happened, stranger on stranger homicide rates increased
Explain the death penalty and its relationship to the brutalization hypothesis
-Strangle their victims because using a gun would take away part of the pleasure for the killer -Many serial killers kill for the feeling of power/sadistic pleasure they get from torturing another and taking his, or more often, her life
Generally, how do male serial killers tend to murder their victims and why do they use this manner of death?
26% of JHOs located in: Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia
In 1997, what was the approximate percentage of JHOs located in the 8 cities?
Serial killers often select people who are treated as throwaways in our society, such as the homeless, runaways, migrants, or prostitutes. Egger (2002) refers to these victims as "less dead" because he says they were "less alive" before they were killed
In terms of serial killers, what is the relevance of the terms "less alive" and "less dead"
Intra racial
Is most JHO inter or intra racial?
Psychotic mass murderers
Killers that normally have had a break with reality and they are likely to hear voices or have visions
Other young male adolescents
Male adolscents are most likely to be killed by ___________
Mass murder (Leven and Fox)
Murders with four or more victims in the same place
357
The National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime estimates the number of serial killers in the US from 1960-1991 to what?
Neonaticide
The murder of a newborn within the first 24 hours of his or her life
M'Naughten rule (Daniel M'Naughten 1843)
To prove insanity, then "it must be clearly proved that, at the time of the committing of the act, the party accused as laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing; or, if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong"
-Found a connection between a victim's time of death and the race of the offender -Access to medical care and emergency transportation differed by race such that African American assault victims were more likely to die than white victims -Racial inequalities in the delivery of medical care may exacerbate the racial inequality that is already occurring in the administration of Justice in the US
What are Hanke and Gundelach's findings on race, emergency medical care, and death by homicide?
The homicide rate for the first day of life is 10 times higher than the rate during any other time of life
What are Paulozzi and Wells findings about comparative homicide rates during the first day of life compared to any other time of life?
-The economy: the unemployment rate decreased and so did the homicide rate -Changes in the crack cocaine market -Reduction in gang turf wars -Others have argued that tough criminal justice policies and gun laws may explain the decrease
What are explanations for the decline in homicides from 1990 to 2009?
-No escape attempt -Usually white males -Military background -Easy gun access -Relatively well educated -No urban bias -Mental illness -Unemployed
What are some characteristics associated with rampage killers?
1. SK are all male 2. SK are white 3. SK kill for sexual thrills 4. SK are very intelligent 5. SK are insane 6. SK are highly mobile 7. SK operate alone 8. SK kill dozens of victims 9. SK were abused as children 10. SK beat, stab, strangle or torture their victims 11. SK can not stop killing
What are some serial killer myths?
Many states have adopted laws that allow young parents to leave their new form children at a fire station, hospital, or police department without any penalties
What are state laws regarding abandonment of new born children?
The homicide rate for children (under 15-years-old) in the US was 5 times higher
What are the CDC findings on the child homicide rate compared to 25 other countries?
-Child victims and parent offenders tend to be older than in other filicides -The offender is more likely to be a biological parent -Offender's tend to kill all of their children rather than leaving any of them alive -Parents who kill more than one of their children are more likely to commit suicide than those who kill only one of their children
What are the characteristics of filicide-suicides?
-Mothers normally do it because they think they are bettering the welfare of their children; suicide is their primary motive -Fathers tend to do it to feel powerful and in control; homicide is this primary motive
What are the differences in reasons that fathers and mothers commit filicide-suicide?
Natural, suicide, accidental, undetermined, and homicide
What are the five manners of death?
1. The identity of at least one offender must be known 2. Sufficient probable cause must exist that would justify prosecution for the crime 3. The location of the offender must be known 4. There must be something preventing the police from making an arrest
What are the four criteria for a crime to be cleared exceptionally?
Strangulation and suffocation are the most common
What are the most common methods of homicide of children within the first 24 hours of life?
-1984 to 1993: increased 117% -1993 to 2000: dropped to 8% (extremely low)
What are the murder rate trends for boy children from 1984 to 1993 to 2000?
-1980 to 1998: remained the same -1998 to 2000: dropped to the lowest it had been in 21 years
What are the murder rate trends for girl children from 1980 to 1998 to 2000?
-Proximate cause: the initial event that lead to the death -Immediate cause: what caused the person to expire -EX: The proximate cause could be a gunshot wound and the immediate cause could be loss of blood
What are the two possible components in cause of death?
-Organized: The killer carefully planned and executed the murder; The organized killer is likely to exercise power over the victim by using restraints and raping or torturing their victim while he/she is alive -Disorganized: The killing appears to have been spontaneous and a chaotic act; More likely to perform sexual acts on the victim after death and leave evidence of weapons at the scene
What do the differences (organized vs. disorganized) suggest about the murderers?
1. The shooters' self-perceptions are marginal 2. The shooters are experiencing psychological problems that make their marginality more extreme than it is in reality 3. A cultural script of masculinity in our society suggests that shooting people will gain them the respect they deserve 4. The organization of public schools in the US makes it difficult to recognize warning signs given off by young killers. The signs are missed by teachers and administrators, and if recognized by peers, the children do not report to the administrators. 5. The easy availability of guns in US society
What does Katherine Newman say are the 5 cause of school shootings?
-Egger (2006): Since the 1980s, African Americans are slightly overrepresented among serial killers -Despite making up 17% of the population, 25% of his sample were African American serial killers who killed between 1980 and 2005.
What does recent research indicate about the extent to which African Americans engage in serial homicide?
-Action Americans: Murder Must End Now! -Goals: To raise public awareness about the treatment of murder in the US, encourages the media to stop sensationalizing murder and portray more realistic presentations of murder in their every day coverage, advocate reasonable punishments for homicide offenders, and advocate a sociological view of homicide that considers the impact society has has on murder as the look for community based solutions to prevent homicide
What is AAMMEN! and its goals?
-Homicide scholars have suggested that the decrease in homicide clearances reflects changes in the types of homicide committed -Most research suggest that homicide committed during the commission of another felony and homicides committed by strangers are less likely to be solved ---> an increase in these homicides could explain the decrease in homicide clearance rates
What is Davies possible explanation for the 1976 to 2004 trend on homicide clearance rate?
This organized/disorganized distinction may be better fit along a continuum with serial killers becoming more disorganized as their criminal career advances
What is Mitchell's argument about the organized/disorganized serial killer continuum?
He posits that the sociocultural environment and one's home situation interact with biological factors such as a predisposition to violence to cause the syndrome which leads to psychological problems, possibly including cognitive difficulties or even psychiatric illnesses
What is Mitchell's diathesis-stress syndrome as an explanation for serial murder?
-Also called a "John Doe" warrant -Rather than warrants that name individuals, these are warrants issued for a person by their genetic code
What is a DNA warrant?
Serial killers tend to kill victims who are strangers to them
What is generally the relationship between serial killers and their victims?
-The killing of one's parent -The killing of one's father -The killing of one's mother
What is parricide, patricide, and matricide?
-"America's missing: Broadcast Emergency response" -Named after a 9 year old, Amber Hagermann, who was kidnapped and murdered in Texas
What is the AMBER alert system?
Less than 10%
What is the approximate percentage of persons under the age of 18 arrested for murder and non-negligent manslaughter?
-Spree: short cooling off period (days) -Serial: long cooling of period (weeks, months, years)
What is the difference between the cooling off period for spree killers vs. serial killers?
-Homicide survivors experience deeper and longer lasting trauma -Homicide survivors face more than the unexpected deaths of their loved ones; they must contend with the fact that their loved one died because someone willfully took his/her life
What is the difference between the trauma experienced by loved ones of homicide victims versus the trauma experiences by those who lost loved ones to accidental death and car crashes?
It is far more likely that the offender is a biological parent than a stepparent
What is the different in the involvement of stepparents versus biological parents in filicide-suicide cases?
Region does not appear to be a factor in serial killing as it may in homicide
What is the extent to which region of the country appears to be a factor in frequency of serial murders?
1. A person is guilty of criminal homicide if he purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently causes the death of another human being 2. Criminal homicide is murder, manslaughter, or negligent homicide
What is the model penal code definition of homicide?
Acquaintances
What is the most frequent relationship between male and female JHOs and their victim?
A traveling memorial to those lost by murder
What is the murder wall?
Research indicates that PTSD is more prevalent in murder survivors than in people who lost loved ones to other cases including accidents and suicides
What is the prevalence of PTSD in survivors of homicide versus people who lost loved ones in all other types of death?
-Male: 34% of their victims were strangers -Female: 15% of their victims were strangers
What is the relationship between gender and JHO murder of strangers?
-Puckett and Lundman (2003) studies 802 murders: Victim's race, social class, and sex did not appear to make a difference in homicide clearance rates -However, homicides in African American communities were less likely to be solved, but they argued that it was due to lack of cooperation
What is the relationship between homicide clearances and victim's race/ethnicity?
-Just over half (56%) of known JHOs between 1980-1997 were African Americans -Out of every million: 30 white, 34 Native American, 44 Asian, all compared to 194 African American -Youths were most likely to kill individuals of their own race
What is the relationship between juvenile homicde offenders (JHOs) and race especially among African Americans and Whites?
When girls are abducted, it tends to be a sexually motivated abduction and homicide
What is the relationship between victim's gender and sexually motivated abduction homicides?
-The percentage of homicides that are cleared have continued to drop in the US since 1976 -1976 = 79% -2004 = 63%
What is the trend in homicide clearance from 1976 to 2004?
Personal weapons (hands and feet)
What is the type of weapon most frequently used in hate crimes?
Daytime hours and normally during the week days
What time of day is the murder of children most likely to occur?
"personal weapons" such as the killer's hands, feet, or fists
What weapon is most frequently used in homicides of children under the age of four?
-n= 175 child abduction murders -74% of the victims were female and their average age was 11 -44% of the time, the victim and the killer were strangers -42% of the time, the victim and the killer were friends/acquaintances -14% of the time, it was the parents or intimates -2/3 of the killers had prior arrests for violent crimes and 1/2 of these people's crimes were against children -60% of cases had a 2 hour time lapse prior to making the report -76% of the time, the child was dead within 3 hours -86% of the time, the child was dead in 24 hours
What were Brown, Kappel, Weis, and Skeen's findings on child abduction murders?
Children in schools with peace builders were less aggressive and more prosocial than children not involved in the program
What were the Peacebuilders Program experimental results for students with and without Peacebuilders after one and two years of the program?
-n= 100 rampage attacks ---> 102 killers, 425 murders, 510 injuries -Findings: killings were not random, not impulsive, and the rage builds over time
What were the findings from the New York time series?
-1985 to 1993: There was a very rapid increase after 1985 when the rate was 10.5% and it raised to 31.3% in 1993 -Since 1993, the rate has plummeted to lowest levels ever recorded (2002=9.0%)
What were the homicide trends for age 14-17 from 1985 to 1993 and after 1993?
"Clear exceptionally"
When a crime is solved by other means than an arrest
-When the police solve it -Usually there is an arrest made, but can also be cleared exceptionally
When is a crime considered "cleared"?
Hate crimes
When the motivation to do a crime is "hatred, bias, or prejudice, based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation of another individual or group"
