Chapter 4 Flashcards
Why are women selected as victims of serial murder?
Females operate over roughly twice the amount of time as their mail counterparts may in part have to do with their methods of killing and the types of victims selected
usually young women alone, including college students and prostitutes
What does Bandura say about reducing violent behavior?
According to social learning theory, a component of social process theory, one might explain the aggressive behavior of the serial murderer by examining the offender’s past. Special attention by researchers should be given to childhood experiences for evidence of victimization or the witnessing of violent behavior. In earlier studies, Bandura and Walters (1963) noted that particularly aggressive boys were also hostile and antagonistic that e they experienced feelings of rejection from their fathers.
How does Howard Becker define “moral entrepreneurs”?
Social groups create deviance by making rules whose infractions constitute deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders.
What is the McDonald Triad and does it work well in predicting violence?
FIRE SETTING
ANIMAL CRUELTY
ENEURISIS
Serial killers have been linked to childhood maladaptive behaviors such as torturing animals; enuresis, or chronic bed-wetting; and fire-setting.
The presence of the MacDonald Triad indicates a pattern of creating hurt because of hurt: the victim becomes the victimizer.
The Triad is not a good predictor of later adult violent behavior nor is it a valid instrument to measure future violence.
However, there does exist a correlation between youth with such behaviors, and they do appear more often among the serial-killer population than among non-offenders. (See the Edmund Kemper case.)
What is Hickey’s most likely explanation for serial murder?
Serial killers are influenced by a multitude of factors that inevitably lead them to kill. It is unlikely that any one factor is directly responsible for homicidal behavior. People are no more likely to be born to kill than offenders are to acquire homicidal inclination from watching violence on television. However this does not preclude the existence of predisposition for violent behavior or the fact that we may be influenced by what we see. In addition, no one factor has been useful thus far in predicting who may be prone to serial killer. Social scientists have long engaged in creating models for predicting criminal behavior. Unfortunately, in serial murder research, everyone wants to be the first to predict causation.
How do school shooters tend to view themselves?
One theme that often arises with juvenile school shooters is their experiences with rejection, social marginalization, public humiliation, being designated by peers as an outcast, developing a sense of personal victimization such as bullying and being demeaned by fellow students.
There are numerous cases of youth making death threats, bringing weapons to school, and sometimes killing classmates and/or teachers but seldom on the mass scale of deaths played out at Columbine High School.
Youth who commit school shootings may intend to kill many but due to lack of preparation and sophistication often fall short of their objectives.
Describe the trauma-control model.
The trauma-control model of violent behavior describes, in effect, the cyclical experience of serial offenders. Fantasies, possibly fueled by pornography or alcohol, reinforced by “routine” traumatizations of day-to-day living, keep the serial killer caught up in a self-perpetuating cycle of fantasies, stalking, and violence.
Relationship between video games and aggression
Contrary to popular belief, video games are
not cathartic in releasing pent-up emotions but
rather increase aggression. Indeed, such false
beliefs influence angry people to play violent
games.
Participants exposed to media violence and who identified with violent characters were more prone to participate in aggressive behavior prior to exposure to violence.
Labeling theory
This theory views abnormal behavior as a process by which a person graduates from primary deviance to secondary deviance. According to labeling theorists, the original deviant act, of which the origins vary significantly, is called primary deviance.
Structural theory
This theory focuses on individuals’ socioeconomic standing, suggesting that poor people commit more crimes because they are stifled in their quest for financial or social success.
Control theory
Classical control theorists would argue that people do not commit crimes such as murder because of their fear of punishment.
Neutralization theory
Sykes and Matza viewed the process of delinquent youths becoming criminals as a matter of neutralizing their personal values and attitudes as they drift between conventional behavior and illegitimate behavior.
