Lec 10/ Ch 15 Homicidal Offenders

Question 1

CCC definitions

• 1st degree murder
• 2nd degree murder
• Manslaughter
  
  • heat of passion
  • criminal negligence
• infanticide

2018: 53% increase in homicides - Why?

Answer 1

• First-degree murder: planned and deliberate
• Second-degree murder: not planned, but deliberate (aka not 1^st degree or manslaughter)
• Manslaughter: not deliberate, not planned
  
  • “heat of passion” (i.e., , find wife in bed w/ her lover, Grabs a rifle, shoot and kill the lover)
  • criminal negligence (e.g., drunk driving).
• Infanticide
  
  • max 5 years in prison
• Homicide prevalence: 1%
• Can: super low homicide rates compared to other countries; deaths by homicides very low compared to cancer and CV diseases
• 2018: 53% increase in homicides
  
  • More unusual events (Van attack)
  • More solved cases
  • More homicides by strangers

Question 2

Bimodal classification

• Reactive (emotional, affective) aggression
• Predatory (instrumental, predatory) aggression
• The continuum categories
• Psychopathy

Blais

• Corrected misconception on psychopathy association…

Answer 2

• Reactive (emotional, affective) aggression – similar to classic manslaughter
• occurs in response to some perceived provocation
• Predatory (instrumental, predatory) aggression
  
  • calculated w/ goal (e.g., money, sadistic fantasies)
    
    • E.g., Mob “hits” (paid to kill); gang violence; Paul Bernardo

Daly wilson 1992

• Reactive homicide occurs more often among relatives
• Instrumental homicides – strangers

Miethe 1999

• 80% were reactive, 20% were instrumental

Woodworth and Porter 2002

• created continuum Purely Reactive, Reactive/Instrumental, Instrumental/Reactive, Purely Instrumental
• Thought PCL-R were positively correlated with instrumentality
• Blais et al. (2002)
• Interpersonal features → instrumental violence
• Social deviance features → reactive violence
• Not the case; diff aspects of psychopathy associated w/ diff acts of violence

Question 3

Types of homicide (rs definitions)

• Filicide
• Femicide
• Uxoricide
• Androcide
• Matricide
• Sexual homicide

Spousal killers

• Most common type: uxoricide or matricide
• Motivation of uxoricide
• Risk factor
• Other characteristics
• Why wives kill husbands

Answer 3

• Filicide: kill kids by the biological parents or step-parents
• Femicide: kill F
  
  • Uxoricide: kill wife by her husband (“uxor” = wife in Latin)
• Androcide: kill M
  
  • Matricide: kill husband by his wife
• Sexual Homicides: Killing that involves a sexual component

Spousal Killers

• Uxoricide is more common that matricide
• Motivation of uxoricide: sexual jealousy or anger over estrangement
  
  • WE also see this in other countries -> more support to evo H as it applies across the species
• RISK FACTORS
  
  • offender has firearm; previous threats with a weapon; estrangement; wife left for another partner (not vv)
• OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
  
  • Husbands use close contact methods (e.g., beating or strangling),
  • use excessive force or “overkill”
  • High incidence of suicide after uxorcides
• Wives often kill their husbands out of fear for themselves or their children

Question 4

Filicide

• Main methods of killing children
• Motivations based on age
  
  • less than 1 yo
  • under 6 yo
  • 12-17 yo
• 3 types of maternal filicide
  
  • mom characteristic
  • motive
  • altruistic filicide

Answer 4

• Strangulation, suffocation, and drowning
• less than 1 yo → concealment of child
• Under 6 yo → frustration
• 12-17 yo → arguments, revenge
• 3 types of maternal filicide
  
  • 1. Neonaticides
       * w/in 24 hr of birth
       * Young, unmarried, no history of mental illness
       * Concealed pregnancies
• 2. Those committed by battering moms
     * High stress (marital, money)
     * frustration w/ kid
• 3. Committed by mom w/ mental illnesses
     * Older, married, have multiple victims
     * has psychosis or depression, commit suicide after murder
     * Altruistic filicide = mother has delusional belief that killing their child is a way to protect their child (“killing out of love”)
• These moms hv compromised intent (mens rea)

Question 5

• 3 types of MD postpartum (blues, depression, psychosis)
  
  • prevalence (%)
  • symptom
  • duration (when it starts, ends)
• Andrea yates

Answer 5

• postpartum blues
  
  • 85% of moms
  • Crying, irritability, and anxiety
  • starts a few days after birth, stop in 2 weeks
• Postpartum depression
  
  • 10-20% of moms
  • Clinical depression (onset after a few weeks of giving birth)
  • Depressed mood, loss of appetite, sleep problems
  • starts a few weeks after birth, lasts several months
• Postpartum psychosis
  
  • 1 out of 1000 (most likely contributor of maternal infanticide)
  • Severe mental illness, delusions, hallucinations, suicidal and homicidal thoughts
  • triggered 1st 3 mo of giving birth

Andrea yates

• drowned 5 kids to “protect” them
• NCRMD
• Suzanne Killinger Johnson
  
  • Doc w/ depression than maternal depression → killed son and herself
• Sonia Blanchette
  
  • Strangled and drowned 3 kids in own apartment
  • died b4 trial by starvation & refused treatment

Question 6

Familicide

• Familicide & Fathers
• 2 types of familicide killers
  
  • despondent non-hostile killer
  • Hostile accusatory killer
• Jasmine Richardson

Answer 6

• Father often commit familicide - kill spouse and children
• 2 types of familicide killers:
• (1) Despondent non-hostile killer
  
  • Depressed and worried about impending disaster for his entire family, he kills them all and commits suicide
• (2) Hostile accusatory killer
  
  • Hostility toward wife (accuses infidelity and/or wife has intentions to leave).
  • Past history of violent acts
  • Evo theory: man is violent/ kill to protect sexual resources; kill kids as well as he does not want to spend resources on kids that aren’t his

Jasmine Richardson

• She and BF killed Jasmine’s parents and 8 yo brother
  
  • Motivation: parents prevent Jasmine see Jeremy who was involved in goth culture

Question 7

Sexual homicides

• Define sexual homicide
• 6 feats in sexual homicide

Answer 7

• Sexual Homicides: Killings that have a sexual component
• Crime scene—one of the following must be present:
  
  • 1 victim attire or lack of attire (sexual nature: ex. lingerie)
  • 2 exposure of sexual parts of victim’s body
  • 3 sexual positioning
  • 4 insertion of foreign objects into victim‘s body
  • 5 evidence of sexual intercourse
  • 6 evidence of substitute sexual activity (including sadism)
    
    • causing pain causes perpetrator tb sexually aroused and excited

Question 8

Sexual homicides profiling

• Offender (age, race, marital status, criminal conviction)
• Victim (age, gender, race, other problems)
• Crime scene (main tactic, method, weapon?, overkill, sex position)

Answer 8

Sexual Homicides in Canada:

Offender Characteristics

• Average age: 28
• Race: Mostly white and Abor
• Marital status: Single 57.2%, Married 27.6%, Separated/Divorced 15.2%
• Criminal conviction: Property 7.3%, Violent 1.7%, Sexual 0.4%

Victim Characteristics

• Average age: 27
• Gender: Female 99%
• Race: White Mostly white and Abor
• Alcoholic: 38%
• Drug Addict: 25.7%
• Homeless: 11%
• Prostitution: 17%

Crime Characteristics

• Offenders often (40.6%) used cons (e.g., fake emergency) to approach the victim
• Beating and strangulation common (more than 40% of cases)
• Use of weapons, 61% of cases
• Overkill 43.1%
• Vaginal intercourse 46.3%, anal intercourse 16.3%

Question 9

Multiple murders (rs definitions)

• serial killers
• mass murderers
• spree killers

Common Characteristics of Serial Killers (based on US data)

• Offender: Gender, Race, Motive
• Victim: gender, race, age
• Cause of death
• 2 types of female serial killers
  
  • black widow
  • angel of death

M vs F serial killer characteristics

• Presence of criminal history, accomplice, murder method, motive, victim type, travelling distance

Answer 9

Multiple Murderers (rs categories; NOT LEGAL)

• Serial killers: kill at least 2 people at different points in time; killings usually committed in different locations (has cool down)
• Mass murderers: kill multiple victims at a single location at a single point in time ( no CD)
• Spree killers: Kill 2+ victims in extended episode occurring in multiple locations
• Definitional confusion exists.

Common Characteristics of Serial Killers (based on US data)

• Most are male
• Most are white (51.7%), African-American (40.6%)
• Most are driven by enjoyment
• Victims are usually female (53.49%), white (67.33%), and young (average = 19 years old)
• common cause of death: Shooting (41.73%); strangulation 23.21%)
• Female serial killers  “black widows” (financial gain) or “angels of death” (nurses who kill their patients)

Male vs Female serial killers

• Criminal History: M (Y), F(N)
• Accomplice M (25%), F (50%)
• Murder method:
  
  • M: firearm, strangle, stabbing
  • F: poison
• Motive
  
  • M: sexual gratification
  • F: Money
• Victim
  
  • M: Strangers
  • F: Fam
• Geographic type
  
  • Mobile
  • 1 specific location

Question 10

Type of serial killers

• visionary murderers
• Mission-oriented murderers
• Hedonistic murderers
  
  • 3 types
• Power-oriented murderers
• 2 critiques of this classification

Answer 10

• Visionary murderers: Kill in response to voices or visions telling them to kill; delusional or psychotic
• Mission-oriented murderers: Targets people that he/she believes is undesirable (e.g., homeless, prostitutes); ideologically driven
• Hedonistic murderers: Kills for gratification
  
  • Lust: sexual gratification
  • Thrill: fun
  • Comfort: material or financial gain
• Power-oriented murderers (aka control oriented murderers): Motivated by desire for dominance over victim
• 2 issues w/ classifications
  
  • Overlap among categories
    
    • E.g., lust, thrill, and power murders tend to have a controlled crime scene
  • Not tested empirically

Question 11

• Keppler and Walter’s 2 themes 4 types of sexual murderers (TB)
  
  • Issue

Mass murderers characteristics

• mood
• social
• belief about self
• belief about others & targets
• plan

Answer 11

• Keppel and Walter 1999
• Types of sexual murderers
• 2 themes 4 types
  
  • Power (power-assertive and power-reassurance)
  • Anger (anger retaliation, anger excitation)
• no empirical support

Mass Murderers characteristics

• Depressed, angry, frustrated and believe they did not succeed in life
• Socially isolated, lack interpersonal skills, eel rejected by others and homicide is justified revenge
• Triggered by perceived serious loss or social injustice
  
  • Target those who represent ppl they hate or blame for their problems
• Plan to commit suicide or killed by law enforcement officers

Question 12

Theories of Homicidal Aggression

• Social learning theory
  
  • 2 types of learning
  • 3 major sources of indirect influence
• Evo theory
  
  • general idea
  • “Young male syndrome”
    
    • “taste of risk”
    • fx of homicide
    • street cred
• General aggression model
  
  • 2 types of inputs
  • 3 types of internal states
  • 2 types of outcome on social encounter
  • General flow of process

Answer 12

Theories of Homicidal Aggression

• Social learning theory
  
  • Aggressive b is learnt via reinforcement (direct rewards & vicarious)
    
    • Ex. direct rewards – beat up schoolmate -> increase status among friends as tough/cool
    • Ex. vicarious/observing others being rewarded
  • Major sources of indirect influence
    
    • Family, Peers, Media
• Evo theory
  
  • Crime is an adaptive b to help ppl survive (pass on genes)
  • Homicide is an approach to eliminate competitors competing for limited resources (ex. sex)
  • “Young male syndrome”
    
    • Young males have strong “Taste for risk” (e.g., gambling, daredevilry)
    • fx of this taste of risk (ex. homicide) -> attain social status
      
      • Some perpetrators are not convicted or sentence lowered to manslaughter
      • After they get out, have status/“street cred”
        
        • Helps earn males status -> more chance to access resources, like sex
• General aggression model
  
  • Part 1: inputs
    
    • 2 types
      
      • Person factors (traits, attitudes, genes)
      • Situation (incentives, provocation, frustration)
  • Part 2: routes
    
    • Input v influence internal states
      
      • Arousal, cog (hostile thoughts), emo (anger)
      • The 3 influence eo
  • Part 3: Outcome
    
    • Internal states influence outcome
      
      • Lead to automatic, impulsive actions
      • Lead to controlled thoughtful actions
    • These outcome influence social encounter and the next social encounter

Treatment of Homicidal Offenders

• They have long sentences; little rs on treatment potential
• Many causes of this group of offenders, not one type of treatment programs
• Most programs target these factors
  
  • Anger and emo management
  • Self R/SC
  • Problem solving
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Social attitudes (beliefs supporting violence)
• Some sex offender treatment programs are applied here
• Few controlled evaluations
• Jolliffe and Farrington 2007
  
  • Eval treatment effectiveness for violent (male) offenders
  • study was not restricted to homicide offenders
  • include 8 studies w/ treated and non-treated offenders, compared them
  • +ve effect sizes = lower rates of reoffending in treated group
  • -ve effective sixed = higher reoffending
  • Effect 0.13 when comparing reoffending rates of violent offenders in treatment vs nt
  • Treatment programs are effective to some extent; effect not large