SOCI 3410 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3, 8 & 9: Somatotype And Constitutional Psychology, John Allen Muhammad, Positron Emission Tomography
31 May 2018
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SOCI3410 Week 3 Reading Notes
CHAPTER 3: THEORIES OF MULTIPLE HOMICIDE
Sociological Theories
Strain Theory
• Criminal behaviour results from an individual’s experience of dealing w the difficulties
of everyday living
• Merton suggested American culture emphasizes economic success w/out also
emphasizing the requisite opportunities for attaining it
o Many lack access to the structural means for improving their SES
• Innovation – accepting goals (financial success), rejecting means
o Ex. robbery & embezzlement
o Ex. the DC snipers
• Agnew’s General Strain Theory holds that a range of negative experiences or
disappointing events in social relationships at home, school, work, or in the
neighbourhood can lead to frustration, anger, depression, anxiety & ultimately to criminal
behaviour
o Sources of strain: failure to achieve positively valued goals, loss of social status +
gap btwn aspirations & achievements
• General Strain Theory can help explain school killings
o American youths who have gone on a shooting spree at their schools have been
both academic successes & failures but almost all had been physically bullied,
teased, humiliated, or ignored by fellow schoolmates
• Leary et al. (2003) – chronic rejection of the shooters present in at least 13 of 15 school
shooting cases
• Risk factors: trauma from broken homes, suffered physical or sexual abuse, having a
parent w a criminal history
• Ex. Seung-Hui Cho – diagnosed w severe anxiety disorder & major depression + ignored
& bullied
o Sense of rejection throughout his youth led to his actions
• Ex. Edmar Freitas shot 8 ppl as revenge for being routinely teased & humiliated by
classmates
• Ex. Charles Manson – abandoned by his criminal mother, beat & raped by fellow inmates
& guards
Social Learning Theory
• Individuals develop a propensity to kill from what they learn during their interactions w
others
• Sutherland & Cressey – criminal behaviour derives from differential association w an
intimate group who reinforce positive attitudes toward + teach skills associated w
criminality
o Differential association varies in frequency, duration, intensity + priority of
interaction
• Social learning stronger when individuals perceive they are likely to be rewarded >
punished for their criminal behaviour
SOCI3410 Week 3 Reading Notes
o Well-publicized crimes reported in mass media may serve as a source of model
for criminal behaviour
• Military background may provide effective learning experience for development of a
potential serial killer… environment where taught to be violent + kill enemy
• Graduation hypothesis – certain serial killers may learn & rehearse their propensity for
torture & murder by brutalizing animals during childhood & adolescence
o When their violence-prone tendencies become expressed in the same, some
employ the same means for destroying human beings
• Not all social learning comes from face-to-face relationships
o Media images of infamous murderers have also served as role models for mass &
serial killers
▪ Ex. Anders Breivik was ‘inspired’ by Unabomber, Theodore Kaczinski
• Many inspired by 1999 Columbine massacre as inspiration to kill
Routine Activity Theory
• Everyday situations that offer opportunities for victimization present more important
causal factors than social conditions (i.e. poverty & inequality)
• Available & appropriate target + absence of effective guardians + motivated offender =
opportunity for violent crime
• Serial killers often select victims based on presence of routine opportunities in victims’
lifestyles to lure them into vulnerable populations
o Ex. prostitutes can be lured into a car = totally at killer’s mercy
• Potential victims may have minimal contact w friends & family due to stigma by their
choice of an illegal job + living apart from anyone who might provide them w protection
• Police pressure to solve case of prostitute slayings is less than murder of a middle-class
women who don’t feel at risk
• May influence choice of victims in mass shootings
o Want for a max. body count = drawn to bigger classrooms (i.e. lecture halls)
▪ Ex. Steven Kazmierczak killed in an auditorium-style lecture hall
• May influence why certain venues aren’t chosen as crime scene for mass shooting
o Ex. James Holmes chose to attack a theater rather than classroom bc. less to fear
from armed customers & law enforcement personnel
• Ex. Seung-Hui Cho’s victims (students in a classroom) acted as surrogates for the real
culprits (graduated students)
Control Theory
• Commitment or attachment to conventional individuals & institutions immunizes human
beings from committing violent offences
• Freud – presence of superego assures an individual will grow up having enough self-
control… reduces likelihood of committing acts of extreme violence
• Hirschi – criminality often controlled by an individual’s commitments & attachments to
conventional institutions, beliefs, activities & groups
o Ppl refrain from engaging in violent behaviour in fear of losing relationships w
S.O.
o Ppl who lack strong social ties lack motivation to become law-abiding = more
likely to commit murderous acts
SOCI3410 Week 3 Reading Notes
• Gottfredson & Hirschi – importance of parental love, supervision & consistent discipline
in formation of self-control
• Sampson & Laub – ability of young ppl to develop connections through stable informal
bonds & job/career relationships may protect them from committing criminal acts
o Areas where individuals lack social bonds (i.e. impoverished, drug-addicted,
unemployed & transients) also tend to have high rates of crime
• Being in the presence of close friends & relatives might immunize a potential killer from
commiting a murderous act
o Ex. Ken Bianchi may have never killed anyone had he not moved to the West
coast + maintained his close personal relationships
• Important for individuals who lack internal controls (superego) (i.e. sociopath) to reside
in a network of S.O. who are able to limit their propensity for violence
• Mass murderers lack sources of social control
o Ex. One Goh had no fam members to help him get through deaths of mom & bro
o Ex. Sandy Hook shooter had serious mental illness + reclusive lifestyle = no
contact w his family
Psychological Theories
• Leonard Lake & Charles Ng (tortured, raped & killed dozens) were motivated by a
ghoulish desire for sexual sadism
• Multiple killers often described as deranged psychos, but are rarely clinically or legally
insane
o >5% of serial murderers + 12%-15% of mass murderers are psychotic
• Multiple murderers typically display marked deficits in processing emotions + relating to
others (aka psychopaths – not clinically insane but morally insane)
• Lake understood concepts of morality & right vs. wrong but placed his needs above the
rights of others
Psychopathy
• Abnormal emotions in absence of delusions or hallucinations = manie sans délire or
moral insanity (aka psychopathy, sociopathy or APD)
• Cleckley’s symptoms: disinhibited behaviour, superficial charm & intelligence, low
anxiety/fearlessness + lack of insight, remorse & empathy
• McCord’s symptoms: aggression, impulsivity, parasitic exploitation & manipulation of
others + callousness
• PCL-R – measures personality & case history aspects of psychopathy as Factors 1 & 2
• 1% of the pop. is psychopathic but accounts for >50% of all crimes in the US
• Psychopathic characteristics (i.e. inability to feel love, empathize w pain of others, feel
guilt or accept responsibility for their crimes) allow multiple murderers to kill w
emotional impunity
• Most psychopaths are not killers yet serial murderers commonly epitomize psychopathy
o Ex. Bundy, Bernardo & Wuornos scored highly on PCL-R (>30/40 points)
• Some killers (i.e. Columbine shooter, Seung-Hui Cho & James Holmes) retrospectively
labeled psychopaths after their crimes
Document Summary
Seung-hui cho diagnosed w severe anxiety disorder & major depression + ignored. & bullied: sense of rejection throughout his youth led to his actions, ex. Edmar freitas shot 8 ppl as revenge for being routinely teased & humiliated by classmates: ex. Charles manson abandoned by his criminal mother, beat & raped by fellow inmates. Anders breivik was inspired" by unabomber, theodore kaczinski: many inspired by 1999 columbine massacre as inspiration to kill. Steven kazmierczak killed in an auditorium-style lecture hall: may influence why certain venues aren"t chosen as crime scene for mass shooting, ex. James holmes chose to attack a theater rather than classroom bc. less to fear from armed customers & law enforcement personnel: ex. Seung-hui cho"s victims (students in a classroom) acted as surrogates for the real culprits (graduated students) S. o: ppl who lack strong social ties lack motivation to become law-abiding = more likely to commit murderous acts.
