Theoretical Perspectives in Crime

Description of Crime

Homicide is the killing of another human being without justifiable reasons. For a murder to be termed as a homicide, the offender must have killed the victim. However, criminal homicide can either be killing another person by accident, intentional killing, or killing because of criminal negligence. Thus, the offender's circumstances and mental state are essential when determining the nature of homicide. The two types of homicide include manslaughter or murder. If the offender commits the crime and is unexcused and unjustified, it will be categorized as murder. Thus, in a murder case, the offender killed the other person after carefully thinking of how to proceed with the operations. The situation is from manslaughter as the offender needs not to have thought about killing the person before doing it. Thus, murder with the intention of killing is referred to as first-degree murder, while killing to cause injury is referred to as second-degree murder (Brookman, 2010). Malevolence afterthought is the state of mind that creates the distinction between murder and manslaughter. 

Selected Group

The homicide crime for the paper was carried out by a teenager aged 16 years by the name Dawson, towards his grandmother. 

Offender Background 

Dawson was the only child born of African American parents. His parents divorced while he was eight years old due to irreconcilable differences. While growing up, Dawson experiences a lot of violence between his mother and father. There was a time that he was hit by his father while trying to defend his mother. After the separation, his mother managed to get full custody of him. But she could not correctly handle the baby as her job was demanding as she was not well paid. She decided to take Dawson to live with his grandmother, a retired teacher, and live alone after her husband's death. Thus, most of the time, Dawson grew under the care of his grandmother. Dawson's mother would visit him most of the time, but the situation became different when she remarried and got another divorce after one year. The life of Dawson's mother equally changes as she started taking drugs and binge drunkards. His father was also an alcohol addict after their separation from his mother and has never been concerned with Dawson's whereabouts. Hence, in most instances, Dawson would feel like a rejected child that would live and depend on his grandmother. 

According to Dawson, he wished that his grandmother would die so that his parents would take care of him since it was their responsibility. He had a low grade in school and would be given punishment by the teachers because of his poor behavior. Dawson equally has the feeling that his grandmother was struggling to raise his school fees and put food on the table. At the onset of his 16th birthday, he silently left school. He joined a gang of peers that would probably understand his situation. The group was a refuge for him as they would have fun, which made him forget most of his problems. His grandmother was so determined to stop him from meeting with the gang, especially after receiving information that Dawson is no longer going to school. The issue has been irritating to Dawson as he considers his grandmother pestering him and has even thought of committing murder. 

Specific Incident Describing the Issue

At the time of the crime, Dawson was staying with his grandmother. On the night of the incident, Dawson wanted to head out and meet with the gang members, but his grandmother blocked him. He ran to his room and locked himself in room. Later in the night, Dawson sneaked out of the house with a substantial metal piece in his hand. He went to his grandmother's room but then changed his mind when he found her having a peaceful sleep. Thus, he decided to use s pillow to suffocate her. Her grandmother woke up and struggled and managed to overpower Dawson. The boy picked the piece of metal and hit his grandmother on the head several times until she felt down. The confrontation woke up the house help who was sleeping in the adjacent room. Dawson managed to run away from the crime scene after the incident. The house help dialed the emergency number for help, but the grandmother was dead upon reaching the hospital. 

The main description of Dawson's behavior is psychological instability. He went through a rough childhood where he experienced violence from his parents and did not receive the parent's love that a child deserves. He had the desire to have what he could not afford, which created a rage in him. His main intention was to attract the attention of his parents. Instead, he developed a behavioral disorder that was never taken care of by going through counseling. Also, he was being irritated by the idea that his grandmother was the reason he was receiving a constant rejection from his parents. Equally, his grandmother interfered with the gang life that gave him the joy and peace he wanted in life. His inner aggression might have been triggered every time he reflected on his life, creating an impulsive reaction. In the gang, Dawson might also have been introduced to drugs tampered with his logical reasoning and increased the urge to act irrationally. Dawson's main gain would be his freedom from juvenile and the attention that she might get from his parents. 

Risk Factors

Several factors contributed to Dawson's criminal behavior. Age and gender are some of the significant risk factors. According to Bookman (2010), homicide is a crime that is mainly committed by males. Statistics show that more than 90% of homicide cases have men as offenders. Ethnicity is the other risk factor. Asian and Black people are the majority of the offender in the United States prison. African Americans account for nearly 12% of homicide offenders in the United States prisons. Socioeconomic and education are the other key risk factors. Dawson was a product of a broken family where both the mother and the father were drug users.

Violence was rampant in the home, and there was no parental love. Thus, his grandmother adopted him, who was compensating for his parent's failure in raising him. The background he came from was insufficient, which affected his ability to learn and concentrate on his studies. Distress is one of the inferior social status results that are most likely to influence a person's learning ability. The behavioral problems that Dawson was experiencing are because of a lack of parental support and attachment. The issue affected his social life and performance in school. The uncertainties initiate anxiety and a poor reasoning condition. The child develops bitterness and becomes aggressive. The use of drugs is the other risk factor. Drugs interfere with a person's reasoning, and they can do anything out of their consciousness (Bookman, 2010). It is not evident how Dawson used to have fun with his friends, but drugs are a possible option. 

Psychological and Behavioral Disorders

Several theories can be used to describe the behavior of a homicide offender. One of the most suitable approaches is the behavioral theory. The theory stipulates that violence, aggressiveness, and impulsive responses are some of a homicide offender's predispositions. Predispositions are very common among teenagers. Humans' behavior is learned from the external environment and the interaction that we have with others. People are not born with the predisposition of violence. Still, they can learn the behavior by acting in the environment surrounding them or even through violent thinking in their daily life experience. Those who live in a violent environment can know how to mode their neighbors' aggressive behavior (Ontario, 2016). Dawson was exposed to violence at an early age. It is also possible to have violent behavior being facilitated by a stressful stimulus or other events such as assault. The confrontation that Dawson has with his grandmother might have aroused his anger. A reflection of his life might have been the stimuli that gave him the desire to kill. 

From the cognitive development theories, the development of humans takes place logically and systematically. While growing up, different people will have different interpretations of the law. Some will avoid violence as they are afraid of the consequences, while others will prevent violence because of moral implications. Those who have a high degree of moral reasoning are not at a higher risk of taking part in criminal and violent acts than those that avoid violence because they are afraid of the punishment. From the case study, it is evident that Dawson did not understand his actions' moral implications. After going through the feeling of being abandoned and neglected by his parent, he is unlikely to have sympathy and consider any ethical implications (Ontario, 2016). There was a low development in his moral reasoning since, according to him, his parents lacked the moral sense to take good care of him. 

Another theory that can be used to explain homicide is the personality-violence connection. Personality is a stable sequence of actions, ideas, and behavior in a person. It is the personality that creates a distinction between one person and another. Some characters are more disposed to criminal acts that others (Ontario, 2016). For instance, suspicion, defiance, and extroversion are some of the personality traits that are at a high risk of being associated with criminal acts. Also, violent behaviors are associated with jealousy, egoism, and lack of empathy towards other people. There is also a lack of perseverance and ambition among the criminals making it hard for them to handle their impulses and temper. Hostility is pervasive among crime-prone teenagers, and they are quick to take action and give threats. They feel irritated, anxious, and stressed all the time. Dawson seems to have been going through all the personality as mentioned above traits. 

Dynamic and Social Theories

Some theories can be used to explain the homicide offender behavior. The two leading approaches are dynamic and static. The static theory stipulates that offenders usually have an antisocial behavior pattern that is persistent, and they can be explained using the static traits in the person's early childhood life. Some of the static characteristics include the chaotic family background, masculinity, and the absence of self-control. The features will result in the manifestation of the verdict of crime in a person's early life (Liem, 2013). Dawson had an early childhood life that was very chaotic and full of violence from his parents. The trait might have contributed to his developing and antisocial behavior that made her commit homicide crime. The static theory suggests that once a person has taken part in criminal activity, they will continue with the same criminal act for the rest of their lives. Thus, there is a high possibility that Dawson will be reoffending in the future. 

The dynamic theory stipulates that changes taking place in life directly influence criminal behavior in a person's life. Thus, age is a huge contributor to an individual ability to commit a crime. An example of the dynamic theory is life course theories. The theories suggest changes in criminal behavior as changes in the essential aspects of a person's life occur. The life-course approaches show some attachment to parents and marital conditions to criminal behavior in a person (Liem, 2013). Dawson has gone through some severe life events, starting to separate his parents, rejection after his mother stopped visiting, and body changes because of adolescence. The life changes would have impacted his feelings, behavior, and life perception at different levels. Leaving school is the other significant change that took place in Dawson's life. He felt that he was detached from his parents and has never felt attached to his grandmother, who was his guardian at the moment. He hated her and blamed her for taking away his parents' responsibility in raising him. 

Substance Abuse

There is a high chance that Dawson was using drugs while he joined the gang. It is not clear when exactly he might have started using drugs. Still, after he was arrested, an immediate assessment of Dawson indicates a high level of marijuana in the blood. The drug would have positively influenced his behavior to the point that it distorted his rational thinking, making him commit the homicide.

Motivations

Several factors would have motivated Dawson’s behavior. One is the hatred that he has for his grandmother. The mentality that he was having was that if his grandmother were out of the picture, then his parents would not have had an option to take full responsibility for him. His gang is the other motivation. There was satisfaction and fulfillment in Dawson’s life after he joined the crew. The fear of never having the feeling might have motivated him to eliminate his grandmother as she was the main hindrance. He felt like nobody else understood him, including his grandmother but only his gang members.

Was the Offender able to follow up?

The incident took place in the offender's home. He managed to remain in his room while avoiding the crime scene. He did not go back to the crime scene to pick the metal rod that he used to kill his grandmother or any other kind of evidence. There is a possibility that he was afraid he would be arrested, and he had trauma from the incident and thus would not go back to the crime scene. The interrogation he was getting from the police officer might have increased the intensity of the fear and therefore tried and much as possible to avoid the murder scene. He did not even go to the morgue to see his grandmother, and neither did he view his body during the funeral. His reaction indicates that he was suffering from trauma and guilt. His cousin managed to dig deeper and force him to confess because of the responsibility.

Legal and Rehabilitative Action

Dawson was arrested because of his confession. He was later charged with first-degree murder and was expected to take a plea at the juvenile court. A mental assessment was done before Dawson would take the appeal but was later taken to an adult court. The evaluation showed that he was not in his right state of mind while committing the crime. He was going through a mild personality disorder and posted traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Also, he was diagnosed with the attention-deficiency hypersensitive disorder (ADHD) and drug abuse. The assessment outcomes were supported by his life history analysis that was an influence on his psychological well-being. Dawson was taken to an inpatient rehabilitation center by the judicial system because of his mental condition. He also has an appointment with a forensic psychiatrist that would otherwise determine that he cannot cause harm to society once he was released. 

The rehabilitation mainly focused on cognitive behavioral therapy that would address the PTSD and ADHD conditions. There was an integration of trauma-focused emotional regulation intervention and the use of drug therapy (Young, Greer & Church, 2017). Other interventions that were used include family therapy, and the main aim was to try and bring the family together to reduce recidivism. Dawson was placed in a craft related training whose primary purpose was to financially empower him to be re-integrated back into the community entirely. The whole process lasted for six years, after which Dawson was released back into the community through parole. The parole's terms equally included Dawson visiting his parole officer after every two weeks for two years. The program's main focus was to address the underlying issue that was a trigger to Dawson in committing the crime. The level of effectiveness was high, especially in solving the psychological problems, using drugs, and issues related to the family.

Related Outcome or Impact Emanating from the Criminal Behavior

The case was an addition to the juvenile offenders resulting from drug use, peer pressure, and behavioral issues. There has been the development of anti-drug programs among teenagers because of the case. Equally, changes have been made to the current anti-drug policy that was fighting drug use. A key consideration in the procedure is to consider drug use as a crime in the United States. 

Conclusion

Homicide among family members is becoming a rampant issue in the community. In the past, the problem has been blamed on drugs, but there is a need to consider that there are other underlying factors. A key concern is for the children that are from a broken family. There is a need to have more interventions that will assist the children whose parents have separated. Most children suffer from trauma, which affects their behavior as they grow up, especially if violence was involved before the separation. Parents need to sacrifice more for the psychological well-being of their children. The focus should be on how the child can receive the support of both parents in case there is a break-up. Also, for those who show any psychological disorders they should be taken through a counseling session as an early intervention. 

References

Bookman, F. (2010). Homicide: Chapter 12. In F. Brookman, M. Maguire, T. Bannett, & H. Pierpoint, The handbook on crime . London: Willan.  

Liem, M. (2013). Homicide offender recidivism: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violence Behavior , 18 , 19-25. 

Ontario. (2016). Review of the roots of youth violence: Literature reviews, volume, chapter 2: Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services . Retrieved from http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/professionals/oyap/roots/volume5/chapter02_psychological_theories.aspx

Young, S., Greer, B., & Church, R. (2017). Juvenile delinquency, welfare, justice and therapeutic interventions: a goal perspective. BJPsych Bulletin , 41 (1), 21-29.