Analyzing Serial Homicide Cases From The Perspective Of Socialization Theory

The Application of Socialization Theory in Understanding the Causes of Serial Homicide

Serial homicide is unlawful killing of more than one person which is carried out by same person in separate events that occurs in different time period. Rising cases of homicide in society calls for the need to determine the causes of these cases and develop a better understanding of homicide cases through the application of socialization theory. There are different causes of homicide in society which arise due to a number of reasons such as revenge, sexual violence and rape are some of the motivating factors that contribute to rising incidences of serial homicides in society. This essay seeks to analyze homicide cases from the approach of socialization theory and then present a policy that can be used to combat such menace in society.

This is a theory that is used to analyze socialization and interaction between individual peer groups rather than the parental figures. The peers influence the personality and behaviors of their colleagues hence making them to often engage in practices which are immoral if such peer groups are also immoral in the way through which they operate in the society. The theory further proposes that an individual mind tend to influence how they behave in society and this subsequently makes an individual to engage in certain character traits that are not conducive in society.

Individuals do not just develop a habit of killing other people from nowhere. This character trait arises due to a number of compelling reasons which makes these individuals to resort to engage in homicide cases.  Some of these compelling reasons include.

Sex motivation has been the main reasons as to why offenders engage in this type of crime. The concept of evil and an intention to do bad things to another individual is rooted in the mentality of an individual whereby based on the assumptions of Knight (2007), serial killers are usually motivated to engage in the process of killing victims after raping them as a way of concealing their identity since the victims can easily identify them, they decide to kill the victims as a way of hiding their identities. This is a common phenomenon whereby many cold blood deaths which are discovered in society are often associated with the victim being raped before being strangled to death or stabbed to death. The death therefore arise after the crime perpetrator has raped the victim and they now decide to dump the evidence. According to Myers et al. (2006), the motivation for serial sexual homicide arise as a result of a number of issues such as anger, urge for power and control. All these issues act as a motivational factor in the quest to enable a serial killer to achieve their motives. This clearly shows serial killers do not just engage in killing other individuals for no reason but rather they have an underlying factor that motivate them to engage in such killings.

Serial killers also arise due to mistreatment during childhood. The mistreatment can act as a motivational factor in motivating these children when they grow up to develop instincts and want to revenge for the mistreatment that they received when they were young. Mitchell and Aamodt (2005) noted that child abuse contributes to rising cases of serial killers who are motivated to engage in these criminal offence cases due to the need to revenge for such unethical behaviors that they were exposed to when they were growing up. They tend to develop a negative mentality that is often seeking compensation and from time to time, they are seeking to get compensation for not being treated fairly when they were growing up. Allely et al. (2014) supported this notion by stating that serial murderers are rare events which create a profound societal impact. Incidences of extreme violence among children when they grow up makes them to develop a habit of wanting to revenge when they grow up an attribute that has led to rising incidences of serial killers when these children reach maturity age. This shows that psychological and sociological factors contribute to shaping the perception and mentality of serial killers who tend to engage in such criminal activities as a way of fulfilling their psychological needs.

Factors Contributing to Rising Incidences of Serial Homicides in Society

The routine activity theory as proposed by Cohen and Felson (1979) proposed that criminal offences can occur as a result of three key element that is motivated offender who is seeking to solve their ego, there must be a suitable target that they are targeting to attack and there must be an absence of capable guardian to protect the target victim. Such incidences are common in urban areas where people tend to live alone and this makes it easy for criminal Offenders to target their victims and execute their programs without the victim knowing that they are being targeted. Such sentiments were also supported by Cohen and Felson (1979) who noted that changes in social society development programs has made it possible for serial criminals such as homicide cases to be on the rise in the society. Social changes in the society such as rising cybercrimes have also contributed to the rising incidences of criminal cases whereby criminal perpetrators have found out alternative ways through which they can increase and engage passionately in other criminal events that will give the authorities difficult time to unmask such criminal incidences. Individuals who conduct homicide cases are often skilled and they have mastered the art of conducting serial offences while following the trend of what is happening such as police vigilance trails.

There is a challenge of serious childhood trauma behind the serial killer. When a child suffers from trauma, they tend to develop character traits that are difficult to amend. Individuals who have suffered from such past history tend to develop negative perception towards the society as well as other members of the society whereby they are not willing to interact and associate freely with one another due to different underlying reasons which makes the individual to develop a negative mentality from other people in society. Occurrence of such behaviors makes it difficult for these individuals to fully embrace one another in society hence, they tend to engage in petty crimes and others can as well engage in activities such as murder that are deemed to be against the wishes of common people in society. Kocis (2013); Salman (2020) noted that trauma and child abuse incidences contribute greatly to making of a serial killer as such an individual has passed through difficult life moments which makes them to be unable to develop close relationship with other people in society an attribute that gradually contribute to these individuals to engage in crime offences such as homicide cases as a way of soothing their ego and self-interests.

Serial killers usually target women more than male counterparts: females have been the first casualties who are targeted by serial killers first due to the assumption that they are weak creatures who cannot fight for their lives and secondly, due to the fact that most serial killers are males, they target these female so that they can rape them before they kill them. As a result, women have been on the receiving end of serial murders who are targeting them as a way of fulfilling their sexual urge before they can kill them in cold blood and also, they are on the target list of murders because it’s easy to kill a woman as they are not masculine to make it difficult for a killer to easily kill and dispose them off. According to Harrison et al. (2019); Kraemer et a. (2004), women have continuously become targeted by serial killers because they are more vulnerable and easy to kill as compared to their male counterparts who can at times can prove to be a challenge to kill them since they are masculine and tend to confront the serial killers. Women on the other hand tend to suffer from panic attacks which makes them to fall victims easily as they tend to panic and as a result, they are easily overpowered by the serial killers who then proceed to kill the victim easily.

A Proposed Policy to Combat Serial Homicide in Society

Typical targets of serial killers have often been children as noted by DeFronzo et al. (2007); Kraemer et al. (2004) children as well as women have been on the receiving end and targets of murder and homicide cases due to the fact that they are easily convinced and can be killed with ease without much struggle. Also there are cultural beliefs that are grounded on sacrifice and witchcraft whereby people are being sacrificed for wealth an act that contribute to children being targets for such practices. Children have become targets of these unethical practices because they are weak and cannot retaliate in case they have been confronted or roughed up for homicide. A lot of children blood has been shed for no reason with many of the cases being unresolved or being termed as homicide because the perpetrators of these acts have never been unmasked or, a few of them get caught up with the law but a large percentage of these individuals go unpunished.

If homicide cases are not solved in the society, they will create a situation in which people will feel insecure and take upon themselves an action of protecting their life through the use of alternative means available such as mob justice. There is need first of all to ascertain and determine the motives of these serial homicide killers and then look for a solution that can be used to solve the situation amicably. First of all, there is need to understand what is the motivational factor for homicide cases and based on the assumptions provided by socialization theory, the personality and behaviors of individuals in their adulthood is influenced by individual peer groups. This implies that the main factor that is causing individuals to engage in such criminal cases is because of the ideas that they share with peer groups. Therefore, there is a need to change the mentality that is being upheld by peers and seek a way in which the peer.  The best policy to approach homicide cases is to introduce punitive punishment for such crime perpetrators. Having reviewed punishment to introduce punitive measures such as death by hanging if found to have committed such offence will make the perpetrators to fear and reduce their atrocities to the general public. The review of sentencing for such convicts will make the law to take its course and be ruthless when it comes to dealing with serious homicide cases whereby the accused should be equally sentenced to hanging instead of providing them with life sentence or opportunity to be granted bail. This is because the current punishment system that at times grant bail to homicide offenders is delaying justice provision to victims. If only they were sentenced to hanging, such offences would have reduced in society because the perpetrators will develop fear and avoid engaging in such activities.

Conclusion

Homicide cases are on the rise in society due to a number of reasons in which these crime perpetrators are seeking to solve certain scores by killing innocent individuals in cold blood. A number of reasons have been outlined in the essay with regards to what causes individuals to engage in criminal activities. Its therefore the duty of law enforcing agencies to review the sentencing and punishments that are available for serial homicide killers to ensure that justice is served in equal proportion based on what they have done to their victims. In such a way, they will develop fear and reduce actions of killing other people innocently in society.

Reference 

Allely, C.S., Minnis, H., Thompson, L., Wilson, P. and Gillberg, C., 2014. Neurodevelopmental and psychosocial risk factors in serial killers and mass murderers. Aggression and violent behavior, 19(3), pp.288-301.

Cohen, L.E. and Felson, M., 1979. Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American sociological review, pp.588-608.

DeFronzo, J., Ditta, A., Hannon, L. and Prochnow, J., 2007. Male serial homicide: The influence of cultural and structural variables. Homicide Studies, 11(1), pp.3-14.

Harrison, M.A., Hughes, S.M. and Gott, A.J., 2019. Sex differences in serial  killers. Evolutionary behavioral sciences, 13(4), p.295.

Knight, Z.G., 2007. Sexually motivated serial killers and the psychology of aggression and “evil within a contemporary psychoanalytical perspective. Journal of sexual aggression, 13(1),     pp.21-35.

Kocis, R.N., 2013. Serial Murderers and Their Victims.

Kraemer, G.W., Lord, W.D. and Heilbrun, K., 2004. Comparing single and serial homicide offenses. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 22(3), pp.325-343.

Mitchell, H. and Aamodt, M.G., 2005. The incidence of child abuses in serial killers. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 20(1), pp.40-47.

Myers, W.C., Husted, D.S., Safarik, M.E. and O'toole, M.E., 2006. The motivation behind serial sexual homicide: Is it sex, power, and control, or anger? Journal of Forensic Sciences, 51(4), pp.900-907.

Salman, A., 2020. An Insight into Female Serial Killers: A Product of Childhood Abuse and Trauma?