1,239
20
Essay, 6 pages (1400 words)

True crimes essay

True CrimeCrime is regarded as an action that is undergone by an individual who breaches laws. Crime in turn makes a greater impact on a society because laws are made and set of rules are appreciated to be followed by the member of society in order to sustain a peaceful society. Crime is committed by criminals in various trajectories and almost all forms. There are as many theories that could be applied on crime as there are crimes being committed by people in a society. Case study method has proven the best way to evaluate and broadly integrate of criminal theories. For the purpose of this paper, a case had been selected from the book “ True Crime: Observation on violence and modernity” by Mark Seltzer.

In this paper we shall study the case in particular and discuss a criminological theory that best explains the nature of the criminal case.·         Defining True Crime: There are certain types of crimes that could be evaluated in daily life. A large number of theorists have conducted case study method to analyze different cases and their nature.

The first method that has been selected to demonstrate different types of cases had been the categorization crime into two forms i. e. true crime and false crime.

For the purpose of evaluation of criminological theory, we have selected the category of true crime. In particular, true crimes are basically regarded as section of crime literary genre that is completely non-fiction. The books of true crime include cases from real life criminals without any fiction addition to it.

True crimes are elaborated in terms of forensic understanding of the case that could either be regarded as the aftermath of the crime. ·         True Crime Case: The true crime took place in West Memphis that greatly includes in the archives and investigation scenario of criminological study. The case was against the notoriously famous criminals who never came to light even after so many years. The case has been filed in the year 1993. There has been a good amount of investigation processes that took place. Even the forensic research could not answer some of the questions in particular. There was a great deal of confusion that took place during the investigation process. According to the reports and investigation records, there were three boys who were murdered in West Memphis at the Robin Hood Hills.

The reports made it clear that all three boys were studying in the same class and they bunked their school classes (Seltzer). The case was initially filed by the parents of the students missing on 5th may 1993. The names of the victims are Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. According to the people who testified for the case, it was reported that the kids were seen to be riding bicycle at Robin Hood Hills. A group of non-professional searchers went to look for the kids but the kids were found no where in the town. Police was informed about the case later that night.

According to the patrol police, they found the three boys naked near the Robin Hood Hills. The patrol police also made it confirmed that the children were hogtied which is regarded as the most dangerous form of torturing technique that is used by the murderers to kill the victims. The autopsy reports also demonstrated that the kids were beaten severely that caused them to die. In particular, Christopher Byers was beaten more severely in comparison with other two boys. The closer suspect that was taken in custody was Damien Echols. On the time of issuance of the warrant against Damien Echols, there were no reasons to use the students as the suspect for the murder and true crime (Seltzer).

Few of the aspects that were located for the issuance of the warrant against Damien Echols was the reason that he was bipolar, he was in the same class as the three murdered victims. Moreover, Damien Echols was also observed to be into metal songs and was regarded as a more religiously dabbed child. Damien Echols has also a record of suicide attempt in his mental health history. At the end of the prosecution of the case after few months of investigation for the case, the case became against Damien Echols as he was sentenced to death. The twist that was  observed about the case after fourteen years, was the fact that the DNA that was find on the crime scene did not match Damien Echols who was convicted for murder of three eight years old boy.·         Purpose of Case Selection: The case had been selected because it has it includes the aesthetics of forensic realism. Moreover the case includes almost all the factors that could explain a true case more easily and completely.

A criminal spectacle could also be found in the case as it includes some of the notions that best explain the positivistic criminological theory. The case makes it complicated for the readers to guess the criminological theory that could be best applied for the purpose of best investigation of the case. The case had been selected so that there could be a great understanding of the positivistic criminological theory that is considered as the most complicated criminological theory. Some of the theorists believe that positivistic criminological theory has its limitation.  ·         Criminal theory: The case deliberately confirms through its nature that the criminological theory that can best explain the case is positivistic theory. It is due to the fact that positivistic theory in particular concludes the result of the case on the basis of evidences.

The nature of the case informs that the convicted victim was more a psychologically dismantle person. This investigation records were greatly analyzed by the patrol police, law prosecutors and offenders with the help of positivistic criminological theory. The positivist criminological theory is explained as a theory that checks the matter of murder with the approach to find out the relation of the suspect to be convicted through behavioral search. The nature of the case completely affirms the use of positivistic criminological theory for the best solution of the forensic and patrol police investigation (Laub and Sampson).

Some of the critics believe that positivistic criminological theory has its limitation because truth can be changed overtime. The nearest observation of the positivistic criminological theory is that it is reliable of the fact that more and more evidences that come with the passage of time, shapes the result and situation of the case. The case of the there eight years old boy can be considered to be a positivistic criminological theory (Beirne). The case also makes a distinction that more and more theories of the criminological and forensic investigations are interrelated. Thus there are certain other criminological theories that could be applied to the case of three eight years old boys. The contributors of the positivistic criminological theory regard this approach to investigation as the best theory that can be used widely as more and more cases of the same nature come in our awareness and understanding every now and then (Braithwaite). The limitation of the positivist criminological theory that had been researched and critically acclaimed by the authors and contributors of criminology is that the theory only focuses a limited interpretation of the truth as the theory is completely based upon particular study of evidences and thus the conclusion of the case is enlisted in the form if a story as jigsaw or puzzles being set and jotted down.

The absoluteness and objectivity of the truth can be wrong or changed over time. But on the other hand cases where the suspect is more subjected to his psychological dismantles can be best explained by positivistic criminological theory (Spader).·         Conclusion: Through the above analysis of the case that had been discussed broadly for the integration and understanding criminological theory, it can be concluded that there had been a great deal of work that had been proposed for the purpose of forensic and criminological understanding. Positivist criminological theory can be best applied to the case of three eight years old boys who were killed at the Robin Hood Hills in 1993. The author had broadly mentioned the insight story from both point of view i.

e. prosecutor and defender view.         Reference ListBeirne, P. “ Adolphe Quetelet and the Origins of Positivist Criminology.” The American Journal of Sociology (1987): 1140-1169.

Braithwaite, J. “ Bryon Positivism.” SAGE Social Sciences Collection (1993): 383-399. Laub, J and R Sampson. “ The Sutherland-Glueck Debate: On the Sociology of Criminological Knowledge.

” The American Journal of Sociology (1991): 1402-1440. Seltzer, M. True Crime: Observations on Violence and Modernity. New York: CRC Press, 2007. Spader, J. “ Megatrends in Criminal Justice Theory.” HeinOnline’s Law Journal (1985): 158-195.;;

Thank's for Your Vote!
True crimes essay. Page 1
True crimes essay. Page 2
True crimes essay. Page 3
True crimes essay. Page 4
True crimes essay. Page 5
True crimes essay. Page 6
True crimes essay. Page 7

This work, titled "True crimes essay" was written and willingly shared by a fellow student. This sample can be utilized as a research and reference resource to aid in the writing of your own work. Any use of the work that does not include an appropriate citation is banned.

If you are the owner of this work and don’t want it to be published on AssignBuster, request its removal.

Request Removal
Cite this Essay

References

AssignBuster. (2022) 'True crimes essay'. 24 September.

Reference

AssignBuster. (2022, September 24). True crimes essay. Retrieved from https://assignbuster.com/true-crimes-essay/

References

AssignBuster. 2022. "True crimes essay." September 24, 2022. https://assignbuster.com/true-crimes-essay/.

1. AssignBuster. "True crimes essay." September 24, 2022. https://assignbuster.com/true-crimes-essay/.


Bibliography


AssignBuster. "True crimes essay." September 24, 2022. https://assignbuster.com/true-crimes-essay/.

Work Cited

"True crimes essay." AssignBuster, 24 Sept. 2022, assignbuster.com/true-crimes-essay/.

Get in Touch

Please, let us know if you have any ideas on improving True crimes essay, or our service. We will be happy to hear what you think: [email protected]