Look at horrific violent crime by Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky on the murders of the Petits family. Dr. William Petit was the only survivor of a 2007 home invasion that left his wife and two daughters dead. The men charged in their murders were sentenced to death, but Connecticut voted to eliminate the death penalty. In a TODAY exclusive, Petit tells NBC’s Cynthia McFadden he is now running for the Connecticut state legislature, but is focusing on quality of life issues, not the death penalty.

A terrible triple murder shook the small town of Cheshire, and as we approach the tenth anniversary of that awful day, the memories still haunt those close to the Petit family.

Do you agree with this verdict? Your thoughts

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Convicted offender Owen Labrie’s criminal conduct provides one example of a criminal act that might be evaluated by developmental criminologists using a variety of theoretical lenses.

High school student Owen Labrie was accused of raping a 15-year-old classmate and convicted of five related charges. Which theory of criminal career development would suggest that his criminal conduct was influenced by his individual characteristics, as well as social experiences?

Your thoughts on this case?

(source) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFK8DNjC_0g

Developmental criminologists try to understand why some people, like Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky begin their involvement in illegal activity as children, while others are late starters. Some offenders may engage in petty crimes; others continually increase the severity and frequency of their offending. Some may be deeply affected by criminal penalties, while others are career criminals who persist in their illegal activities over their life course despite being caught and punished many times. Efforts to understand the onset, continuity, and termination of crime and criminality have resulted in the construction of a variety of developmental theories that focus not so much on a single criminal act but on the creation and persistence of a criminal career over the life course.

The view that criminality is a dynamic process, influenced by social experiences as well as individual characteristics. criminal career Engaging in antisocial acts early in adolescence and continuing illegal behaviors into adulthood. A pattern of persistent offending across the life course. Given the many developmental theories that are examined, are there any that you, as a criminologist would offer as part of a profile for any of these types of crimes? With crimes that are this horrific and showing life-long propensity for these types of violent crimes, do you feel that the death penalty is appropriate?

Answer

Developmental Theories: Life Course and Latent Trait

The guilty verdict and conviction of Hayes and Komisarjevsky were valid as they shared responsibility despite the claim that Hayes was the mastermind of the violent crime. Sentencing the two offenders to death would be described a just judgment, however, resentencing them for life was a punishment worse than death. This is subjective as some feel offenders may carry the guilt, shame, and burden throughout their lives, while some feel they could reform and come out of the guilt. Nevertheless, killing them was a quick relief of their embarrassment and lifelong burden, which would not help them reform or have a soul-making process (Johnson, 2019).

When explaining Owen Labrie’s criminal career development, we can conclude that the life course theory plays an essential role. Owen’s relationship and conviction for rape of a minor are events that will determine his life course. He was ordered to register as a sex offender, which forms a source of life course disruption. The case that was influenced by his individual characteristics and social experiences become destructive of the orderly transition of his life, hence promoting criminal behavior (Siegel, 2018).

Developmental theories can be used to describe the development of criminal behaviors among many offenders. For instance, we can use the general theory of crime to explain the impulsivity and development of criminal behavior in the Jodi Arias case. The death penalty is an appropriate punishment for such violent crimes, as it equals the crime committed. The saying that those that live by the sword will die by the sword provides an equal ground for justice and closure among victims. Some may argue that life imprisonment is worse than death; however, some of these offenders may gradually come out of the guilt and shame, accept it, and begin living happily in prisons, which to some victims is not true justice or closure (Johnson, 2019).

References

Johnson, D. T. (2019). A Factful Perspective on Capital Punishment. Journal of Human Rights Practice, Vol 11(2), pp; 334-345.

Siegel, L. J. (2018). Criminology: The Core. New York: Cengage.