Death by Cannibal: Criminals with an Appetite for Murder - Research Paper Example

Death by Cannibal: Criminals with an Appetite for Murder Introduction: Ever from the history of human beings there aroused crimes too. To quote Bible, the first major crime happened was that of the murder of Abel by his own brother Cain. “And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.” (Genesis 4.8) The prick of conscience in Cain was greater and the confrontation of God mentioned in the Bible may be an extension of his own wounded self. It is often fascinating to know the mind of a criminal. What makes a criminal is still an enigma to the human psychologists. There is no surety for a person being a non offender. As humans are circled around their emotions anyone can become an offender. It is said that it is the circumstances that make a person commit crimes. There is an offender in each and every one but the true sense of a person keeps away from crime and related incidents. A crime can be defined as “Crime is the violation of societal rules of behaviour as interpreted by and expressed by a criminal legal code created by people holding social and political power. Individuals who violate these rules are subject to sanctions by state authority, social stigma, and loss of status” (Siegel, 2008, p.18). The crimes are against social, political and economic behaviour of human beings. If a person does a crime he gets separated from these three agencies. Along with the physical setbacks as mentioned above, a major conflict comes in the mind of the criminal whether the thing that he or she did was right or wrong in accordance with his or her conscience. Now days the level of conscience is deteriorating and so the rate of crimes are increasing to an intimidating level. Samples of famous crimes: In analysing the history of crimes a person can see great number of them. In reading the life of Donald “Pee wee” Gaskins, the most prolific serial killer in South Carolina, it takes a person to embarrassment that the background of a person has much to do in shaping his or her life. Gaskins’ childhood was troublesome and was often neglected by all his surroundings including mother. He felt himself as abandoned by all and this changed his mind to stubborn and cruel. Later in his life he has passed through all sorts of crime and to the surprise was not at all guilty for it. He considered himself equal to God in taking others life (Montaldo, 2011). The temperament of the people is changing day by day. No one is ready to make any adjustment. The availability of the deadly weapons and curving for money make people do any sort of crime. The mass killing at Virginia Polytechnic institute and State University by Seung-Hui Cho, a senior English major at the institution, caused the death of 32 people and then including him on April 16 2007. In analysing the reason for the incident it was made clear that the student was having anxiety disorder. “The day after massacre, thousands attended a tearful assembly in the university’s coliseum, where U.S. President George W. Bush acknowledged the nation’s sorrow and grief” (Flemming, 2008, p.288). The destruction of World Trade Centre is the epitome of political crime. It happened on 11th September 2001, nearly killing 3000 people and 19 hijackers. In consulting these attacks a question can be raised, “Why is Osama bin Laden (widely regarded as the brains behind the atrocities of 11 September 2001, the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York) targeted as a ‘terrorist’ and not as a ‘criminal’?” (Soothill , Peelo &Taylor, 2002. p.143). If any political cause is involved with the crime it can be termed as terrorist acts and in other cases criminal activities. But all things are in one way or other are harmful to the life of the innocent people. Whatever be the cause, it is not at all right to take the lives of other people. The religious notion of ‘preserving life’ has to be upheld for the common goodness of the people. What causes a criminal mind? Many reasons are there before each and every crime. Some may be personal and others may be political and social. It is sure that many believe that through crimes they can attain their goals. The majority of terrorist attacks are of this type. When personal gains are involved crimes are taken place more and more. The prick of conscience may be higher in crimes than the other means destruction. For example police persons kill others or army doing mass killing of the opponent group, may not carry the ill effects of the crime. In the personal reasons of crime stress and strain appear mostly. People are prone to stress and strain. The present man is running after money and power. The stress that he or she faces at home and at office often make them easily irritated. The least provocation on such people can be serious. Such provocative manslaughters are very common at present. They are aggressive due to their mental disability. The modern world is running after a wild goose chase of fame and money which in no way are helpful for his or her peaceful mind. People forget to live for them and almost all are making hurry burry for tomorrow; not for today. The criminal tendency among the people are becoming higher and higher today. Lombroso classified criminals as born criminals, insane criminals, criminal by passion, and the occasional criminals. “Among the group of insane criminals he described various types of insanity that might lead to crime.”The second group, “criminal by passion,” means a person who was characterized by unusual affectability which under certain conditions might lead to crime.”The writer divided the occasional criminals into three groups, “the pseudo criminal; the habitual criminal; and the criminaloid” (Taylor & Francis, n. d. p. 9). The stress and strain, under which a crime is happened, often falls into the group of occasional or accidental criminals. All sorts of troubles and pains of the life of the criminals are reflected in their crimes too. The moral problem in pseudo criminal is less in comparison with the other groups. In analysing the majority of the criminals it is seen that they were having high disturbed anxiety. Majority of the crimes are not intended but happened in their attempt to hide the act or while escaping from it. In short it can be said that the criminals are all accessible to high stress and strain. The criminals are the best examples of psychic problems. The working metabolism of the criminals’ mind is often put to deeper studies by the psychologists. There are two sided aspects with regard to the minds of the criminals. “Some of them, e.g. say that all criminals are mentally diseased, while others say that only a small percent of criminals are mentally diseased” (Hall, 2005, p. 452). Many consider that the criminal response to law is very different. After committing crimes for a period of time the mental outset is often changed. They find a justification for the crimes they acted and even the sense of morale is lost in them. The cases of rapes and child molestation and even killing at times may be a part of the diseased mind. Some are not curable at all. In certain cases such criminals are ferocious than the brutal animals too as their minds are set to their crimes. The psychologists at times finds much difficult to bring back the serial killers back to normal life as killing has become a passion for them. More over the human mind might have turned to be cannibalistic. Peter Davidson in his book ‘Death by Cannibal: Criminals with and appetite for Murder clearly depicts the cannibalistic acts of five American criminals who ate their victims (Davidson, 2006 ). These types of crimes are seen in many places and psychologists are keen on the peculiar behaviour of the humans in doing such crimes. The psychological study of the criminal mind has shown that they can be brought back to normal life. Still some puzzling criminals are beyond the capacity of psychologists and sociologists. The work of conscience: Whatever be the rate of crime the strength of the conscience is higher than that of the crime. A close association of the criminals will prove that the working of the conscious mind was strong in them and that may be the reason for the crimes to be leaked to the public. In almost all the crimes some evidences are left out and those make the authorities and law enforcers to find out the real culprit involved in that. In analysing the life of the criminals it can be understood that they all wanted to come back to normal life but cannot as in the case of drug addicted people. Conscience is working in all people. “Conscience, on the other hand, does not tell us our guilt without telling us our crime. It comes to us with facts, and there it presents to our minds in all their nakedness” (Guthrie, 1867, p.472). Even if a person is keeping away from his conscience it gets its reflections in one way or the other. Even the great criminals have become good natured ones through the magnificent works of the conscience, self. The history of Barabbas in Bible is an apt example for it. He was considered to be a ferocious criminal of the period but later he became so soft and good natured person. The religious interaction among the criminals to an extent can bring changes in their life. Conclusion: There are no born criminals even though some are termed as so. It is the circumstances that make a person criminal or a good person. The mind has a fluctuating nature and it can move to any side- positive or negative. If a person has turned to negative side his mind too acts as negative and so a term ‘criminal’ falls on the person. A criminal moves mostly from burglary to serious crimes. An effective intervention on those who are caught in small theft is to be done by the teachers, if they are students; and religious and moral interventions if they are elders. The governmental departments dealing with these should take utmost care to prevent persons committing in serious crimes. The criminal minds can be reduced by imparting religious and moral sense to the people. In this case, as students of criminology everyone should know the parable of ‘good shepherd’ who runs after the lost sheep on the desert. “And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety –nine that never went astray” (Matthew, 18.13) This must be the attitude of the criminology department to the criminals who went astray due to various seasons and bringing these people to normal life will be a great help for them and for the society. References: Davidson, P. (2006). Death by Cannibal: Criminals with an Appetite for Murder. Edn. Illustrated. Berkley Pub Group. Flemming, L. (2008). Reading for Thinking. Edn. 6, illustrated. Cengage Learning. Guthrie, T (1867). The sunday magazine. Original from Oxford University. Hall, J. (2005). General principles of criminal law. Edn. 2, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. Montaldo, C. (2011). Donald "Pee Wee" Gaskins. About.com Guide. Retrieved 11 Feb. 2011 from http://crime.about.com/od/serial/p/gaskins.htm Siegel J. L. (2008). Criminology. Edn. 10, illustrated. Cengage Learning. Soothill K., Peelo T. M. &Taylor C. (2002). Making sense of criminology. Edn. Illustrated. Wiley-Blackwell. Taylor, Francis. (n. d). Crime and the human mind. Read More