The Criminal Behavior of Eric Edgar Cooke - Case Study Example

Eric Edgar Cooke Name: Unit: Course: Supervisor: Date of submission: Abstract Criminal behaviour stems from many factors in an individuals life. The relationship between criminality and the factors that may predispose an individual to criminal behaviours has been explained using different psychological theories. This paper is a case study of Eric Edgar Cooke, a notorious criminal born in 1931 in Perth. He grew up in abusive and unhappy family. He went to different schools and in many occasions he was rejected due to theft cases. Later in his life, he became a violent burglar. The criminality life of Eric can be explained using different psychological theories. The theories analyse the childhood experiences and environment of growth and development to the adulthood behaviours. Other factors which are used to explain an individual’s life include personal traits, cognitive and socio-psychological. These factors will be analysed using various psychological theories to explain how they relate to Eric’s childhood experiences, environment and the consequent criminal behaviour. Introduction Criminal behaviour can be explained as a consequence of many factors. The factors may include personal traits, environment, social factors and life experience (Cohen, Roland & Tidd, 2004). Psychological theorists have come up with theories that try to explain the criminality behaviour. A well known notorious person who lived a life of crime was Eric Edgar Cooke, a serial killer and fierce burglar. He committed many offences and at one time a psychiatrist termed him as “beyond repair”. The police described him as ‘one of life’s unfortunate’ (Blackburn, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of Eric Edgar Cooke. The paper will explore the life history of the Eric and his involvement in crime. The main focus of the paper will be the criminal life of Eric and examine the factors that led to the criminal life. Different psychological theories will be used to explain his involvement in the crime. Eric Edgar Cooke was born in 1931 in Perth, he was the first born in a family of three. His early life as a child was of struggle where he had to overcome rejection from his father and fellow school children who undermined him by mimicking and laughing at him due to the misshapen mouth, he was born with clef feet, by then the medical technology for corrective surgery was not available, he had to live with the deformity which affected his speech (Blackburn, 2013). The father was an alcoholic, brutal to Eric and her mother, and rarely provided for them. Eric grew up in the abusive family where in many occasions he could be punched by the father. The mother had to struggle to get the three children food. Eric schooled in five different schools, the reason behind the many schools was due to theft cases in the schools which saw him rejected in the schools. At the age of 14 he did different semi skilled jobs. He also served in the military starting with Citizen Military Forces and later was recruited to Permanent Military in 1952. However, he was dismissed on the discovery of the past criminal dealings of theft, break in and arson attack evidenced by many convictions he had gone through (Blackburn, 2013). History of Eric Eric was the first born in unhappy and abusive family; the parents married because the mother was pregnant with him. In many occasions, Eric had to receive brutal beating from the father in case he tried to protect the mother. These violent experiences in his early live denied Eric of the attachment he needed as a child. In many occasions Eric had to wander in the streets of Perth at night as he hid from the brutal father who subjected the mother to the same beatings. The life at school did also not foster the sense of belonging which is crucial for feeling included in the society. On going to school, the life was not different; he had to endure humiliation from the children who mimicked his bad speech which was due to misshapen mouth (Blackburn, 2013). Offences Committed by Eric Eric started offensive life early in his life in primary school. He started stealing at Subiaco primary school; this earned him expulsion from the school. He had to join other schools where the stealing behaviour did not stop and he had to undergo severe punishments in the subsequent schools. At the age of 14, Eric joined the Scarborough Junior Lifesaving Club, due to past life of rejection, he wanted to feel part of the club, thus in his desperation and desire to earn admiration and inclusion which he lacked in his life, Eric stole a watch and had it to be engraved in order to disguise it for an award (Blackburn, 2013). This crime was discovered and there were many other suspicions for thefts in the club, he faced yet another rejection from the club which gave the excuse that he had had many blackouts. The black outs were due to injuries he got from the beating from the abusive father. The blackouts saw him hospitalised in many occasions. These crimes he committed as he tried to seek attention, however he grew to become a dreaded criminal. He became a burglar who could break in houses through windows to reach the keys and could escape stealthily. The first job he got at age of 14 after leaving school was a delivery job for a store in North Perth. He engaged in stealing to supplement the earnings from the job and provide some money for the mother. The stealing was his way of life to get money to fund his efforts to get recognition in society he felt never liked him; he used the stolen money make friends and impress women (Cohen, Roland & Tidd, 2004). Serious Crimes Eric progressed from the stealing only and started setting fire on the houses he broke into after stealing food, slashing clothes and beddings. This was an indication of having graduated to serious crime and violent life. He was arrested and paroled for three years but in the process he became a hardened criminal. This can be explained by social influence from the criminals in jail. Despite of the negative social experiences he was acquiring, the Eric was closely monitored by prison officials who never suspected him. He received an excellent report for having reformed even though the psychiatrist he sued to report to described him as a liar who was beyond repair (Blackburn, 2013). In prison, Eric met Rev. George Jenkins who offered to continue rehabilitating him. He took him to south Perth Methodist Church; in the church, he gained social life due to the acceptance he got from the young Methodists in the church. He even went on to enrol for the bible classes. However, he later stole from the church and rehabilitation was halted as he had to face prosecution. He later joined the army, he trained in weaponry and was an accomplished fast and sharp shooter; this helped him to gain the significance of dominance which he had longed for long. However, his past life saw him dismissed by the army. This rejection aggravated his feeling of isolation. His prowess in weaponry had earned admiration and he got the dominance he had longed for. He tried to get back in army in Melbourne where he also excelled in weaponry before his past convictions were discovered and dismissed. He returned to Perth where in endeavour to gain admiration he lied that he had been in the Korean War. It is then that he met his wife and got married in 1953 (Blackburn, 2013). After getting his first born son, he became a violent father just as his father, Eric used to beat the wife. In order to boost his esteem, he used to dress smartly just like other town offenders. He bravely invaded people’s homes and stole under their watch. He used to check and read notices for weddings and could follow up and steal from the brides home knowingly that no one could be at home during the wedding occasion. Despite of having a family and a job, Eric had the trait of sexual perversion and voyeurism; he could watch couples through car windows and house windows, and stole pants and clothes from them. The family he had never solved his sorrows of rejection. In September 1958, he was engaged in a violent crime. He failed to win a young lady; he stole her father’s car and used it to intentionally run over another woman riding on the road. In 1959, in the South Perth, Eric stabbed a lady by the name Pnina Berkman in south Perth on trying to fight back when he was stealing from her house. In the same year, he fiercely attacked sleeping Jillian Brewer using scissor and hatchet. Rejection made him commit some of violent crimes. He was told to “piss off” by a man he was watching parked in a car and with a woman, using a riffle he ran rampage over Australia, his prowess in weaponry made him overpower his victims that night. The rage saw him strangle a sleeping victim; he dominated the sleeping lady through necrophilia and abuse with a bottle. Eric terrorised many people before he was arrested in 1963 (Blackburn, 2013). He had killed a female student aged 18 years by one shot in the head while tending to a baby at Dalkeith. This crime led to his capture in 1963. Psychological theories explaining criminal behaviours Individual factors have been explained by psychologists as the consequence of the criminality. For instance, negative experiences during childhood can lead an individual to have criminal mentality which can result to the said individual engaging in crimes. The criminality behaviour has also been related to development of cognition not being complete. Psychological theories have been credited with investigations which help in explaining how aggression and violence can be learned through experience and modelling (Cohen, Roland &Tidd, 2004). Psychoanalytical theory In the late 1800, Sigmund Freud developed the psychoanalytical theory. Since then this theory has become significant in the history of criminality. The assumption of the theory is that every individual has an attachment of emotional significant which is responsible for determination of the future relationships (Siegel, 2005). The psychoanalytic theory thus notes that the actions and behaviour of an adult can be understood in terms of how the experiences were during childhood. The psychoanalytic theory is based on understanding the interactions between the behaviour and motives that are not conscious. This implies that the interactions have to be untangled if the criminal behaviour has to be understood. Psychological conflict in an individual in childhood can be the cause of criminal life (Bartol & Bartol, 2005). The assumptions of the theory best explains the case of Eric, Eric having been brought up in an abusive life, he faced rejection in his childhood, both at home and school (Crouch & Milner, 1993). Therefore, the psychological aspect of rejection was developed in his mind. The criminal life could be explained as resulting from the unconscious motives of wanting to be part of the society. To fit in the society, Eric had to get into theft in order to get money that he thought could act as the equalising aspect. It is this motives that he stole a watch and engraved it with the aim of being accepted in the society. Eysenck’s Theory of Personality and Crime The criminality exhibited by Eric could also be explained by Eysenck’s theory of personality and crime. This theory is premised on the proposition that interaction with certain environmental conditions can lead to criminal behaviour. The psychologists advocating for this theory believe that an offender can have a neurophysiological makeup that if integrated with a given environment can result to criminality. This assumption in the theory means that criminality behaviour results from combination of factors. The factors include environmental, neurobiological and personality traits. The personality traits are shaped by upbringing and the factors of the environment that determines the behaviour assumed by a person (Smith, Ireland & Thornberry, 2005). Eric was brought up in a brutal way and he had to do with beating, and also seeing her mother being physically and psychologically abused. This environment integrated with the personal traits resulted to Eric assuming brutal life and he was ruthless in his criminal life, a depiction of the environment he had been brought up in. This ruthless experience made him run over riding woman in the stolen car just to inflict pain and cause suffering to the society. Just like the psychoanalytic theory, early experiences are major determinants of criminal behaviour. Psychologists have argued that the social issues that are prevalent in society are responsible for causing crime but the main cause is deeply embedded on the personality and experiences in life (Dong, 2004). Cognitive Development Theory The cognitive development theory has also been used to explain criminal behavior. The cognitive development theory was development by Piaget Jean. The theory was later refined by Kohlberg. The argument of the theory is based on the three development stages of cognition. The stages include the pre-conventional stage, conventional level and post conventional level. The main argument is that the offenders have not developed past the capacity of moral judgment which is the pre-conventional level of cognitive development (Twardosz & Lutzker, 2010). The theory as refined by Kohlberg is based on morality being learnt from the people the given individual interacts with more often. In many cases, these people are the family, friends and the immediate community. If the sub-group of the population has criminal tendencies, the person is likely to develop such mentality and may have criminal behaviour. Taking the case or Eric, his learning was from the abusive father and he experienced the father violently beating him and his mother. According to Scher, Forde, McQuaid and Sten (2004) the abuse of children has psychological consequences which may lead to isolation, being unable to trust and fear. The children cannot trust the people who are supposed to care for them and are not; i.e. their needs are not being met. The result for such is that the children will have low self esteem, hopelessness and sometimes this may lead to depression. These challenges have effect on the individual’s life-long problems of relations and are precursors to development of anti-social traits (Grogan & Melanie, 2003). The children brought up under such conditions are also likely to be violent. Violence is a sign of crime. Social psychological strain theory The theory main focus has been on the maltreatment as the foundation of stress. This theory tries to establish relationship between ill-treatment and the resulting behavioural problems and changes in functioning of brain that alters the way individuals respond to environmental stimuli (Ciccheti & Rogosch, 2001). This shows that the maltreatment predisposes the child to risky and aggressive behaviours. If the ill-treatment stress is in crucial periods of development, it may lead to development of violent behaviour as the individual progresses to young adulthood. Due to ill-treatment by children due to the cleft lip and the consequent mumbling of speech and the physical abuse by the father, Eric developed aggressive behaviour which materialised to violent acts of arson attack and indiscriminate killings. Conclusion Eric Edgar Cooke was involved in many crimes, from minor to very violent crimes witnessed in Australia. a close scrutiny of his life shows that he did not enjoy his childhood and never got attachment to his father. The childhood life was marked with experiences of violence and isolation. The involvement in criminality can be explained by drawing relevant psychological theories. Psychological theories provide the basis for understanding criminality behaviour by examining various factors that can predispose and individual to live of crime. The psychoanalytic theory tries to explain criminal behavior in relation to life experiences during the childhood. The other theories also draw comparisons of societal factors such as environment, personal traits and the cognitive development. It is worth noting negative influences at childhood have a very significant role in shaping the future life of an individual. The different psychological theories all attempt to explain how aggression and violence are easily learnt through direct experience and modelling. References Bartol, M. and Bartol, A. (2005). Criminal behavior: A psychosocial approach. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Blackburn. E. (2013). Eric Edgar Cooke: What makes a serial killer? Civil Liberties Australia Crouch, J. L., and Milner, J. S. (1993). Effects of child neglect on children. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 20(1), 49-65. Doi: 10.1177/0093854893020001005 Cicchetti, D. and Rogosch. F.S. (2001). The Impact of Child Maltreatment and Psychopathology on Neuroendocrine Functioning. Development and Psychopathology, 13(4):pp.783-804. 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California: Thomson Wadsworth. Smith, C.A., Ireland, T. O. and Thornberry, T. P (2005) Adolescent Maltreatment and its Impact on Young Adult Antisocial Behaviour. Child Abuse and Neglect, 29(1), pp. 1099–1,119 Twardosz, S., and Lutzker, J. R. (2010). Child maltreatment and the developing brain: A review of neuroscience perspectives. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15(1), pp.59-68. Read More