This week we deal with psychological and social process theories. These are very different approaches, so make sure you specifiy which theory your article is related to. If possible, try to focus on a specific sub theory within one of the chapters.
Also, think about whether either the Economic Model or the Medical Model would best apply to these 2 sets of theories.
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* YuJung Kim
ReplyDelete* "Kim Latest Psychopath to Stun Korea"
* Commentary
This article is about Kim Kil-tae, the prime suspect in the recent kidnapping, rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Busan.
Police hasn't got his confession yet,since Kim is constantly denying his charges and show no shame or guilt. So they are using psychoanalytic approach to analyze his mental status and get him to talk.
Psychologist have different opinion on whether he fits into a typical sociopath profile, but they seem to agree that his troubled childhood has participated in forming his sociopathic behavior.(freudian approach)
If I were a psychologist,I would have come up with a same conclusion because that seems to be the most reasonable explanation about why he committed such crime.
He was abandoned when ho was 2 and adopted, so he must have had no chance to properly form an attachment with his biological mother. And while he grew up, he didn't get along people and constantly engaged in fights. So i think it means he couldn't or didn't try to find a way to vent his anger and frustration.
And another, I think police should focus more on he's early childhood (right after he was adopted) ,about his relationships with his foster parents and how they handled this
adopted child, because not all people who're abandoned and adopted when they're young
become a criminal.
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Kim Kil-tae, the prime suspect in the kidnap killing of a 13-year-old girl in Busan, has a mental status similar to that of two notorious serial killers who were judged as "psychopaths," criminologists and psychiatrists say.
The 33-year-old suspect appears to be impulsive, wayward in personality and overconfident during police questioning, similar to Kang Ho-soon and Yoo Young-chul, the two recent serial killers, they explained.
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*URL : http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/03/113_62287.html
- Young-Ju Lim
ReplyDelete- "Game addiction leads to baby’s death"
- This article is about a couple who neglected their kid, and killed because they were playing on-line game for most of their times.
This couple married 2 years ago. They had kid who was immature, so they had to treat their kid. This took a lot of money, and they had a fluctuating income. They wanted to run away from reality so they played computer game a lot. Ironically the game which they played was a game raising imaginative kid.
I think this case is explained by social process theory, especially Drift and Neutralization theory. The couple doesn’t have problem when they were growing. But after they get married and have an immature kid, they want to deny their duty(or resposibility) because of economic hardship. The couple’s timing was having an immature kid.
I think the economic model would best apply to this case, because the couple want to reduce their pain and get more pleasure from the game. They made free choice by their rationality, but they didn’t think about their daughter.
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Two people arrested earlier this week for neglect after their baby girl starved to death, had indulged themselves in raising a “virtual girl” online instead, police said yesterday.
The couple, residents of a southern Seoul suburb, allegedly neglected their prematurely born three-month-old daughter, feeding her just once a day in between 12-hour stretches at a neighborhood Internet cafe.
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URL :http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2917455
-Jun So-min
ReplyDelete-"A man charged of crime of rape of his soon-to-be ex-wife"
-This is an article about a man who has been charged of crime of rape of his soon-to-be ex-wife. They were living separately.
It is known that the man sneaked into his wife's house, taped her eyes, tied her up while she was sleeping and raped her. Not only that, but he also stole jewelry from her.
The court sentenced him to 2 years and 6 months in prison and 4 years of probation.
I think this case can be seen from an 'Ecological psychology' point of view. I don't think that this man had psychological problems all along. However, the environmental factors, such as the divorce and issues related to alimony, probably affected this man's behavior somehow.
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On March 12, the police charged Mr.Lee (35) of crime of rape of his soon-to-be ex-wife. The court claimed that even though they were still married legally, because their marriage was already broken and they were living separately, this could end up to be a rape case. (translated a Korean article)
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URL:http://news.joins.com/article/934/4057934.html?ctg=-1
Sohhee (Sophia) Hwang
ReplyDeleteI know this is not a relevant topic to week3 lecture, but I thought it might be interesting to think about the relationship between politics and death penalty.
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This is a news article from a major Korean newspaper, Chosun Ilbo. The article is about a politician who asserts that the actual practice of death penalty should be revived.
According Korean Constitution, death penalty is legal, but it needs to be practiced within 6 months after the adjudication. However, the actual practice had ceased to take place since President Kim Young Sam. After the arrest of notorious sex offender Kim Kil-tae, An Sang-su, one of the representatives of the ruling party, claimed that death penalty of criminals of sexual crimes and homicide should be practiced. An Sang-su’s claim became a topic of controversy in Korean society.
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http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/03/11/2010031100597.html
Valerie Raeymaekers
ReplyDeleteHeavy Jail Term for 'Elevator Man' Upheld
While reading this artcicle I found it to be a really good illustration of the neutralization theory. This man, who has sexually harassed over 15 women, claims that not all should be considered as sexual harassement because he did not actually physically touch some of them. He 'merely' masturbated in front of them. He is obviously using the denial of injury neutralization. Claiming he didn't touch them, and as such did not inflict any physical harm to these victims, he denounced those women in front of whom he only masturbated. It seems that because these women were not touched by him in any physical way, the offender thinks they can not claim any victim position and as such can not be seen as sexual assault victims.
The offender was given a jail term of 12 years. Because during the trial the offender also did not seem to show any signs of remorse. Wether or not this jail term will help him improve as a person is questionable though. The economic model of punsihment can not be applied on this case in my opinion since the offender has no sense of guilt. He tried to let 15 accusations of sexual assault fall because he did not touch any victim.
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A 31-year-old man, called the "Elevator Man," who has a prior conviction for rape and battery, had a lower court sentence of a 12-year jail term upheld by the Supreme Court Monday.
The highest court rejected Oh's plea that he should be held responsible for two rapes but be spared from 15 counts of sexual assault because he only masturbated in front of women.
The lower courts ruled that the accused didn't show any signs of remorse, and the victims and their families are still subject to extreme stress, which they cited as grounds for giving him a 12-year jail term.
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/03/113_62020.html
1. Yoon Young Kang
ReplyDelete2. "A High School Girl Raped and Killed in Bucheon"
3. This event happened last year, but I wanted to post this article because I thought it was related to this week's topic. This article is written in Korean.
A high school girl was raped by 7 high school boys and 1 elementary school boy in May, 2009. They were drinking together in an empty room lit by a candle - after raping the victim, they left without turning off the candlelight. The victim was burned to death as a result.
6 of the rapists (high school boys)were raised in poor families, under single parent or no parents.
I thought this article was related to Attachment Theory because except for 2 boys, 6 were not properly taken care of - they experienced abandonment, lack of care, and some of them did not even know where their parents were.
According to the Attachment Theory, these boys "lack the ability to empathize with others and do not see or feel the pain that harm may cause them."
This theory seems to work in this case, because only two of the rapists, who were twins, were from a wealthy family with both parents.
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Last year was a nightmare to Mr. and Mrs. "A". Their daughter, who had gone over to see her friends, was found dead - after having been brutally raped by 8 boys and burned to death. Mrs. A, who was working in a restaurant, left her workplace and is currently receiving psychological treatment. Mr. A also left his work place.
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http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/02/18/2010021800036.html
-Misung Kim
ReplyDelete-"Fan Site for the murder 'Giltae Kim'
I think this article can be connected with chapter6 'Learning Criminal Behavior'.
According to this article some people made fan site for the murder 'Giltae Kim' when the day after he arrested. That site has the menu such as 'Sending encouragement to him','Q&A as a fan'.
I think such happening can cause copycatcrime.
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Original article is wrriten in Korean.
So I wrote the summary of this above.
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http://www.mydaily.co.kr/news/read.html?newsid=201003141356485525
JiHye Kang
ReplyDeleteMotive Behind Serial Killer Kang Still Puzzling
This article is about one of the most notorious serial killers. He raped and killed 8 women and was sentenced to death in last August. He is being mentioned a lot again in the articles about the rapist Kim nowadays as they are classified as the same psychopath. I chose this article because it is related to psychoanalytical theory. Experts said that he might not be an untypical psychopath because he did not have any special motivation behind his criminal behaviors. His behavioral characteristics fit the general description of a psychopath; he is unable to sympathize, feel guilty, and understand others’ emotions. However, even though he was self-centered and a good liar, he was not isolated or had an unhappy childhood. Many experts say that isolation from the society and traumatic childhood are the reasons behind being a psychopath. But Kang’s case is different. Thus I found his case is interesting because he cannot nicely fit into any sub-theories of psychoanalytical theory (attachment theory and frustration-aggression theory) from the given facts about Kang.
But I think the closest would be the frustration-aggression theory in regard to inferiority complex. According to the Police investigation, he was obsessed with money, for example, he always dated only rich women who can be “of help”. The fact that his business went bankrupt a couple of times also supports that he must have wanted something to compensate his failure in society. Textbook explains that there should be social or environmental factors to trigger the abnormal or criminal behaviors. I think maybe his economic failures can explain his murders. His social circumstances triggered the first criminal behavior, but he could not stop because he was a psychopath.
More interestingly, the article is expanding the range of what makes a psychopath with the biological theory. It says that psychopaths might be the inborn criminals who have an abnormal brain component or lack of hormones. I cannot clearly understand how they can try to explain a psychopath with biological theories. I think it is far-fetched and only an attempt to fix him as a criminal for good not leaving any question marks. But if they want to define him as a psychopath, I think, the solution for unexplainable parts should be psychological too. Or is it the counterexample showing the imperfectness of criminal theories that it is impossible to explain a crime with only one theory?
ReplyDeleteThe article says the social changes are the backdrop of the emergence of psychopaths and emphasize the importance of the function of family as a source of affection for the preventive measures.
To decide the psychopaths who have committed a crime, I think we first need to know if they can be treated and get better not to do the same thing again when they go back to the society. But it would be very difficult because most of psychopaths commit the most heinous crimes and social sentiments would not just allow the rehabilitation for them but punishment such as death penalty.
If they are incorrigible as the most of experts say, I think it is better to apply the Economic model to separate them from their society and maybe let them get what they deserve for punishment. But if not, considering that it is society that made who they are, we should consider the application of the Medical model to treat them.
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Police described suspected serial killer Kang Ho-soon as eating well, cracking jokes with detectives and sleeping well ― even snoring ― Monday, commenting on how he was doing in his prison cell.
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/02/117_38833.html
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete* Sarah Park
ReplyDelete* Serial killer's idols include Kim Il-sung
* I’d like to talk about two points.
1) Role modeling in Social learning and Modeling theory. According to social learning theory, the observation and experience of poor role models produce imitation and instigation of socially undesirable behaviors.
In the article, serial killer Yoo Young-chul said that he respect Che Guevara, Adolf Hitler and Kim Il Sung. Of course, I do not respect Hitler or Kim Il Sung, however, I respect Che Guevara. Although he and I have same role model, we are totally different! So, I am very curious about what is the exact meaning of ‘poor role models’. Does it mean that role models who are definitely bad people like Hitler or different role modeling process per each person?
2) The Psychoanalytic Approach
Yoo Young Chul did not acknowledge that his family background and divorce did not affect to the serial killings. But he disappointed when his family did not visit him while he was in jail. Also, he killed women who looked like his ex-wife. Through this case, I can assure the validity of Psychoanalytic Approach even though scientific explanation is difficult.
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* Serial killer Yoo Young-chul chose Cuban revolutionist Che Guevara, German dictator Adolf Hitler and North Korea founder Kim Il-sung as his most respected people...
Yoo was "more attracted to Guevara because he participated in the revolutionary movement as an ordinary man, a doctor," according to the report. He also said he felt inferior compared to others due to his education and burn scars on his leg.
He tried to keep his family out of the case by saying his family background and divorce did not affect the serial killings, not even 10 percent. But he expressed his disappointment towards them for not coming to visit him while he was in jail...
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* http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/archives/result_contents.asp
Agnes Seul-Gi Kang
ReplyDeleteDrug warfare
Drug cartels cause violence in a great tourist spot in Mexico, Acapulco – killing thirteen people, five of which were policemen on patrol, the remaining eight were civilians, in which four had been beheaded and left on the roads of the popular tourist spot.
In the past 3 years, Mexico has been undergoing drug wars.
I think this article greatly relates to the social process theory in criminology – mainly because Mexico has the greatest criminal drug organizations in the world, and people have already learnt it through society.
After learning that the social process theory states that people are not born with the ability to commit crimes, but rather learn through experiences (especially from their own family, environmental experiences and the media), I have come to question whether it would be smart to legalize drugs. Would legalizing drugs stop the drug cartels from causing violent conflicts? And also, as seen through the phrase “Rules are made to be broken”, are these drug conflicts only arising because they are illegal, and it is in human nature to have the desire to break the rules? Or are they fighting hoping to convince the government that the illegalization of drugs is the cause of this violent uproar?
As for the second part, I think the medical model would best apply to both the social process and psychological theories. Medical models focus more on and emphasize the importance of treatment on the criminal because of the internal and external influences that caused their criminal behavior. Similarly, the psychological and social process theory also looks in to the internal and external influences that cause criminal behavior.
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“Acapulco is one of Mexico's biggest tourist resorts, but in recent years it has been the scene of bloody turf wars between rival drug cartels.”
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8566557.stm
1. Hyun-Kyung Park
ReplyDelete2. "Cruelhearted teens"....37% of infanticide younger than 20
3. This article is about statistical material of infanticide, not about an occurrence. This article says that teens commit infanticide due to economic hardship from pregnancy and childbirth. I think it is related to Neutralization theory. Teenagers know they must not murder kids but they do inevitably murder infants because of economic hardship.
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4. (Original article is written in Korean.) This is news about statistical material of infanticide. More than one third are committed by teenagers, 37%. The police analyzed this situation into a reason of economic hardship from pregnancy and childbirth.
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5. http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/408288.html
- Shuying Mei
ReplyDelete- "Man Caught Killing Wife, Daughter and Raping Niece"
- Although this incident happened in May 2009, I think this article shows some relevance to the Frustration-Aggression Theory, Cognitive Theory and to the Neutralization Theory. This is because the man who was identified as Lee seemed to be frustrated at the thought of being betrayed by his wife as she married another man after they were divorced. Thus, perhaps as a form of release, he vented his frustration on his biological daughter, his stepdaughter and his niece who probably had nothing to do with this whole affair.
It could also be that Lee had employed the cognitive theory of 'hostile framing' by Aaron Beck. After the divorce and the fact that his wife married another man, perhaps he somehow developed a negative framework in his mind that females are all betrayers, which led him to target all the females that he could think of or had contact with.
In addition, the Neutralisation Theory can also be applied to this case. Through the reason that he gave "She betrayed me. So I killed her at the time when she felt happiness in her life", we can infer that he was probably trying to justify his actions by claiming that his wife deserved it for 'betraying' him.
I think the Medical model would best apply to the psychological theories while the Economic model would best apply to the social process theories. According to the psychological theories, it seems to suggest that people have no control over their thoughts, emotions and so on due to abnormalities in their chidhood development. Hence, it would be better to find out the root cause of their behaviour and implement the appropriate treatment. As for the social process theories, the Economic model will be better as it seems to suggest that people are rational enough to for example come up with excuses and justifications to support their actions, hence, they will probably be rational enough to weigh the pros and cons of committing a crime. Thus, deterrence through the use of punishment will be useful in this case.
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Man Caught Killing Wife, Daughter, and Raping Niece
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A man was apprehended on suspicions of killing his wife and stepdaughter, and sexually assaulting his niece, police said Thursday.
According to Yeongam Police Station in South Jeolla Province, the 43-year-old man, identified as Lee, raped and strangled his 20-year-old stepdaughter at his home on Tuesday around 7 p.m. At about 11 p.m., he killed his wife in his vehicle, while parked in the vicinity of the restaurant where she was working.
Around midnight, Lee also raped his 18-year-old niece at his house and confined her along with his biological daughter, with their arms and legs bound.
But the daughter escpaed after Lee left the home and reported it to the police.
Police said Lee and his wife divorced in 1984. She then married another man and gave birth to Lee's stepdaughter. But she later divorced that man and had been living with Lee since 2007.
Lee had been behind bars from 1987 through 2005 for other crimes. ``She betrayed me. So I killed her at the time when she felt happiness in her life,'' he was quoted as saying by a police officer.
pss@koreatimes.co.kr
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/05/117_44926.html
-Suh Young Yun
ReplyDelete-The Ministry of Justice to move all heinous sex offenders to Cheongsong to handle violent sex crimes with a stricter measure
-This is the news article that I mentioned in class today about the Ministry of Justice planning to move all sex offenders to a certain prison called Cheongsong. There were two articles on this issue and I posted below the address for both of them. For all of you to read it easily, I combined the information from the two articles and translated them in my own words. This will probably be easier to read since it’s a brief summary of both.
This news is interesting in that we can see government reactions to the sex crimes and their following policies in trying to deal with the problem. As we have talked about in class today, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to sex crimes and same applies to other crimes as well. Confining all criminals in one place will only make them learn more about crime as the Neutralization Theory contends. As Syke’s studies point out in his Neutralization Theory, “prison inmates and guards learn to rationalize rule breaking (p.169).” As in this case, if all sex criminals are confined in the same prison, this might be a problem because it causes a subculture of delinquency. Criminals might not learn to regret or repent for what they have done, but simply rationalize their actions by sharing their experiences and discovering that they’re not the only ones committing crime, and even discovering that their crimes are sometimes not as serious as the others’.
However, the Cheongsong prison puts criminals all in solitary confinement, so maybe this might not become a problem. We can never predict how effective this measure will be, but can only hope that it will indeed contribute to rooting out the heinous crimes committed in our society.
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The Ministry of Justice is reviewing active measures to build a facility within Cheongsong prison specifically designed for heinous sex criminals. The government announced yesterday (17th) that it is planning to move all sex criminals to the Cheongsong prison. The Minister of Justice made a visit to the Cheongsong prison on the 16th to make sure the prison is well under supervision.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the government will move the Job Training Prison within Cheongsong to a prison in Yeongdengpo to make room for the sex criminals who are to be confined. Also, the government is in the process of acquiring new sites at Cheongsong for execution facilities. This is to make Cheongsong a specialized prison for heinous criminals and root out crime by strict management.
The Cheongsong prison is a strictly managed prison and geographically located in a region with steep mountains and cliffs on the one side and deep rivers on the other making it impossible for prisoners to escape. In fact, there have been no cases of escape so far from the Cheongsong prison.
Another reason for the move of sex criminals to the Cheongsong prison is to implement the Care and Custody System to prevent further crimes. The Care and Custody System is a system in which repeat offenders are confined to be supervised and reformed and receive job training and education needed for their return to society.
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http://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2010031701030127005002
http://moj.korea.kr/gonews/branch.do?act=detailView&dataId=155442415§ionId=p_sec_1&type=news&flComment=1&flReply=0
-Suh Young Yun
ReplyDelete-Bruised by sexual violence- Why did Korea become a rape heaven?
-I found another interesting article on the topic we talked about today in class. Prof. Vitale mentioned today about date rape and how the rapists are more likely to deny their fault; this article is good evidence.
This article talks about how the rapists deny all charges against them by saying such phrases like, “I thought the girl was just being shy”, or “She wasn’t resisting so I thought she was just playing hard with me.” Even if they do admit to the rape, many of them don’t feel any guilt toward their actions especially if it was a rape of a person they knew (date rape). Such response of the rapists can be explained by the ‘Denial of responsibility’ and ‘Denial of victim’ in the “Techniques of neutralization” of Sykes and Matza’s Neutralization Theory (p.173). They may also sometimes deny of their negative intent.
According to a police officer at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, he finds an explanation for the rape committed by young people as an influence of the internet. Due to pornographic material flooding in the internet, this might trigger young people to imitate or try out what is shown online. Another detective pointed out that he believed that the increase in rapists has connection to the development of a flourishing night culture and prostitution. Both officers are basically supporting the Theory of Learning in the sense that they believe rape is ‘learned’ and provoked by what the young people see and experience from the cultures surrounding them. Specifically, they are supporting the ‘Differential Association Theory’ which contends that crime is an outcome of youths learning the “wrong” behavior (p.160).
If this is the case, what we need to do is try to prevent youths, or rapists of all ages for that matter, from being exposed to such environment and if possible, exterminate that kind of environment once and for all.
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I will not post a translation of this article because most of the facts are basically mentioned in my comment above. The article is very long so I will simply post the URL for you to check it out. =)
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http://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=20100318MW083748257770