Home Invasion and Crime Spree

The Cheshire murders were the Connecticut home invasion that occurred on July 23, 2007. Jennifer Hawke-Petit, wife of Dr. William Petit and her two daughters were brutally killed. Her daughter was raped and killed while Dr. William managed to escape, although, he was injured during the home invasion. (Daily Mail). Typically, the case was the most widely publicized case in the history of Connecticut because of the nature of the killings. The two daughters of the couple were Hayes aged 17 and Michael 11, were tied to the bed, suffocated and the house was set on fire. The Haye's confession proved that the two criminals had planned to rob the house in the dark. However, the police were able to arrest the penetrator named Steven J. Hayes and Joshua A. Komisarjevsky.

During the trial, the jury deliberated on the evidence against them. The deliberation was whether to sentence them to life imprisonment or death sentence. After the deliberation, they sentenced Komisarjevsky to death on December, 9 2011 after found him guilty of the offense. Komisarjevsky was given the lethal injection and sentenced to death on January 27, 2012. On the other hand, Hayes' trial composed of 7 women judges and 5 men judges. After the trail, the member of the jury deliberated about the case for four hours and they found Hayes guilty, and sentencing started on October 18, 2010. The deliberation was a focus on whether to execute Hayes or sentence him to life imprisonment. While Attorney Thomas Ullman believed that life imprisonment would be the hardest punishment for Hayes, which would make him be incarnated and tormented in prison.. The life imprisonment with an option of no release will be the hardest punishment for Hayes. However, all the member of the jury recommended that Hayes should be sentenced to death, and he was later convicted to death.

The capital punishment is intended for people who commit the worst crime. To determine whether the defendants deserve a death sentence, the jury must weigh all the evidence given the reasons for sparing the criminals. However, Cheshire's murders were considered aggravating because of the following reasons:

• The defendants raped and killed the innocents people without defense.

• They turned the life of Dr. William Petit into sorrowful making him consider committing suicide. Moreover, both Komisarjevsky and Hayes had once been convicted of offenses that include sexual assault, capital felony, murder, arson and kidnapping.

Thus, such category of people has a tendency of committing other crimes if they are allowed remix into the society. However, the mitigation is essential to the capital punishment. Mitigation specialists consider the employment background, and medical history, which may make the jury to consider prison sentence instead of capital punishment. In the Komisarjevsky and Hayes case, the only mitigating factor to consider is the Komisarjevsky family history, and medical history for Hayes because it is necessary to consider whether he does not have a mental problem based on his past serial killing.

The sentence is an appropriate Hayes, however, the option of life imprisonment ought to be recommended for Komisarjevsky considering his age. Nevertheless, the killing of three members of the family was the major factor that made the case worse, which consequently mandate the death penalty.

Question

What are the factors that push some people to indulge in a serial killing?

Answer

The factors that push some people to carry out a serial killing include drug abuse, alcohol use, military experience, physically abused during childhood or adolescent. The first document serial killing was about Gilles de Rais who was executed for being accused of killing 100 children. (Castle & Hensley). Moreover, most youths were from the broken homes and most of them had an abusive mother, and having a history of drug and alcohol abuse. Out of frustration and under the influence of drug, some of them indulge in serial killing.

2. Serial Killer

In the United States, serial killing has fascinated the U.S. society for several decades in the 80s and 90s, Jeffrey Dahmer was one of the publicized serial killers between 1971 and 1991 who killed 17 men and several boys. The personality disorder has been the major factor that pushed Jeffrey into killing people. Although, Jeffery was legally sane, however, he was diagnosed of suffering from a psychotic disorder and schizotypal personality disorder. The parental problems have been the major factor that provoked Jeffrey into indulging in serial killing. His mother was known to be greedy for attention and always quarrel will her husband and neighbors. Jeffery was arrested in 1991, and was diagnosed with substance use disorder. He was also known to have signs of sadistic traits and obsessive compulsive trait. Despite these disorders, Jeffery was considered sane and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ted Bundy was another serial killer who specialized in eliminating a certain group of people. Ted confessed to carrying out 30 homicide killings. The motive behind his killing was the lust for power. (Dekle). Ted was arrested in August 1975, and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in the Utah state prison. However, Ted managed to escape from the prison in 1977. After his escape, he committed other killings and was recaptured. He was sentenced to death by electrocution in 1980. The personality theory was the major theory that can explain the factors that pushed both Ted and Jeffery in indulging in serial killing because both the killers had been diagnosed with the multiple personality disorders.

Reference

Castle, T., & Hensley, C. Serial killers with military experience: Applying learning theory to serial murder. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, (2002). 46(4), 453-465.

Daily Mail. 'I thought if I killed myself, I wouldn't meet my family in the afterlife': Home invasion survivor's heartbreaking Oprah interview. (2010). Retrieved June 12, 2017, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337167/Connecticut-home-invasion-survivor-Dr.-William-Petit-talks-Oprah-Winfrey.html

Dekle, G. R. The Last Murder: The Investigation, Prosecution, and Execution of Ted Bundy (Hardcover ed.). Santa Barbara: (2011). Praeger (Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC). ISBN 978-0-313-39743-1.

Masters, B. The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 24. . (1993). ISBN 978-0-340-59194-9.