Child Perpetrated Violence

1
Child Perpetrated Violence

• Philosophy of our society
• Tabula rasa
• not supported by work on child temperament
• Bouchard, personality and intelligence
• Hare and personality
• Innocence of childhood
• Children and aggression
• Social Learning theory

2
Media and Tabula Rasa

• Does violent media cause child violence
• Exposure to violence---then and now
• Natural child violence
• The bo-bo doll revisited
• experiments with learned aggression
• Media as a scapegoat
• takes blame off of innocent children
• children, hatred and death
• Why is the media violent?

3
Do children understand death?

• From early age (pre-school) understand
  instrumental use of violence and pain
• pain used in dominance
• biting
• Children DO understand death
• like adult violence, child perpetrated violence
  is instrumental
• 1st grade hate club
• Lake Worth Middle School
• 13 y.o. N. Brazill shoots English teacher

4
Jonesboro Ark.

• Jonesboro Ark. 4 girls 1 teacher murdered 10
  wounded
• Mitchell Johnson(13) and Andrew Golden (11)
• Johnson fakes illness drives to Goldens house
• tried to use blowtorch to get weapons
• get total of 13 weapons from Gs grandfather
• fire alarm ambush
• denial, dissociation, targeting cars
• Johnson long history of bullying, violence,
  firing weapons in public. Rebuffed by female
  classmate

5
APA Warning Signs

• Social isolation
• Victim of bullying
• failing to respect rights of others
• fascination with guns (violent imagery)
• threatening others
• failure to control anger
• history of violence/drug use
• admiration of violent role models
• poor school performance
• feeling disrespected
• This list must be taken with a grain of salt

6
Child perpetrated sex crimes

• About 5-10 of child molestation cases
  perpetrated by other children
• most often incestuous (girl and the tree)
• 15 female perps
• typical assumption is that perps are vics
  themselves
• learning theory/abuse reactive theory
• however in many cases evidence is sketchy
• leading questions
• Most children who are abused do not become
  abusers
• Rind, Tromovitch and Bauserman (1998)
• Psychopathic children and sexual drive

7
Murder of Parents

• Again, assumption is that parents were abusive
• abuse reactive/self defense behaviors
• legitimate self defense characteristic similar to
  domestic violence cases
• Like adults, children may be motivated to kill
  parents for a number of reasons, not all stemming
  from abuse
• Menendez brothers
• parents shot multiple times in face with shotgun
• claimed parental abuse including sex abuse by
  father
• 1st trial dressed like kidshung jury
• PTSD defensethought parents were gonna kill them
• Park Dietz---no proof of abusepracticed shotgun
  shooting
• found guilty of 1st degree murder

8
Columbine

• Harris has history of petty crime and delinquency
• Klebold has less troubled history
• School projects violent themes
• Harris diary
• Pipe bomb Practice
• Doom school level
• Web-stie
• Harris and Luvox

9
Influences

• Parents
• missed evidence of budding plan
• However, NO evidence of abuse in either family
• Trenchcoat Mafia
• probably shared outsider status
• did not know about violent plans
• Victims
• Did jock victims play a role in instigating the
  crime?
• Media
• Columbine is the leading example of the extent to
  which media influences are HIGHLY exaggerated
• Conclusion Perps are ultimately responsible

10
April 20, 1999

• 1117. Set up propane bombs in school cafeteria
• 1119 begin firing on students in and outside
  cafeteria
• Klebold mop-up operation This is awesome
• 1124 Begin firing in hallways, Police begin
  responding
• Harris exchanges fire with police deputy
• Mass exodus by students
• Laughing, firing into library (student talking to
  mother)
• Dave Saunders

11
Part 2

• Begin throwing pipe bombs into library8 die
• Does anyone here believe in God?
• 1135 Last victim killedbehavior becomes
  directionless
• trying to blow up propane bombs
• set fire in cafeteria
• 1205 fire at deputies
• 1208 Kill selves

12
Child Sexual Abuse

• Considered to be far more common than adult rape
• Prevalence rates difficult to attain
• many crimes go unreported
• differential male and female report rates
• child feelings of guilt
• estimates range between 7-50
• 10 (Baker Duncan, 1985)-20 (OBrien
  Goldstein, 1988) probably accurate
• 1 in 3 females 1 in 5 males may be exaggerated
  claims
• probably more female victims, but male victims
  may be unrepresented
• male victim rates probably higher than typically
  suspected

13
Female Sexual Offenders

• 10-15 of sexual offenders are female
• Most female sexual offenders target children
• Poorly researched topic
• This will be taken up on another day, most of
  remaining class will be on male offenders

14
Male Offenders

• Groth (1978) distinguished 2 types of male sexual
  offenders
• Fixated Prefer sexual activity with children
• Regressed Prefer sexual activity with adults,
  but will regress to activity with children
  during types of stress
• Sometimes difficulty to tell which is which
• some fixated offenders may carry on relations
  with adult women to gain access to their children
• probably indicative of a more psychopathic
  personality, may not fit well in Groths
  classification
• nonetheless, may be most common type

15
Pseudo-Fixated Type

• Offenders prefer relations with children, yet are
  capable of adult relationships
• may target children of spouse, step-children
• extremely charming, may seduce children
• most capable of manipulating their behavior
• more likely to attempt penetration
• less interested in emotional contact with
  children
• may mix physical and sexual abuse
• psychopathic personality characteristics
• aggressive, may have extensive legal histories
• may target high number of victims in a lifetime

16
Fixated Type

• FAR more passive than pseudo-fixated
• as children are quiet and shy, make few friends
• have difficulty making/sustaining adult
  relationships
• low self-esteem, find adults to be threatening
• not psychopathic, romanticized view of children
• believe children will enjoy sexual acts
• less like to attempt penetration/use force
• may seduce children through friendship
• more likely to target same sex (high percentage
  male victims)
• little criminal history
• may target up to 300 victims in a lifetime
• may kill victims in panic state---signs of guilt
• Lewis Carroll and Michael Jackson

17
Regressed Type

• Less interest in sex with children
• Capable of adult relationships
• Passive-Aggressive personality characteristics
• May target children during times of stress
• motive is often revenge against mother
• If coupled with psychopathic qualities, crimes
  may be stunningly barbaric
• Able to revert to adult relationships in absence
  of stressor
• fewer total number of victims

18
Incest

• Most commonly perpetrated by step-fathers or
  other distant male relatives
• Biological fathers account for 2 of sexual abuse
  cases (Barry, 1984)
• Very sternly punished in almost all societies
• May focus on victim as favorite child, extreme
  bonding between perp and vicprobably involves
  genuine affection for vic
• Low likelihood of prosecution as vic will likely
  continue to have strong bond with perp

19
Effect on Victims

• Very few victims become offenders
• Extent to which vics are traumatized depends on
• relationship between perp and vic
• amount of force used
• reaction of family
• Rind, Tromovitch and Bauserman (1998)
• However, some vics do suffer psyche effects
  including
• difficulty trusting males (assuming perp was
  male)
• hypersexuality or hyposexuality
• sexual identity problems in male victims
• PTSD and depression, particularly if violence
  used

20
Mysopedia

• Rare form of fixated offender
• Violence and torture is fundamental part of crime
• May stalk rather than seduce vics
• Likely to kidnap victim
• Victim typically is dead within 48 hours
• no ransom note
• no effort to contact family
• no emotional connection with victim
• no signs of guilt in crime scene
• mutilation of genitals, body orifices

21
Child Kidnapping

• Most child kidnappers are non-custodial parents
• low likelihood of sexual involvement
• Kidnapping of children by strangers is most
  commonly sex-crime related, possibly mysopedia
• ransom kidnappings are rare
• rarely do sex-crime kidnappers attempt to
  disguise crime as ransom attempt
• implications for Jon-Benet Ramsey
• almost never is the victim returned alive
• Adam Walsh--July 27, 1981
• exception Somerset County kidnapping

22
Wayne Williams

• Previously thought Serial murders were always
  white males
• raised in good family, no history of abuse
• numerous failed financial ventures
• 1979-1981 kills at least 28 black youths
• also several adults and females
• typically used asphyxiation, but varied
• M.O. and signature
• Involved seduction of street youths
• blaming of parents

23
Williams 2

• A gentle killer
• mismatching of clothes
• Yusef Bell, feet washed clean
• Angel Lenair, tied to tree, panties stuffed in
  mouth
• 7 y.o. LaTonya Wilson stolen out of her bed
• 10 y.o. Aaron Wyche thrown off of bridge
• 13 y.o. Clifford Jones stuffed in dumpster
  wearing underwear that was not his
• Patrick Balatzar calls police tell them killer is
  after him, strangled with rope
• many vics were associated with each other

24
Geographical Clues

• Vics get older
• Begins throwing vics in river
• Larry Rogers 20 y.o. mentally retarded and
  youth-like
• Adult victims were often homosexual prostitutes,
  pedophiles themselves, or delinquents
• May 22, 1981, Splash from the bridge
• Williams destroys evidence
• circumstantial evidence and Williams press
  conference
• The trial
• Controversy and conspiracy theories