The Murder of Luke Batty: A Criminological Essay

This criminological essay analyzes the murder of Luke Batty, a case that shook Melbourne in 2014. The essay explores the motives behind the crime and applies criminological theories to understand the behavior of the perpetrator. The theories of classical criminology and psychological positivism are discussed in relation to the case. The essay concludes that mental illness played a significant role in the crime.

Criminological Essay
The murder of Luke Batty

Introduction
Every murder has certain motives and murderers are largely influenced by these motives to
commit a crime. The Luke batty murder case shook the city of Melbourne, Victoria in the year
2014 which clearly brought a number of aspects and theories into the picture. Whenever a
murder is committed the most important question that stands for the criminal lawyers or the
investigators to understand is “why the crime was committed?” It is extremely important for the
investigators to address this and if the murderer is already in the hands and show different
behavior it turns to be complex to address the case due to lack of information (Hagan and
Daigale, 2018 p, 24). The murder of Luke Batty is one such case that clearly puts a lot of
questions forward.
Theoretical Analysis of the case
Luke was an eleven year old boy who was staying with his mum and was visited by his father.
The day of his murder Luke was visited by his father in Tyabb cricket ground after a training
session. The onlookers were stunned to know that Luke’s father was the man who killed him.
After investigation it was known that Gregg Anderson who was the father to Luke and former
partner of Luke’s mother Rosie Batty has had his problems with mental illness that stands to be
the prime reason for the murder. Gregg who was shot by the police and died in the hospital
became the subject of analysis for many criminology scholars to understand the impact of
different theories on this crime (Ross, 2014).
Talking in line with the classical criminological school of thought it is stated that all the crimes
have strong motives that influences a criminal and fuels the eagerness to commit the crime
(Lannier, 2018 p, 70). Hence, it is important understand the prime motives behind this murder.
Rosie, Luke’s mother knew Gregg the victim’s father for twenty years and they had been in a
relationship for two years after which they broke up but when Luke was born he came back
which is when Rosie realised the mental problems that Gregg had. He was homeless,
unemployed and had personality disorder which moved from bad to worse with time (Davey,
2014). As stated by Rosie she had had problem with him and he was slapped with an injunction
about not roam around Rosie’s household without permission. This might have fueled the initial
rage in Gregg and this is considered to be the prime motive. Gregg loved his son and it was

reciprocated by Luke and it has been stated by Rosie that they shared a great relationship and
confessed that the only reason Gregg could kill his son is only to hurt Rosie. Even though In this
case there was no visible lucrative motive or maybe revenge but Gregg definitely considered
Rosie as one of his enemies and this clearly deteriorated the situation (Ross, 2014).
The above scenario also highlights an important aspect of Gregg’s character that is the coldness
which he possessed. The cold behavior of the criminal in this case comes from his poor mental
health which is one of the major reasons for the death of a young effervescent boy but it is
important to analyse how the need or rage of committing a murder went up with time for Gregg.
In this case the psychological theory of crime could be referred to understand the situation.
Positivism is an extremely effective tool that helps to understand the human behavior in the best
possible manner. The psychological positivism allows analysing the behavior of a criminal and
helps to understand why a crime was committed. In this case as per the information it is clear
that Gregg’s life was falling apart. He didn’t have a job and did not have a home in fact he was
not always allowed to see his son and had a poor relationship with his ex-partner because they
have violent history (Hagan and Daigle, 2018 p, 101-103). All these information clearly indicate
that Gregg’s life was not moving in the right direction and hence his jumbled up life slowly and
steadily pushed him on the brink of losing his mind and acquiring personality disorder. He had
called his previous residence and had foulmouthed them which led him to be driven off of that
premise and later had problems with the mother his child. All these issues worked together and
led to his partial insanity (Lannier, 2018 p, 67). These are all related to the social context of
psychological positivism theory which clearly indicates that poor social status affected the mind
of the murderer. The visible presence of class conflict and social misery has led to crimes
previously as well and hence it is quite common in the modern day world. The psychological
positivism theory helps to perfectly analyse a deviant mind which comes up with a perilous
decision of murder (Koubaridis, 2015). This theory considers that there are several factors which
shape up the mind of a person to commit crime which in this case has been constant ignorance
from the society and not being able to lead a proper life with the family. Gregg Anderson had
psychopathic personality it is quite clear otherwise he wouldn’t have engaged in filicide one of
the most tough criminal actions to pull off probably. Hence, it could be said that there was
definite deviations in the mind which was a result of a pretty gradual process (Daly and Wilson,
2017 p, 21).

Conclusion
Criminology is a vast subject and crime cases often tend to be multifaceted and hence trying to
understand the criminological theories is extremely important to analyse a case in the best
possible manner. In the present case it is clear that Luke Batty was subjected to the rage of a
lunatic father which is clearly relevant to the theory of psychological positivism. This theory
clearly helped to understand the mindset of the criminal and the classical theory of crime also
helped to analyse the possible reasons for the murder. Overall it could be concluded that the
issue of mental illness often stand to be a deciding factor for a criminal especially as it drives all
the possible decisions taken by him or her.

References
Daly, M. and Wilson, M., 2017. Homicide: Foundations of human behavior. Routledge.
Davey, M. 2014. Https://wwwtheguardiancom/australia-news/2014/nov/02/-sp-luke-batty-killed-
by-a-father-no-one-truly-knew. [Online]. [28 May 2019]. Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/02/-sp-luke-batty-killed-by-a-father-no-
one-truly-knew
Hagan, F.E. and Daigle, L.E., 2018. Introduction to criminology: Theories, methods, and
criminal behavior. Sage Publications.
Koubaridis, A. 2015. Https://wwwnewscomau/national/crime/luke-batty-inquest-report-
victorian-coroner-to-make-ruling/news-story/0c8b5938c3c77197f1bb87e4355c3d6c. [Online]. [2
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report-victorian-coroner-to-make-ruling/news-story/0c8b5938c3c77197f1bb87e4355c3d6c
Lanier, M.M., 2018. Essential criminology. Routledge.
Ross, M. 2014. Https://wwwabcnetau/news/2015-09-28/luke-batty-death-at-tyabb-victoria-
coroners-findings/6808638. [Online]. [28 May 2019].Available from:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-28/luke-batty-death-at-tyabb-victoria-coroners-findings/
6808638