Criminology Essay: Analysis of a Double Murder Case in New York

This criminology essay delves into a double murder case that occurred in New York, where a nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, murdered two children under her care. The essay examines the case details, including the nanny's background, the crime scene, and the subsequent legal proceedings. It explores the case through various criminological theories, such as social disorganization, social bonding, social learning, and personality theories. The analysis considers the influence of social context, psychological elements, and the interplay of factors like resentment, mental health, and economic disparities. The essay highlights how these theories provide a framework for understanding the nanny's actions and the broader implications of the crime within the field of criminology. The essay also touches upon the influence of classical approaches on present-day criminal laws and the sentencing of the perpetrator.

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY
CRIMINOLOGY
Name of the University:
Name of the Student:
Authors Note:

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Criminology is an area of social sciences that is multidisciplinary and focuses mainly on
issues that are related to studying crime scientifically as a social object. This area of study
emphasizes on the analytical skills as well as the critical thinking required to explicate and
reflect on the main ideas relating to deviance and crime. The social context has a huge influence
on the thoughts, feelings and behavior of individuals and a wider understanding of crime on this
context takes place through the inclusion of the various psychological or behavioral elements in
the subject. The psychological topics that can give an insight about the various complex human
behaviors include personality, self-conformity, persuasion and conformity (Akers & Sellers,
2004).
The case that is going to be discussed in this essay is about a double murder that took
place in New York. A nanny named Yoselyn Ortega who was working for Ms Marina Krim
killed two of the children se was looking after in a heinous manner. Ms Krim entered her
apartment clutching her 3 year old to find it eerily quiet. She tried to look for two of her
daughters in the dark, only to find their dead bodies in the bathroom tub along with an
unconscious Yoselyn on the floor. The two children Lucia (six) and Leo (two) were completely
drenched in blood with their throats slit and eyes blankly open. Yoselyn started working with the
family in 2010 and was warmly accepted. The incident took place in October 25 2012, she slit
the throats of the children and then waited for Ms Krim to enter the apartment before stabbing
herself as she wanted the see the reaction on the mothers face. According to the defense,
Yoselyn had chronic mental illness and suffered from disembodied voices and hallucinations all
her life, however, according to Ms Krim, she did not find any sign of mental instability in the
nanny for the past two and a half years. The prosecution however, states that, the killing were out
of resentment and not out of mental health issues and that Yoselyn thought of Ms Krim as a

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mother she could never be. Yoselyn in 2012 testified to the police that she committed the murder
because she had money issues and has resentment towards the parents despite the family helping
her monetarily in numerous circumstances (SALLEH, 2018).
Criminology arose is the mid 18th century as social philosophers started delving deep into
the concepts of law and crime and over the time numerous schools of thoughts in this field
developed.
Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham and some other philosophers belonging to the
classical school argued that individuals act in the basis of free will and that people are hedonists
who tend pain and seek pleasure. The said that if sufficient punishment was given to theh
offenders which outweighed the benefits of the crime, that can cause people to deter from
criminal behavior (Ignjatović & Stojanovic, 2010).
According to the positivist school of thought, the argument was put forward that criminal
behavior is the outcome of external and internal factors over which individuals have less or no
control. Cesare Lombroso also known as the father of Criminology took a scientific approach to
the study, where he tried to find out empirical evidences of physiological and biological traits of
criminals. According to this school of thought, criminals are not made but born, which means it
is nature and not nurture. However, urban psychologists tried to understand criminal behavior in
different lights of social and psychological behavior (Ignjatović & Stojanovic, 2010)..
According to the Social disorganization theory, which is based on the works of Clifford
R Shaw and Henry McKay, individuals perform criminal activities because of economic
deprivation and poverty and because it is valued in their community. Another approach to
criminology is that of the social bonding and control theories which suggest that every
individual has a tendency to commit deviant acts and puts a light on why individuals control the

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need to carry out such behaviors. Four main characteristics were identified by Travis Hirchi,
“Attachment to others”, “commitment to achievement”, “belief in moral validity and rules” and
“involvement in conventional activities”, which according to him are the reasons for reduced
delinquency traits in individuals (Agnew, 1992).
The Social learning theory by Ronal Akers states that an individual rationalizes an act
using the processes o evaluation of right or wrong. Burgess and Akers contributed to expanding
the elements of the behavior modification and behavior theory. They tried to identify the
processes of learning and also included the elements of reinforcement, operant behavior,
respondent conditioning to understand the delinquency individuals (Agnew, 1992).
Personality theorists strongly believe that criminal behavior is not just a result of
improper personality traits but a development due to conflict, aggression and impulsiveness. The
criminal when committing a crime loses the ability to feel any empathy, guilt or remorse, as they
do not develop the sense of what is right and what is wrong. Psychoanalytic theorists try to
view the situation from a more Freudian perspective. Criminal behavior according to them is a
result on enormous mental disturbance caused due to conflicts among the Id, Ego and Superego
or due to fixations at certain developmental ages (Ignjatović & Stojanovic, 2010)..
The case that is being studied here can be viewed under the light of the personality and
social theories. The nanny had enormous mental conflicts when she would see that her economic
conditions were not improving and she was not being able to the mother that Ms Krim was. She
started resenting the society for the economic differences that she was born in and eventually due
to enormous conflict between her id and ego, she ended up taking the lives of two innocent
children. The present day criminal laws are much influenced by the classical approach and
because of the devastating crimes that she committed, she was sentenced to jail. She did not just

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stop after killing the children, she also tried to take her own life because she knew the
consequences that she would face. However, she had waited till the time the mother entered the
apartment as she wanted to attain a certain satisfaction by watching the horror and pain in her
eyes. It can be clearly understood she had lost the ability to rationalize or feel guilty about the
acts she had done.

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References
Agnew R. (1992): Foundation for a General Strain Theory of Crime and Delinquency,
Criminology, vol. 30
Akers R. and Sellers C. (2004): Criminological Theory: Introduction, Evaluation and
Application, New York
Cullen, F. T., Wright, J., & Blevins, K. (Eds.). (2011). Taking stock: The status of criminological
theory (Vol. 1). Transaction Publishers.
Ignjatović, D., & Stojanovic, Z. (2010). Theories in Criminology.
SALLEH, N. (2018). Killer nanny trial: A tragic tale of rich mum, poor mum. The Straits Times.
Retrieved 14 March 2018, from http://www.straitstimes.com/world/a-tragic-tale-of-rich-mum-
poor-mum

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Bibliography
Chan, Cheong, W., & Andrew, P. (2001). Development of Criminal Justice in Singapore.
Singapore journal of legal studies .
Jones, S. (2013). Criminology (Vol. 5th). New York: Oxford University Press.
Joyce, P. (2013). Criminal Justice (Vol. 2nd). London: Routledge.

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