Criminology and Psychology: Serial Killers, Theories, and Influences

This essay delves into the intricate relationship between criminology and psychology, focusing on the understanding of criminal behavior, particularly in the context of serial killers. It explores the different types of serial killers and examines the case of Kenneth Bianchi, highlighting his background an...Read More

Running head: CRIMONOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
CRIMONOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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CRIMONOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Types................................................................................................................................................2
Kenneth Bianchy.............................................................................................................................3
Criminal Influences.........................................................................................................................3
Biological Influence.....................................................................................................................4
Psychological Influences.............................................................................................................4
Behaviour Theory........................................................................................................................5
Cognitive Development Theory..................................................................................................5
Sociological Theories......................................................................................................................6
Social Strain Typology................................................................................................................6
Structural Functionalism..............................................................................................................6
Conflict Theory............................................................................................................................6
Labelling Theory.........................................................................................................................6
Victim Blaming...............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Crimes have been a part of the society for a long time and there is constant conflict
among the people from the different wakes of life to understand mitigate the issues related to it.
Murders have been considered one of the worst kinds of crimes of all. One of the worst issues
that are faced by the different people in today’s society are murders that take place in mass
proportions. The serial killers are one of the worst issues that are faced in today’s society by the
different people. A person is considered a serial killer if they commit more than three murders in
a similar fashion or if they have a pattern. The understanding of the criminal psychology of the
serial killers is very important for the society to understand evaluate the cause of their operations.
The most important part of this understanding is the perception that the different serial killers
have towards themselves or their victims.
Types
There are four types of serial killers active in crime in the society.
 Thrill serial killers: The kinds of serial killers who enjoy having a run wiithe law and the
media through their actions.
 Power and control killers: The killers who wish to establish their dominance on the
victim by killing them.
 The mission killer: the killers who think that they are on a mission to cleanse the society.
 The Visionary killer: The visionary killers are the ones who think they are compelled by
some external powers to commit the crimes that they are committing.

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Kenneth Bianchy
Kenneth Bianchy was one of the most feared serial killers in the country and has been
one of the most prominent faces as far as the ferociousness of his actions were concerned. Born
in 1951 he was a troubled child who had difficulty in social interactions due to his habit of
compulsive lying. Being adopted at an early age too meddles with his psyche and he suffered
with passive aggressive disorder by the time he reached the age of twelve. He always had issues
with the women and relationships which led to the breaking of his marriage. In his series of
murders he was helped by his cousin Anthony Buono in 1977 in Los Angeles. They progressed
toward becoming pimps and it heightened to murdering. Kenneth use to take costly jewelleries
and offered it to his various sweethearts. They slaughtered more than 12 ladies and youngsters
from ages 12-28 from all kinds of different backgrounds. They began with whores and working
class ladies and youngsters. They seized, assaulted, tormented, choked lastly slaughtered their
casualties. Between October 1977– January 1978, they murdered 12 ladies and use to drop them
at the slope henceforth the name Hillside strangler. They were later captured and given life
sentences.
Criminal Influences
Osborn and West (1979) found that 40% of children of offenders have had criminal
conviction contrasted with 13% of children of law abiding citizen. The accompanying slides will
endeavor to list the mental, organic and sociological impact on wrongdoing, thinking about
nature and nature. All the same there are mental and sociological variables that relate with the
common propensities to impact criminal inclinations in a man.

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Biological Influence
Lombroso (1876) propose culprits show atavistic characters and binds it to direct
advancement. He contends that crooks shows highlights which are basic to substandard
creatures. Lombroso (1911), contended that offenders are fundamentally the same as chimps and
the females are organically more like men. Unexpectedly Lombroso was scrutinized on
methodological grounds that he neglected to perceive connection does not suggest setback and
furthermore physical variation from the norm does not make one a criminal. It could be
neediness or hardship (Harrower 2001). It is trusted that crooks are altogether different normally
than ordinary individuals. Sheldon 1942 created 3 somatotypes which are ectomorphs,
mesomorphs and endomorph and they associate with identity and finished up mesomorphs are
more to end up crooks. Glueck and Glueck 1972, upheld Sheldon's advancement with a testing
where 60% of the delinquents were mesomorphs. Cortis and Gatti 1972 offers a similar
viewpoint with 100 reprobate where 57% were mesomorphs. Sheldon was reprimanded on
methodological and subjective grounds since he related it to himself. Lombroso trusts tattoos are
markings of conceived lawbreakers as they prove everlasting status and inhumanity to physical
agony. (Harrower 2001).
Psychological Influences
Eysenck (1947) shows personality theory of extraversion and introversion identify with
social and unsocial practices of people. The results of the mental contrasts is that extraverts can
without much of a stretch progress toward becoming board and may look for novel wellsprings
of incitement.
Psychoanalytic theory: This hypothesis recommend that each individual has a criminal
inclination impacted by their socialization. The capacity of a person to check social propensities

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internally or ostensibly as for the earth can prompt despondency (deep down) or culpability
(apparently). This hypothesis underpins the possibility that, offenders are typically baffled and
irritated and this happens in view of their past occasions amid their initial adolescence. It is said
that carelessness, misery and even absence of help or love towards the early youth offers ascend
to powerless conscience (Criminal Justice, 2017).
Behaviour Theory
Bandura (1978), recommend that people are not conceived with a natural capacity to act
brutally however viciousness and hostility are learnt through a procedure of conduct displaying.
This conduct displaying can be classified in three essential sources as family connection,
ecological encounters and broad communications. Research by Jacoby in 2004 on family
associations recommend that youngsters who are forceful and savage will probably have been
raised by guardians or gatekeepers who are forceful.
Cognitive Development Theory
This hypothesis sets up that criminal conduct of an individual create over a period
because of how they sort out their contemplations around ethical quality and law. It endeavors to
see how criminal guilty parties see and rationally speak to their general surroundings (Knepper,
2001). Wilhelm Wundt and William James two noticeable clinicians recommend that, there are
two sub controls of intellectual hypotheses (Criminal Justice, 2017). The ethical advancement
branch is the primary sub train which tries to see how individuals ethically speak to and reason
about the world. The second one is to do with how individuals process data, that is procuring,
holding and recovering data. Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) connected the idea of good
advancement to criminological hypothesis, and declares that there are three levels of good
improvement people go through.

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Sociological Theories
Thette are 4 major theories:
Social Strain Typology
In view of this criteria, Merton distinguished five unique sorts of aberrance, they are;
similarity, advancement, ceremony, retreatism and resistance (Boundless, 2017). This hypothesis
recommends that abnormality by people are because of what they believe is the satisfactory
standard for accomplishing their objectives independent of what the concurred societal standard
is.
Structural Functionalism
It proposes that in a general public, degenerate conduct plays a dynamic, valuable part
which eventually help to cling distinctive populaces. By this, it implies that, how aberrance is
seen by people are subjected to social and religious qualities and standards. Talcott Parsons
(1975) depicts "basic functionalism" as a specific stage in the methodological advancement of
sociology, instead of a particular school of thought.
Conflict Theory
It recommends that freak practices happen in social gatherings inside social orders
because of social, political and material disparities. Because of these disparities a few people act
in a degenerate way so they can cause a few changes in their conditions and social structure as
for expert. They are said to "carry on" against their oppressors (Boundless, 2017).
Labelling Theory
This theory inspects how the social condition makes people participate in wrongdoing,
however they ordinarily commit little consideration regarding the official response to

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wrongdoing, that is, to the response of the police and other authority organizations
(Law.jrank.org, 2017). The labelling theory additionally recommend that, people wind up freak
because of other individuals in the public eye constraining a personality on them.
Victim Blaming
In 1995, the United Nations characterized a casualty of wrongdoing as an individual or a
gathering of individuals who have endured physical, passionate, mental damage, financial lost, or
significant impedance because of mischief, where their central directly through demonstrations
of oversight that are disregarding the law (Newburn, 2007). Casualty faulting happens when the
casualty of a wrongdoing or any wrongful demonstration is considered totally or halfway in
charge of the damage that came upon them. The investigation of victimology looks to relieve the
view of casualties as capable (Definitions.com, 2017) Hill et al (2008) censured the meaning of
exploitation, they contends that, the contrast between a casualty and the wrongdoer isn't clear in
light of the fact that either gathering might be supported in utilizing viciousness in self-
preservation. Positivist victimology is the place insights are utilized to quantify the rate of
exploitation. It thinks about casualty precipitation; where casualties are reprimanded for the
reason to the savagery, and casualty inclination; where individuals move toward becoming
casualties because of their qualities eg. The old, ladies, rationally incapacitated. Information
additionally demonstrates that ethnic minorities will probably be casualties of numerous sorts of
wrongdoing contrasted with the greater part white, likewise, young fellows in the vicinity of 16
and 24 years have most noteworthy rate of exploitation with regards to wrongdoing (Chapman,
S. et al, 2016). Miers (1989) had worries about factual investigations and its estimation as it
focusses on savage violations and casualty precipitation (Newburn 2007). There is additionally
the feedback that exploitation reviews may not be totally dependable and it is restricted to the

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scope of violations it considers. The radical victimology takes in consideration the factors that
the society focusses on in understanding the role of the law enforcement and the different
cultures in understanding role opf the social scenarios in the increment of crimes. The lack of the
proper relationship between the common people and the law enforcement agencies makes it
difficult for them to report the crimes making it tough for them to reach out to help the victims.
The culture of the victim blaming is also very rampant in today’s society where the victims of
the crimes are chided for their rather foolish decisions which ed to their victimisation. For
example, if a person goes into a car or home of a complete stranger in a desolate place they may
be victimised and they may be equally blamed along with the criminal.
Conclusion
In conclusion one can contradict that criminal exercises could be an inalienable or
characteristic attribute, all a similar time it is impacted by mental, sociological, organic and
identity qualities. Casualty and accuse culture could at some point catalyse criminal exercises.

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References
Akhaine, H., (2017). Definition of who a serial killer is and types (Handout-BXScience
Education Publications [2016]). Milton Keynes College, unpublished.
Bandura, A. (1978). Social Learning Theory of Aggression. Journal of Communication, 28(3),
pp.12-29.
Boundless. (2017). Sociological Theories of Deviance. [online] Available at:
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/deviance-social-
control-and-crime-7/theories-of-crime-and-deviance-61/sociological-theories-of-deviance-371-
10205/ [Accessed 18 Apr. 2017].
Chapman, S., Holborn, M., Moore, S. and Aiken, D. (2016). Sociology AQA A-level. 4th ed.
London: Harper Collins Publishers.
Criminalmotives.com. (2017). Kenneth Bianchi - Serial Killers Profiles and News - Criminal
Motives. [online] Available at:
http://www.criminalmotives.com/serial-killers/serial-killers/kenneth-bianchi [Accessed 16 Apr.
2017].
Criminal Justice. (2017). Psychological Theories of Crime (Criminology Theories) Researched.
[online] Available at:
http://criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com/criminology/theories/psychological-theories-of-crime/
[Accessed 12 Apr. 2017].

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Definitions.net. (2017). What does Victim blaming mean?. [online] Available at:
http://www.definitions.net/definition/Victim%20blaming [Accessed 14 Apr. 2017].
Harrower, J. (2001). Psychology in Practice, London: Hodder Education.
Law.jrank.org. (2017). Crime Causation: Sociological Theories - Labeling Theory. [online]
Available at: http://law.jrank.org/pages/817/Crime-Causation-Sociological-Theories-Labeling-
theory.html [Accessed 15 Apr. 2017].
Newburn, T. (2007) Criminology, : Willan Publishing (UK).
Sable, K. (2017). Hillside Stranglers Kenneth Bianchi & Angelo Buono. [online] Karisable.com.
Available at: https://www.karisable.com/skazbianchi.htm [Accessed 17 Apr. 2017].
Talcott Parsons (1975), "The Present Status of "Structural-Functional" Theory in Sociology." In
Talcott Parsons, Social Systems and The Evolution of Action Theory New York: The Free Press,
1975.
Eysenck, H.J. and Eysenck, M.W. (1985) Personality and individual differences: A natural
science approach - Hans J. Eysenck - Hardc.. 3rd edn. New York: Kluwer Academic / Plenum
Publishers.

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