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Faces of Criminality
This document discusses three criminal cases: the case of serial killer Cary Stayner who killed 4 women, the case of Bernard Madoff who committed the largest fraud in history, and the case of Andrea Yates who killed all of her children in under an hour. It analyzes these cases using criminal analysis approaches, identifying the types of crimes and whether they were expressive or instrumental. Rational choice theory and strain theory are applied to help understand the motivations and behaviors of Stayner and Yates. Madoff's case is examined in depth using an economic theory lens to understand his massive Ponzi scheme as a white collar crime.
Law◦
Faces of Criminality
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- 3. Three Fascinating Cases Bernard Madoff – Bernie Madoff used an illegal Ponzi scheme as an instrument to getting what he wanted. He wanted a lot of money and the criminal acts of theft by deception was how he became a billionaire over and over. Andrea Yates – For Andrea Yates, the crime of killing her children was expressive. In her mentally ill state, Andrea believed that she was doing what God told her to do for her children to live in heaven. Her motive, wasn’t to hurt her children, but to sacrifice them in order to save them. Other mothers who have killed their children did so because they were preventing her from having something that she wanted. They were in the way of the lifestyles they wanted and so their crimes were instrumental to getting what she wanted. Carey Stayner– Carey Stayner used his crimes to express his hatred for women. Perhaps he was expressing hatred of himself or of his life in general.
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- 5. White Collar Crime • White Collar Crime is an umbrella of a number of individual crimes that have to do with money. It usually involves the use of deceit by a person in a position of fiduciary power who uses that power to gain financially from his victims. • Some of these include: •Embezzlement • Tax Evasion • Money Laundering • Pyramid or Ponzi schemes • The pyramid or ponzi scheme has been around for 200 years. • Other forms of white collar crime are not as far reaching such as promising someone something to get their money, when there was nothing to give.
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- 7. Background Information • Bernard Madoff graduated college with a degree in political science. • He went to law school for a year before dropping out. •His parents had started a financial company which didn’t do well. It has been considered that his father ran the company as a front for shady business dealings. • After dropping out of law school, Bernie and his wife started their own company with a small amount of money he saved from odd jobs such as working as a lifeguard and installing sprinkler systems. • Their firm, Madoff Investment Securities, LLC, offered stable returns on investment. • With help from his father in law he was able to get a few investors. One big name investor was Steven Spielberg. • Kiera Sedgewick and Kevin Bacon soon signed on. Such names allowed him to get other big name clients. His firm became famous quickly for its steady returns of 10% or more. My the end of 1980 his firm was handling 5% of the entire volume on the New York Stock Exchange.
- 8. • His success was largely due to his ability to change with the times. • Bernie’s firm was one of the first to use computer technology for trading. •This helped establish National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ). Madoff was the chairman for three years. • Madoff started employing family members for most of the prominent jobs within his Company. • Bernard kept growing his business by borrowing from Mary to pay off Bob. In 2008, at the height of a new financial crisis, one of Bernard’s biggest investors asked for a large amount of money before scheduled. • Bernard’s sons demanded that his father tell them where the money would come from. Bernie had to confess. • His sons turned him in to the Federal Authorities. At the time of his arrest, he had almost 200 billion dollars in accounts, with no money to back them. • Madoff was found guilty of multiple securities violations. • At 71 years of age, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
- 9. • Amazingly, Madoff had managed to pull of the most elaborate pyramid scheme in modern history. • He was able to keep the business going for over 2 decades without getting caught. •His business had grown to the point where he was taking it international. • He ruined the lives of countless people. One son committed suicide after learning of the deceit and the extent he was responsible. His other son died shortly after from cancer. • Many other people, including his own family, lost everything. Their entire life savings was invested with Madoff. He was the most trusted people on Wall Street. • White Collar criminals may be the most despicable because the people who are in the place of the most trusted positions are the ones who are the criminal. • The criminal behavior of this sort is becoming easier and more prevalent with computers and technology. It is easier to become the criminal and harder to catch the criminal.
- 10. Mixed Economic/Rational Theories • Bernard Madoff had economic motive and the economic means to start his illegal Ponzi Scheme • Much like Gary Stayner, Bernard Madoff wanted to feel powerful where he had not in the past. •Madoff wanted a financial gain • In addition, Madoff must have felt a thrill constantly living on the edge, knowing that the whole enterprise could tumble down at any moment.
- 11. • Madoff had many available and suitable targets. • He was motivated by the idea of having financial gain, the opening to start a financial enterprise and he may have been motivated by the thrill. •Madoff had financial motive to act illegally, once he started he had to keep going to keep up the deception. After a period of time, he began to feel that he would never get caught. • The opportunity to commit this type of crime was perfect because of the financial growth on Wall Street. • Bernie Madoff was the authority on Wall Street in the 1980’s and 1990’s because he was the first to use technology. For a long time, Nobody knew as much as he did about the type of criminal activity he was participating.
- 12. Serial Homicide Applying the Rational Theory to serial homicide cases such as the Carey Stayner Case Stayner’s Victims •Carol Sund • Julie Sund • Joie Armstrong • Silvina Pelosso • Other possible, but unnamed victims
- 13. Serial Homicide Defined Serial killings or serial homicide is defined by the FBI as three or more killings in which at least one was committed in the United States. These killings have come characteristics in common that would suggest that the killings were committed by the same persons or person. Some Possible Motives • Anger •Criminal Enterprise • Financial gain • Power or thrill • Psychosis • Sexually based
- 14. Rational Choice Theory The rational choice theory basically assumes that the criminal sees him or herself and individual and not part of a system. A piece of this theory is that the offender think only of himself. Everything he does is for his own gain. The choice that is made is directed towards the maximization of his pleasure, regardless of the cost to others. • This theory involved logical ends and means calculations. • The person chooses his behavior, whether it is conforming or deviant behavior based on the ends and means calculations. •The person may be motivated by one or more of the following: • Getting his own way • Getting justice • Display of power • Thrill seeking behavior
- 15. Elements of the Rational Theory 1. The offender must have an available and suitable target. 2. The offender must be motivated to act. 3.There must be no authority figure to prevent the crime from happening.
- 16. • Carey Stayner may have had several motivations for his behavior according to the rational theory •Carey lived in the shadow of his young brother who caught national attention when he was kidnapped and held prisoner for years. • When the kidnapping took place, the entire dynamic changed. His father withdrew from the family. • His mother became even more reserved and distant than before the kidnapping. • Carey’s little brother escaped his captor and returned home. His brother received “special” treatment and did not have to follow rules
- 17. • Cary Stayner found available target when Carol Sund, her daughter Julie Sundand their family friend Sylvino Pelosso checked into the lodge where Stayner was a handyman. • Stayner had the motive (listed above), the means and the opportunity (the lodge was empty and it was not likely the he would be caught. • The lack of other guests and the seclusion of the lodge prompted Stayner to act when he did.
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- 20. Background Information • Andreaq Yates was born in 1964. She was the the youngest of 5 children. •She was especially close to her father and her brother. • Andrea was accomplished. Some described her as a perfectionist. She worked hard at everything she did. Andrea was the captain of her high school swim team, class valedictorian, and an officer in the National Honor Society. Andrea suffered from bulimia, during high school and college; however, this was not discovered until after she was married. Andrea was very conscientious and would keep any personal problems to herself. • Even so, Andrea was shy and didn’t date until after college. • She became a registered nurse and worked for eight years. • She met Russel Yates when they were both 23 years old. They were married when they were 28 years old. They bought a four bedroom house because they planned to have as many children as “God” sent to them. • They had there first child before their 1 year anniversary. • Rusty met a self-proclaimed preacher while in college, and both Russel and Andrea became devoted followers after they married. He was a fire and brimstone type preacher and conducted his weekly sermon via satellite television. He told his followers they should rid themselves of earthly possession and live as a sparse life.
- 21. • Is was for that reason they sold their home and moved into a travel trailer. • They had a second son a year later. •Andrea suffered from severe post partum depression. The preacher did not believe in psychiatrists, or psychiatric medication. • She was hospitalized after the birth of her 3rd son when her husband came home from work and found her lying in the fetal position and chewing off her fingers. • She was placed in the psychiatric unit where she remained for a week. She was prescribed anti- depressants which she stopped taking as soon as she started feeling better. • It is unclear if she was hearing voices at this time. • She suffered a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide twice after the birth of the 4th child. • She was hospitalized twice in one summer. She was put on a cocktail of medication including the antipsychotic drug Haldol. At this point, she was under the care of Dr. Eileen Starbranch. Dr. Starbranch told the couple that having more children would result in another psychotic episode. • Andrea’s mother told Russell that they had to move out of the small trailer and into a house. • Contrary to that advice, and at the urging of their Preacher, Andrea had another child, this time a girl. Things appeared better until Andrea’s father died. • Soon after that life altering episode, Andrea stopped taking her medication. • She began to feverishly read her bible. • Andrea was self-mutilating feverishly. She was pulling out large chunks of hair and chewing her fingers. • Notably, she stopped feeding her youngest child. She was under the care of Dr. Mohammed Saeed. • Her condition was so extensive, her mental state so unstable that she remained hospitalized for 4 weeks.
- 22. • At trial, the administration at the hospital admitted that Andrea was sent home before they thought she should be because it was the policy of the hospital to turn patients away when their insurance ran out. • Just over a week later she had reverted back to what the psychiatrist called a near catatonic state. She confessed that she intended to drown the children and filled the bathtub that day. •She didn’t follow through on the first attempt. After a scheduled doctor’s visit, she was hospitalized again. • Andrea was still under the care of Dr. Saeed. He took her off Haldol and most of the medications she had been taking. He took her off of them abruptly, not allowing for the gradual reduction that is the generally accepted practice. • She was to have supervision at all times. The day of the murders, Russell left for work. His mother was to be there 1 hour later to supervise. It was during that hour window that Andrea yates drown all 5 of her children. • Her oldest son was 7 years old, and her youngest was 6 months old. • It is important to note that Andrea drown each of them with planned out precision. First, she locked the family dog in a room. Then, she began with the oldest because she knew that he would fight the hardest. She was also aware that he may try to rescue the other children. She then would drown the other three boys, one at a time. She left one boy as she tried to drown the baby. He came in and asked what was wrong. He tried to escape, but she caught him and drown him last. She laid them carefully on the bed. She placed the baby girl in the arms of the oldest son. • Andrea then dialed 911 numerous times telling them that they needed to come. She wouldn’t say specifically why they were needed and it took awhile for someone to respond. After they were on the way, she called Russell and told her that something was wrong. He asked her who was hurt or how many were harmed. She told him ”all of them.”
- 23. • Andrea Yates confessed to killing her children. • She also described how she had locked up the dog so that he would not try to interfere. She waited for her husband to go to work before she filled the bathtub because she knew he would be suspicious. •She explained how she killed the oldest first because he might try to stop her. • To the amazement of an entire nation, Russell stood by his wife’s side. He defended her. He explained that she had been mentally ill since shortly after the birth of their first child. Everyone had ignored the signs, not wanting to admit that this beloved mother, wife and daughter had deliberately killed all of her children. • Andrea was convicted and sentenced to death. • That sentence was later overturned. • She was found to be innocent by reason of insanity, a very rarely accepted defense.
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- 25. Criminal or Mentally Ill? No person could be easier to hate than a woman who kills her children. Especially who kills 5 of them in less than an hour. Dogging her defense at the trial was the precision of the seeming executions. On the face, It appeared that Andrea Yates had just snapped and killed her children. • At first blush it appears that Andrea Yates simply couldn’t deal with 5 children under the age of 7. • The pressure of homeschooling them and being with the around the clock was too much of a stress and caused strain. •To relieve that strain, she killed them. • Andrea Yates was not the first mother to kill her children and she wasn’t the last. Diane Downs came before, killing one child and attempting but failing to kill the other two. Susan Smith came after, killing her two sons by sinking her car to the bottom of a lake while they were inside.
- 26. A Closer Look • Unlike Diane Downs and Susan Smith, Andrea Yates took full responsibility. She didn’t try to make up a story to cover her crime. Instead, she told police in interviews exactly what she had done and how she had done it. • Unlike Diane Downs and Susan Smith, Andrea Yates had suffered from mental illness for many years before Killing her children. •Andrea Yates blamed herself for being a terrible mother. She heard voices coming from the television telling her that her children wouldn’t go to heaven if she were to raise them because she was unfit. Andrea Yates wanted to be the best mother possible, just like she had approached every other undertaking in her life.
- 27. ABC News Editors. Brutal Slayings Shatter Peace of Yosemite. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123868 Biography.com Editors (2016). Andrea Yates. The Biography.com Website. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved from http://www.blography.com/people/andrea-yates-235801 Bio.comEditors (2017). Bernard Madoff. The Biography.com Website. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/people/bernard-madoff466366#synopsis Cohn, E. (2003). Even Criminals Take a Holiday: Instrumental and Expressive Crime on Major and Minor Holidays. Journal of Criminal Justice (31) (4) pp. 351-360. Chan, M. (2016). Revisiting Andrea Yates 15 Years After She Drowned Her Children. Time.Com. Retrieved from http://time.com/4375398/andrea-yates-15-years-drown-children. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. (2013). Fifth Edition. American Psychiatric Association. Washington, D.C. Findlaw.com Website. White Collar Crime. (2017). Retrieved from http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/white-collar-crime.html Miller, L. (2012). Criminal Psychology Nature, Nurture, Culture. Charles C. Thomas Publisher, LTD. Springfield. Ill.
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