Running head CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR1CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR2.docx

Running head: CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR 1
CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR 2
Criminal Behavior
Sherry L. Crowe
Dr. Robert Meyer
Psychology of Criminal Behavior
FP6015
May 24, 2017
The criminal behavior that I have chosen for this is
homicide. Homicide is death caused by one person taking the
life of another person notwithstanding the intention of their
action. Homicide is a broad term used to describe various
categories of killings with murder and manslaughter being the
most prevalent. Others include; euthanasia, war killings, and
capital punishment. Homicide is further subdivided into
criminal and non-criminal types depending on the context and
laws of a particular jurisdiction (Geberth, 2013). Thereby

causing some homicide behaviors to be accepted in society even
by the legal system, while others will be shunned and attract
huge ethical and legal sanctioning.
The legally accepted homicide includes; euthanasia in
jurisdictions that accept it and capital punishment. On the other
hand, one may be convicted of manslaughter homicide with or
without the intent of killing as long as their action harms
another person to an extent of causing death. Manslaughter may
also be a result of voluntary action based on passion from
emotions that blur an individual’s judgment abilities leading
them to kill. In accidents, the death must occur within the first
year of neglect behavior.
There are situations that call for excusable homicide. This may
include killing of others by authorized persons such as law
enforcement agencies in the aim of protecting a nation from its
enemies. Thus, the law enforcement agencies in the country may
be ordered to kill. Other situations that may call for actions
involving killing may be during the prevention of crime where
police officers may be forced to use deadly force to be able to
protect the lives and liberties of other citizens from the harm
and potential harm. Another legally accepted justification is
insanity, intoxication or necessity including self-defense and
that of others.
Whereas homicide is a crime committed across all social;
classes, it has been found to be prevalent with poverty and other
social factors such as stress. Thus, the area of focus here is the
low socio-economic class that has to be underprivileged with
the means to take care of their needs.
Homicide affects all people in society. However, the group of
focus is the youth in society who may be pushed into
committing homicide in the quest to provide for their needs
(Singh, et.al, 2013). In a society that fosters unequal
competition and contentions towards success in wealth and
power, some youth who find role models in celebrities may be
compelled into finding a means to reach their target.
Homicide and especially criminal homicide occurs in society

and needs to be addressed by the society in general. This calls
for awareness creation campaigns among communities and
groups on homicide. Similarly, civilians need to collaborate
with law enforcement agencies by reporting early signs of
homicide within the community and evidence when called upon
to give their testimonies. When called upon to act on a case,
the police should be ready to handle the situation promptly.
Having identified the major casualty as being poverty, it is
necessary to initiate programs that empower youths with job
skills and enhance their talents (Stansfield, Williams & Parker,
2017). Thus, it becomes a way of helping them achieve their
goals in the right way. Besides, it is necessary to empower the
group with life skills that will; enable them to be confident
while handling crisis situations and these that provoke
emotions. It may also involve learning relation techniques to
help them in making rational decisions. With the elimination of
poverty and awareness creation in society, there is a high
likelihood of the reduction of homicides. Further, a
collaboration between the police and civilians as a means of
helping to reduce homicide that has proven to work.
References
Geberth, V. J. (2013). Practical homicide investigation checklist
and field Guide. cRc Press.
Singh, G. K., Azuine, R. E., Siahpush, M., & Kogan, M. D.
(2013). All-cause and cause-specific mortality among US youth:
socioeconomic and rural–urban disparities and international
patterns. Journal of Urban Health, 90(3), 388-405.
Stansfield, R., Williams, K. R., & Parker, K. F. (2017).
Economic Disadvantage and Homicide: Estimating Temporal
Trends in Adolescence and Adulthood. Homicide Studies, 21(1),
59-81.

Running head: IDENTIFYING AND GATHERING RELEVANT
DATA 1
IDENTIFYING AND GATHERING RELEVANT DATA 5
Identifying and Gathering Relevant Data
Sherry L. Crowe
Dr. Robert Meyer
FP6015
May 24, 2017
Homicide is the killing of human beings by another person.
Murder and manslaughter are both forms of execution. The
death inflicted by a person taking another person’s life
regardless of the intention of the action is a criminal offence.
Homicide is a crime according to United States Laws, as is
many other states globally. Justified self-defense is not
categorized as a crime. Similarly, there are other forms of
murder including euthanasia, killing during war, and capital
punishment of a person (Smith, 2013).
Homicide can be categorized into criminal and non-criminal.

Criminal homicide is like murder or manslaughter; this is when
there is killing by intention and without any danger being
imposed on the murderer (Reid, 2016).
Non-criminal includes capital punishment of a convicted person
and euthanasia in respective jurisdictions. This involves the
arms of government who are mandated to protect the nation, and
in that event, they can kill to eliminate the public threat.
Actions like terrorism and international security threat can fall
under excused homicide in the aim of protecting the people and
reducing the risk. Insanity poses another accepted justification
of killing, and induced killing in aid of self-defense and the
others security is among the noncriminal homicide (Eriksson,
2013).
Many aspects contribute and accelerate the rate of
homicide, the poverty of people and poor social status can lead
to people into stress and committing crimes that are either
criminal or non-criminal (Riedel, 2015). The socio-economic
situation of people influences the rate of homicide in the
society. The less privileged individuals in the community are
the most affected in the sense that they undergo a lot of mental
and physical stress in satisfying their needs and livelihood.
The most affected group in the society is the youth; youth more
often are perpetrators of the crime. Extreme lifestyle cases and
peer pressure has played a key role in the determination of the
criminal activities that are experienced in the society today.
Societal achievement and different opportunities available in
the lifestyle arena engages the young people’s minds in a
negative way to an extent they make the un-informed decision
due to rushing to find solutions. According to the FBI, the rate
of crime in the US increased by 3.9 percent in 2015 an increase
from the previous year. The criminal cases have escalated
because of the rate at which societal influence has impacted on
the people with the rise of technology and lifestyle change
(Cramer, 2016).
Social and human rights education must be addressed to the
public, and thus the relevant government must ensure that they

engage the appropriate authorities in the exercising of the
human rights and thereby reduction of crime in the society
(Matejkowski, 2014). Consequently, the criminal gangs must be
eliminated from the society to reduce the criminality in the
community. There should be a well-defined curriculum in
schools on behavior change to mentor good citizens in the
society who respect law and order. Community policing and real
collaboration with the law enforcers is also another aspect that
must be enhanced to eliminate vice in the society.
Transparency and fairness must be employed when solving the
criminal cases. This will ensure that only the legal liable
persons are convicted of the crimes that they committed and not
innocent people. The courts must be fair and transparent to the
extent of the truth and impose the penalty to be taken by the
convicts.
In San Diego County, there was a “total of 5,409 Part 1 violent
crimes which include homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated
assault. Between January and June of 2016 there was an
average of 30 per day and about one more per day than the first
half of 2015 (Burke, 2015).”
In the state of California, the homicide reported in 2015 was
1,861 which was an increase of 164 from 2014. That is a
twenty-five point one decrease from the 2,483 reports in 2006
(Harris, 2015).

References
Burke, C., Ph.D. (2016). Crime in the San Diego Region Mid-
Year 2016 Statistics. Criminal Justice Research Division,
SANDAG, 3-18. Retrieved May 31, 2017, from
http://www.delmar.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/2490
Cramer, C. E. (2016). Why the FBI's Justifiable Homicide
Statistics Are a Misleading Measure of Defensive Gun Use. U.
Fla. JL & Pub. Pol'y, 27, 505.
Eriksson, L., & Mazerolle, P. (2013). A general strain theory of
intimate partner homicide. Aggression and violent behavior,
18(5), 462-470.
Harris, K. D. (2015). California Homicide Statistics for 2015.
Retrieved May 31, 2017, from
https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/cjsc/publications/ho
micide/hm15/hm15.pdf?
Matejkowski, J., Fairfax-Columbo, J., Cullen, S. W., Marcus, S.
C., & Solomon, P. L. (2014). Exploring the potential of stricter
gun restrictions for people with serious mental illness to reduce
homicide in the United States. The Journal of Forensic
Psychiatry & Psychology, 25(3), 362-369.
Reid, S. (2016). Compulsive criminal homicide: A new
nosology for serial murder. Aggression and Violent Behavior.
Riedel, M., & Welsh, W. N. (2015). Criminal violence: Patterns,
causes, and prevention. OUP Us.
Smith, E. L., & Cooper, A. (2013). Homicide in the US known
to law enforcement, 2011. Washington, DC: US Department of
Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Assignment 2: Draft of Final Project
In this assignment, you will build upon the assignment
completed in M1 Assignment 3. This assignment is a 5- to 7-
page draft of your final project, which is due in Module 5. You
will want to start developing some of the key components of
that paper. You will need to further refine, add content to, and
polish this draft in order for it to meet the final requirements
in Module 5, which is a 10- to 15-page final draft. This draft
will need to be in APA format, which includes a title page and a
reference page; however, no abstract is needed. On the
reference page, please include a list of the ten sources you plan
to use in the final draft, although you may not need to use all of
them for this draft.
For this assignment, you will need to include a brief summary
of what you will elaborate on in the final draft and:
· Describe your selected criminal behavior.
· Discuss the etiology theories discussed in Module 2 as they
pertain to your selected criminal behavior.
· Describe relevant prevention, intervention, and treatment
specific to your criminal behavior.
· List at least ten scholarly sources on your reference page that
you plan to utilize in your final draft.
Submission Details:
· By Wednesday, June 14, 2017, save your report as
M4_A2_Lastname_Firstname.doc and submit it to the M4
Assignment 2 Dropbox.
Assignment 2 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points
Submitted a logically drafted report, including the following
components:
· Description of criminal behavior
· Discussion of etiology theories
· Discussion of prevention, intervention, and treatment
implications
· Ten scholarly sources

88
Wrote in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrated
ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of
sources; and displayed accurate spelling, grammar, and
punctuation.
12
Total:
100
Running head: CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IN YOUR
COMMUNITY 1
CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IN YOUR COMMUNITY 4
Criminal Behavior in Your Community
Sherry L. Crowe
Dr. Robert Meyer
FP6015
June 7, 2017

Homicide falls under the broader category of violent crimes
according to the FBI. According to the bureau, there was a
surge in this type of offenses by 5.3% in the year 2016 that
were reported. Data from the UCR program provides finer
details that provides demographic information about the
perpetrators making it possible to narrow down the type of
personality who engage in this form of crime. Statistics from
the UCR program shows the number of male perpetrators as
2015 was about 9,553 representing 89% of homicide offenders.
Women implicated in homicide offenses were about 1,180.
These figures indicate the most likely homicide perpetrators are
men (UCR, 2015).
The newly released report by the FBI revealed African
Americans were the mostly likely offenders. During the year
about 5,620 African Americans were charged with homicide
related cases whereas the number of whites was 4, 636. Black
Americans who were involved in homicide were about 53%
whereas whites were estimated to be 44% with the rest of the
offenders emerging from other races. Evidently, the chances of
a murder perpetrator being an African American is high
compared to a White offender. Shockingly, most of the
offenders were youths aged between 20-24 years. It turns out
that 2,448 of them were involved in murder cases in the year
depicting a scenario where young people are willing to murder
for different reasons. Offenders aged between 1 to 12 years
were only 11, representing the largest age group that least
committed murder offenses. Although data from the FBI does
not provide socio-economic status on the offenders, numerous
pieces of empirical evidence point out homicide rate is
prevalent among individuals with low income (UCR, 2015).
The civil and criminal legal systems share some
similarities in terms of burden of persuasion, penalties, and key
players. In criminal justice penalties are imposed once a suspect
is found guilty. A criminal could face probation, imprisonment
and restitution among other punishments. On the hand, an
offender in a civil system is entitled to pay monetary damages

in case found guilty. The “beyond a reasonable of doubt”
standard is applied when prosecuting a criminal. This differs
with civil cases which rely on “preponderance of evidence”
which is the standard applicable in civil cases. The civil system
bases its ruling on the weight of evidence provided (Slapper &
Kelly, 2004).
Various theories have been developed to try to explain
factors that influence offenders to commit homicide. Most of
the psychological theories of homicide fall under the
environmental theories of homicide. Some of the theories that
fall under this category include: socialization, control and
social structural theories. According to the socialization theory,
men’s aggressive and go-getter tendencies drives them to attain
set objectives (Stirrat et al., 2012). They are seen more
aggressive than their female counterparts. The gender
differences between the two groups have been used to justify
the reason why most homicide offenders are women (Stirrat et
al., 2012). The socialization theory has been widely embraced
in academic and professional circles but relying solely on the
concept to justify homicide patterns could lead to erratic
conclusions.
According to a journal published by the Oxford University,
drug abuse is one of the leading causes of homicide. The
publication strongly linked loss of physiologic tolerance to
substance abuse. Data collected during the study suggests ex-
convicts were 8 times likely to commit homicide two weeks
after their release. Additionally, elevated cases were reported in
ex-convicts who used drugs. Prisoners tend to be lured to drugs
as a way of surviving jails conditions. Most of them end up
being drug addicts which influences their reasoning negatively.
The findings of the study are like what other researchers have
found (Lim et al., 2012). There is a high possibility of homicide
among former prisoners because of the violet environment they
are exposed to while serving their sentence. Such environments
psychologically affect them and shape their character which
they end up embracing once out of prison. Most of them end up

suffering life-long trauma and are unable to recover despite the
rehabilitation measures that have been put in place. This theory
is grounded on the social ecological concept (Lim et al., 2012).
Perhaps the social structure theory best describes why a
man would murder another. Its perspective is based on the
premise that social problems such as education and poverty are
the root causes of homicide. Although studies have not
systematically evaluated the concept of social structure and
homicide, bits of empirical evidences have managed to fit the
jigsaw. Eck & Weisburd (2015) suggests that they are unsure
whether social structures influence an individual to commit
murder. Lack of education could be a significant factor that
could lure teenagers into criminal activities. Numerous research
work has indicated teenagers who drop out of school end up
joining criminal gangs where they engage in various forms of
crime (Liem, 2013). These teenagers are influenced to live the
kind of lifestyle adopted by iconic figures in the society at the
expense of killing other people. They would want to achieve the
self-actualization hierarchy of needs. This is where they live an
extravagant lifestyle. They would to feel contended and having
accomplished in life what needs to be achieved; success and
financial freedom. This traps them to criminal activities. In
addition, poverty is a push factor to crime (Norström, 2011).
Individuals who cannot meet the basic desires are lured to crime
to find a means of satisfying their basic needs. They end up
engaging in criminal activities to survive and in the process,
join assassin’s squads. Deprivation of basic needs is one of the
reasons why people commit murder.
The criminal legal system is component of law. The system is
concerned with intentional injury to other parties. Once a crime
is committed, law enforcement units must search for evidence
which is used in a court of law. This evidence is used in court
to determine whether the accused offender will be acquitted or
convicted. It must be done “beyond reasonable doubt”. Penalties
are imposed once a suspect is found guilty. Also, they could
face probation, imprisonment and restitution among other

punishments. On the other hand, civil systems are concerned
with different entities. A party that is found guilty of wronging
another is entitled to pay monetary damages in case found
guilty. However, this system differs from the criminal system
in that it applies “preponderance of evidence” to make a ruling.
The criminal’s system seeks to rectify the character of an
offender whereas the civil system seeks to ensure an aggrieved
party is compensated. On the hand, both examine the evidence
provided in court against what the law stipulates. Besides, the
two must be determined by a team of competent practitioners.
Lastly, if the law has been violated judgment must be made in
court irrespective of whether it was criminal or civil (Slapper &
Kelly, 2004).
References
Eck, J. E., & Weisburd, D. L. (2015). Crime places in crime
theory.
Liem, M. (2013). Homicide offender recidivism: A review of
the literature. Aggression and
Violent Behavior, 18(1), 19-25.
Lim, S., Seligson, A. L., Parvez, F. M., Luther, C. W.,
Mavinkurve, M. P., Binswanger, I. A., & Kerker, B. D.
(2012). Risks of drug-related death, suicide, and homicide
during the immediate post-release period among people
released from New York City jails, 2001– 2005. American
journal of epidemiology, 175(6), 519-526.
Norström, T. (2011). Alcohol and homicide in the United States:
is the link dependent on
wetness? Drug and alcohol review, 30(5), 458-465.
Slapper, G. & Kelly, D. (2004). The English legal system.
London Portland, Or: Cavendish.
Stirrat, M., Stulp, G., & Pollet, T. V. (2012). Male facial width
is associated with death by contact violence: narrow-faced
males are more likely to die from contact violence.
Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(5), 551-556.
UCR. Crime in the United States. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-

the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.- 2015/offenses-known-to-law-
enforcement/violent-crime/violentcrimemain_final

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