Mr Cruel ESSAY, Criminal Psychology, 2020 PDF

Preview

Summary

This assessment gives descriptions of Mr cruel, with a look at victimology and criminal psychology, this all incorporates back into...

Description

On the morning of the 22nd of August 1987 in the Melbourne suburb of Lower Plenty a hooded attacker broken into a home, where he gagged, blindfolded, and restrained the residence at the property, except for an 11-year-old girl (Mallett, 2019). The intruder told the family his only intentions were to take food and clothes, this individual was in no rush, remaining at the house for two hours, making himself food, and a seemingly urgent phone call. He then asked the young girl to brush her teeth before he sexually assaulted her (Mallett, 2019). After this first attack the perpetrator became more confident, and sixteen months later in a black ski mask he again attacked a family home once again holding the parents restrained at gunpoint telling them it was a robbery taking $35 from the parent’s room (Mallett, 2019). He then made his way to the children’s room where he called a 10-year-old girl, he tied her up, gagged and blindfolded her before abducting her, she wasn’t seen until eighteen hours later when she was dumped at a local school in a man’s shirt and garbage bags for garments (Mallett, 2019). On the 3rd of July 1990 the third attack was committed, a mere seventeen kilometres away from the last crime screen, at 11:40 under the cover of darkness he broke in to an empty house except for two girls (Mallett, 2019). Once again, his identity was hidden as he moved through the house silently until he came upon the girl’s room, where he awoke them, he threatened both girls to follow his instructions to ensure no harm came to them, he asked the younger sister to take her school uniform and spare underwear and tied the other sister up and told a $25,000 ransom was required from their parents to ensure the safety of her sister. After fifty hours of being held she was dumped, wrapped in a blanket and was told to wait ten minutes before making any movements, she did so before going to a house nearby to call the police (Mallett, 2019). At 9pm on the 13th of April 1991 the suspected las attack was made by the perpetrator, where he targeted the Chan house, the only residents of the property were three girls aged between 7 and 13 (Mallett, 2019). Before entering the house, he spray painted pay back more to come and Asian drug dealer on the family car, once insider he locked the two younger sisters in a room lying to them saying once he left their sister would open the door (Mallett, 2019). In this attack Karmein the oldest daughter was the target, she was taken from the house and unlike the previous abductions she was never seen again, until her body was uncovered a year later (Mallett, 2019) Over a span of four years residents and families in Melbourne were terrified to leave their children alone, some even sleeping in the same rooms as their children to ensure their

safely. In all cases the girls were all sexually assaulted, these were not violent in their nature and he did not harm any of the girls in any other physical way. These acts coined this man with the name ‘Mr Cruel’.

Biological, Psychological and Environmental Factors There are many aspects that play a role in the behaviour and criminology of an individual, these biological, psychological, and environmental factors can dictate the way in which someone operates. In the case of Mr Cruel, although his identity is still unidentified, there are theories and psychological models which can be utilised to gain a deeper understanding him. Gaining further conceptualisation of his modus operandi could not only lead to discover his identity but to find patterns of behaviour in other similar crimes. Biological and hereditary factors play a large role in the formation of one’s perception on the world, through the experiments such as the twin studies Lange (1929) found evidence to suggest that criminality could be inherited. Another biological aspect of paedophiliac is explained by Seto (2018) as the erg for heterosexual males to have a preference to younger females, this is correlated in younger women having her fertility, thus the primal instinct to have reliable and healthy offspring is drawn upon. Seto (2018) also explains that maladaptive instincts can build off this leading to the sexual attraction of younger females leading to sexual assault of children. Ponseti and other (2015) evidence found that paedophilic men were more likely to have sexual and reward responses to children’s faces over adult faces compared to non-paedophilic men (Seto, 2018). Mr Cruel psychological makeup demonstrates a high level of cognitive functioning this is demonstrated through his organisational approach to the crime, bring all equipment needed to restrain and hold the families along. His premeditation is shown not only by hiding his face, but also the timing of each case which he attacked each household when it was most vulnerable, suggesting he had been stalking and mapping the activities of the family. This organised approach also demonstrates his crimes were most likely premeditated along with his above average level of intelligence. Over the multiple attacks Mr Cruel was able to adapt and improve from his previous crime (Mallett, 2019). The treatment of the victims and the lack of evidence demonstrates that Mr Cruel had a deeper understanding of forensics than the average citizen, according to the two surviving victims he meticulously washed the girls, even explaining at one point the process these girls would go through they were dumped (Mallett, 2019). At all the crime scenes his face was covered and left no evidence behind that could be tracked back to him (Mallett, 2019).

Psychological theories which relate to sexual crimes against minors are also important to consider in the case of Mr Cruel to build a framework for his behaviour and predictability of motives. Seto (2018) argues that sexual preference to children can come from the physical structuring of the brain leading to neurological developmental issues which form soon after the child is born, and that environmental and social factors like childhood abuse can lead to sexual deviance in future. The pathways model by Ward and Siegent (2002) formulates five different etiological ways in which create a higher risk of sexually offending. These are an intimacy deficiency where sexual scripts are distorted leading offenders to force intimacy. Similarly, to Seto the second is the formation of maladaptive formation of sexual preferences because of past sexual abuse (Ward and Siegert, 2002). The third pathway stems from a lack of emotional control where these sexual acts are committed to give the perpetrator a sense of power (Ward and Siegert, 2002). The fourth is from antisocial perceptions where superiority leads to the belief that the crime is required or justified leading to mostly provoked or opportunistic sexual deviance (Petherick and Sinnamon, 2017). The last pathway is where maladapted sexual scripts and deviant cognitions leads an individual to idealise a relationship with a child, justified through problematic rationalisation. Environmental factors such as the upbring and location in which it took place are important in understanding why a crime has occurred. In a study conducted in 2008 found that of 269 sentenced sexual offender 94% had insecure attachment with internal and external family. From insecure attachment bonds with an absence of important traits can be missed these include a lack of empathy and the ability to form interpersonal relationships (Ward, Hudson, Marshall and Siegert, 1995). Geographical modus operandi is not at random and rather an influenced by his surroundings and comfortability within certain areas, this is formed by patterns of behaviours, in this sense Mr Cruel had conditioned himself to be criminally active around a similar area (Xifan Zheng, Yang Cao and Zhiyu Ma, 2011). The anchor point for him was most likely his home where he had taken the victims, and his buffer zone was most likely close to his house and prevented his capture (Xifan Zheng, Yang Cao and Zhiyu Ma, 2011).

Victimology The psychology of victims is vital to understanding the reasoning, motives, and patterns of criminals, this is victimology. The goal of victimology is to investigate the reason to the victims chosen, if they were specifically targeted to if it was at random and is there is a pattern which the victims fit into.

Mr Cruel’s victims were undoubtably selected, this is shown through the level of planning and the knowledge of the house layouts, to further this point he knew the timetable of the households which meant that he has most likely stalked these victims meticulously (Mallett, 2019). Mallett (2019) continues to explain Mr Cruel’s level of organisation is demonstrated through his sexual interest in nonsexual violence. Hans von Hentig’s victim typology conceptualises the factors which contribute to one’s victimisation, these involve gender, age, race, and class of an individual, along with this individual seen as weak also have a higher likelihood of becoming victims (Petherick and Sinnamon, 2017). This theory plays into the pattern shown by Mr Cruel’s victims, the ages of all his victims were between 10 and 13, with a focus on the victim’s physical development, all the girls were in puberty yet had not yet developed secondary sexual characteristics (Mallett, 2019). This pattern demonstrates that Mr Cruel was specifically targeting young females with a particular body type or development stage.

X. Mallett’s Map of Abduction, release, and body disposal sites, in Cold Case Investigations (2019, p. 125) As indicated by Mallett’s map, Mr Cruel’s victims were all situated in a similar area, with two of his victims even attending the same school. Risk heterogeneity hypothesised by Doerner and Lab (2017) explores how the victimisation of individuals can be dictated by their

location and the comfortability of the attacker to commit the crime in that area, in this theory Mr Cruel most likely knew the area quite well therefore he felt comfortable to abduct the girls. On top of this his ability to successfully commit a crime in the area could have compelled Mr Cruel to either subconsciously or consciously think he had a higher chance is success in these areas (Doerner and Lab, 2017). Canter’s theory also supplies evidence to support the idea that thw success of crimes has an impact on where crimes are committed along with other factors, such as his possible pathways to and from work and other personal and environmental factors (Xifan Zheng, Yang Cao and Zhiyu Ma, 2011). There are many factors which lead to the victimisation of Mr Cruel’s targets, the victims shared similar ages and development stages along with a assumed close proximity to his house or work place. His victims were all seen as ‘weak’ being female and young, and he manipulated family timetables to ensure he could be successful in his in devours.

Offender Profile Mr Cruel is believed to be a Caucasian male, with a protruding abdomen and a medium build, his height is said to be around 170 to 180 centimetres (Mallett, 2019). Through the victim interviews further insights into his life were made, he uses language such as “bozo”, “missy” and “worry wart”, he was described to have blonde hair and would often shift between bing clean shaven and facial hair. The investigators were also very aware that Mr Cruel paid close attention to media reports and found some form of thrill from article which centred around him or his crimes, this was discovered by his conversations with abductees (Mallett, 2019). It is said that the first sexual assault was unlikely his first offence and should be stated that his crimes did not show him to be exclusively a paedophile (Mallett, 2019). The Victorian police had a multitude of case which they believed fit his modus operandi, one of these included the rape of an older nun. In an interview with a criminal psychologist conducted by Mallett (2019) it was suggested that Mr Cruel’s change in victims was caused by his desensitisation to his own brutality and began planning and assaulting younger victims which had always been his preference. In the mind of Mr Cruel, he mostly likely did not see his actions of sexual assault as harmful to the children, fitting into the fifth pathway in Ward and Siegerts model. For the case of Karmein’s death it is still unknown if he was the one which murderer her, but it is thought she was killed in his mind out of necessity or desperation, it is known that after the

Chan attack, he has not reoffended or at least in the same area or with a different pattern of criminal behaviour. Mallett (2019) brings another argument that he no longer enjoyed the crimes after the murder had occurred, if it was him which murdered Karmein since it was out of pattern of his past crimes of releasing the victim. It should also be noted that his crimes continued to escalate from the previous victim, seen through the length of time the girls were abducted for, hence he could have become too bold with Karmein and she saw his identity and tried to escape which led to her death. During this case the police had a large reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of Mr Cruel, with a reward of $300,000 which was increased to 1 million on the anniversary of Karmein’s abduction, there have also been many taskforces dedicated to the investigation of Mr Cruel (Mallett, 2019). There was a lot of transparency between the families, police and public, this created many leads for the police and cut down suspects list but to this day there is no compelling evidence to make a conviction (Mallett, 2019). The continuation of communication of evidence and information from police to the communities in this case will be the most important aspect to assist with the uncovering his identity. To those that knew Mr Cruel outside of his crimes, he was most likely a very organised man, with tendencies to ensure perfection. He wouldn’t have seemed like a deviant criminal, been nice or even shown forms of empathy, been introverted or quiet. His criminal tendency only seemed to be targeted at women perceived as weak, hence there could have been cases of sexual harassment at work or other environments, yet if he was intelligent enough, he would not have shown any signs of his maladaptive desires. The identity of Mr Cruel remains a mystery, yet the patterns of behaviours and his actions in the crimes give information of what sort of individual he was, through understating his possible psychology, biology and environmental factors and his preference for victims an image can be created to help possibly solve this case or similar cases in future.

References Doerner, W. G., & Lab, S. P. (2017). Victimology (8th ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Lexis Nexis/ Anderson Publishing Company.

Mallett, X., 2019. Cold case investigations. Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd, pp.115-140.

Phenix, A. and Hoberman, H., 2016. Sexual offending. New York: Springer, pp.6-9. Petherick, W. and Sinnamon, G., 2017. The psychology of criminal and antisocial behavior:Victim and Offender Perspectives 1st ed. s.l.:Elsevier, pp.83-125. Seto, M., 2018. Pedophilia and sexual offending against children: Theory, assessment, and intervention (2nd ed.) American Psychological Association ., (2), pp.110-. Simons, D., Wurtele, S., & Durham, R., 2008. ‘Developmental experiences of child sexual abusers and rapists.’ Child Abuse & Neglect, 32, 549– 560, dio: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.03.027.

Ward, T., & Siegert, R., 2002. ‘Toward a comprehensive theory of child sexual abuse: a theory knitting perspective.’ Psychology, Crime & Law, 8, 319–351. http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/10683160208401823.

Ward, T., Hudson, S., Marshall, W. and Siegert, R., 1995. Attachment style and intimacy deficits in sexual offenders: A theoretical framework. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 7(4), pp.317-335. Xifan Zheng, Yang Cao and Zhiyu Ma, 2011. A mathematical modeling approach for geographical profiling and crime prediction. 2011 IEEE 2nd International Conference on Software Engineering and Service Science,....