Introduction: Case Preview

A serious incident took place in Aurora, Colorado. The incident took place on July 20, 2012, within the movie where the screening was at Batman Movie, titled The Dark Knight Rises (Smith, 2013). A gunman putting on a black glad entered the theater. The man was also clad in a gas mask and armored clothes. He allegedly opened gas canisters before shooting on people randomly. Twelve were killed on the spot while additional 58 persons were seriously injured (Smith, 2013).  This incident is regarded as the worse gun shooting in the entire U.S. The suspect was then caught up in the theaters parking area.  He was a 34-year-old man called James Eagan Holmes.

According to Adelmann (2012), the victim was regarded as one of the performing students in college. His colleagues reported that he was a brilliant student. He was a Ph.D. student studying neuroscience degree at the University of Colorado, located in Aurora. Based on the investigations, a month before the incident, Holmes failed to pass his oral board exams at the graduate school.  Originally he was from San Diego before transferring to Colorado. From the university’s database, Holmes was a good performer and was also topping up his class.  He actively took part in his education.

In the last past, mass shooting has caused different problems in the U.S compared to other nations. Some of the tragedies that have been witnessed in the U.S include the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting, Aurora Theatre shooting, and the Columbine shooting. Gun shootings can be linked not only to the gun culture within the American society but also the citizens’ rights as per the second amendment incorporated into the U. S Constitution. Studies indicate that about 38% of the American households possess guns and 23% own handguns (Sarteschi, 2016). Consequently, a high percentage of the Americans views gun ownership as their fundamental right. This is despite the fact that high percentage of the Americans supported stricter gun control policies. Surprisingly, the recent shootings happened when the types of violence and aggression had dropped to their lowest levels after several decades.

Media Frame on the Shootings

According to Frosch (2012), media and technologies developments have changed the society’s decision-making process particular on the social issues, for example, mass shootings. This has made people be skeptical on the role of the media on being a watchdog in identifying different issues that affect the society.  Stampler (2013) pointed out that media coverage and political debates were wrong to emphasize young violence in stories and headlines. Instead, the parties should focus on the historical and cultural contexts of the issues that will be sensible to the society. Citing Frosch (2012), it is important to note that the shootings did not take place in isolation and this made people be attentive on the unresolved issues on public shootings in the U.S. Different influencers or causes have been perceived as perpetrators. Some scholars have blamed the government for its failure to put in place gun regulations and measures. This has contributed to the importance of taking up the necessary measures to prevent the repeat of the same incidences.

The case has been analyzed from the perspective of Dr. Lyne Fento, who is one of the victim’s psychiatrist. The psychiatrist’s reported to the campus police concerning Holmes behavior. Dr. Fento further mentioned the Holmes has the possibility of harming other people. She reported the concern to the relevant authorities before the shooting. Based on different sources, the victim posted a parcel which contained a notebook. The parcel was addressed to the psychiatrist, and it was not only about his delinquent intentions but also the attack’s descriptions.  Further details on the investigations showed that the victim had conversations with one of the colleagues concerning his evil intention and the strong desire to murder people. The conversation occurred one month before the attack.

Holmes lawyers, on the other hand, found out that he was mentally ill and the university was informed about his mental state. For example, he was one of Fenton’s patients. This was a clear indication that the patient was experiencing various mental problems such as schizoid affective disorder and depression. This made him murder innocent people and injures tens (Frosch, 2012).

The Crime Psychological Theories

The psychologies theories on crime have proven that criminal behavior is due to different psychological factors. Some of the factors include bad childhood experiences, insufficient social networking, and socialization. The psychological factors impact negatively on the peoples and make them start thinking about crime. Drawing from the crime theory, Healy (2015) pointed out that one of the reasons for committing the crime is based on different personal needs such as vanity, revenge, thrills and anger.

Using the Eysenck’s theory of personality and crime, the criminal attitude is the impact of criminal and antisocial behavior. This particular theory determines one’s unique behavior of the offender based on the composition of the neurophysiological when the person is exposed to any environment, and this is associated with criminality. Drawing from the psychologist’s perspective, it can be argued that people are not born with the criminal behavior rather the environment creates the behavior.  The criminal person shows an insensitive, unemotional, cold and cruel behavior (Knickerbocker, 2012).

In 1976, two theorists, Yochelson and Samenow proposed a theory that tied criminality to personality attributes. According to the theorists, criminality emerges via rational thinking process. This is whereby criminals think with biasedness and error because of the unacceptable behavior that surrounds them. Citing Stampler (2013), thinking errors are the primary causes of criminal behavior. The two theorists proved that the criminals’ dreadful and evil processes if analyzed effectively could be used to describe criminal behavior.  This can be important in testing the techniques applied in the therapy.  The theorists further indicated that criminals fear physical injuries and this is the reason why they tend to test people and inflict similar injuries on the victims (Valentino, 2013). Therefore, criminals are good at things that are fun to them. Furthermore, criminals are intelligent individuals who awe the society through their delinquency conduct, and intellectual crimes minimized.

Social cognition theory is also associated with crimes. The theory explains that society leads an individual towards crime. The theory that Correll in 2005 proposed points out that criminals apply the approach with the intention of not only make sense to the rest of the world but also ensuring a positive self-sense (Sarteschi, 2016). The approach adds that social distortion is a contributing factor towards cognitive distortion and this leads to criminal activities in the society (Carey & Hartocollis, 2013).

Consequently, the theory of social disorganization talks about the urban dilemma. A group of professors from developed the theory in 1920. The theory is part of the criminological theory, and it is a significant element in criminology study.  It effectively describes the law-breaking and crime behavior, wrongdoing and delinquency over time.  Basically, it forecasts the trends in the criminology behavior among different groups. It focuses on handling criminal activities in the society.

There is also the strain theory. This is whereby individuals fail to realize their aspirations because they are high, and this put them at risk of committing different crimes. The disorder develops when the person high and unrealizable goals. When an individual fails to realize a goal, they are strained in their minds, hence engage in criminal activities to offload the pressures. It is also believed that illegal activities are because of increased anger and frustrations (Carey & Hartocollis, 2013).

Conclusion

The focus of the study is to analyze the criminals’ behavior and factors that make them commit a crime. The behaviors can either be biological or psychological. Different theories explain why people commit crimes. The shooting case has been critically analyzed and concluded that the criminal suspect initiated the shooting due to his mental disorder. Based on the theories, it is unusual for a normal person to commit a crime of such magnitude. It is only people who are mentally disturbed that cause harm to the society.  Such persons are characterized by negativity; hence their emotions do not impact on them. Additionally, they do not think before initiating any criminal activity.  From the study, it is evident that the victim had lost control over his mind, and did not reflect on his plans before actual shooting. On the other hand, the victim was a top performing student and had no criminal records. He was a shy student at the University.  Nonetheless, the primary cause for Holmes to commit the crime is mental illness.

In the case, different theories are applicable. The Eysenck’s theory of personality and crime relates to the incident. This is because the victims’ reasons for committing the crime can be linked to effects of criminal behavior and being antisocial.  The mentioned theory highlights one’s unique behavior based on his/her neurophysiological composition in a given environment. In other terms, people are not born with criminal tendencies rather they created by personality traits, interaction with the environment and neurological elements.

In sum, it is evident that different theories can be applied to understand Homes’ behavior and the connection between his logics and intentions for shooting. The victim was declared mentally unfit during the rulings. He had no history of being a serial killer, and all his actions were due to his unconscious state of mind. Initially, he was a shy character and rarely interacted with people. To prevent such crimes from taking place again in the future, it would be significant to treat mental illness immediately, especially if the victim’s thoughts and actions have been proven to be dangerous to the society. From the present case, the psychiatric was informed of the victim’s problem. She should have taken it seriously with the relevant authorizes and offer him the best treatment options available to address the problem. This could have helped in saving the entire society from the delinquency (Cloud, 2012). The security officers and business executives should strengthen their security systems and do a body search on people who visit premises.

References

Adelmann, B. (2012). Update on the Batman shooter: From Obscurity to Infamy. New American (08856540), 28(18), 18-21.

Carey, B., & Hartocollis, A. (2013). Warning signs of violent acts often unclear. New York Times. Retrieved on May 4, 2017 from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/16/health/breaking-link-of-violence-and-mental-illness.html

Frosch, D. (2012). Colorado shooting suspect was getting psychiatric care. New York Times. Retrieved on May 4, 2017 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/us/colorado-suspect-was-getting-psychiatric-care.html

Healy, J. (2015). Defense Tries To Put Focus On Sanity Of Gunman. New York Times. Retrieved on May 4, 2017 from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/26/us/defense-tries-sanity-focus-to-spare-life-of-aurora-gunman-james-holmes.html?_r=0

Knickerbocker, B. (2012). Colorado shooting: Was James Holmes’s notebook ‘a cry for validation’? (+video). Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved on May 4, 2017 from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0726/Colorado-shooting-Was-James-Holmes-s-notebook-a-cry-for-validation-video

Sarteschi, C. M. (2016). Mass and serial murder in America. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Smith, G. S. (2013). Straight to the top: CIO leadership in a mobile, social, and cloud-based world. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Stampler, L. (2013). Police: ‘Rational Insanity’ Search Found On James Holmes’ Computer. Time. Retrieved on May 4, 2017 from http://nation.time.com/2013/10/11/police-rational-insanity-searched-james-holmes-computer/

Valentino, B. A. (2013). Final solutions: Mass killing and genocide in the 20th century. Cornell University Press.

Zansberg, S. (2012). Transparency out of tragedy: First Amendment & Media Litigation. American Bar Association. Retrieved on May 4, 2017 from http://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/committees/firstamendment/articles/fall12-win13-0113-transparency-out-of-tragedy.html

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