This short paper will focus on a Criminal Profile of Richard Speck.
This is a 2 page paper, but you can write more if you wish. The first page will cover the background of the criminal and you may include any information on childhood history, family history, neighborhood,educational history, childhood friends and adult friends, work history, marital or interpersonal relationships, medical history, and other background information you deem important. The most critical aspects of an offender’s background are those factors that point to criminality. If the offender did well in school then that is of NO concern in the criminal profile. If the offender had problems with the teachers, fought with the other students, acted out in class and played truant, then those issues are pertinent to a budding criminality. You pick and choose what background factors you will pay attention to. The first page will also cover the details of the offenders’ crimes, and give special attention to the major crime. You again pay specific attention as to how he committed the crime, how he selected his victims, the techniques he used to commit the crime, his motivation, the steps he took to avoid getting caught and give some attention to how he was caught. Also, touch on his treatment in the Criminal Justice System. ALL OF THIS IS ONE PAGE, the facts of the offender’s background and the details of the crime are interesting but the HEART OF A CRIMINAL PROFILE IS USING THEORY. Give me 50 pages on background and details of the crime and NO THEORY and that is an “F”.
The most important part of a Criminal Profile is the use of theory to explain why a criminal committed a crime, the techniques he used to commit the crime, his motivation for the crime, whether he is a good candidate for rehabiliation. We use theory to better understand what makes a criminal TICK.
Steps to use Theory: 1) Select a theory, 2) explain who created the theory, and 3 explain main concepts of the theory, and 4) apply that theory to your case. If the theory helps explain the criminal, it is a good theory to use. If the theory does not help explain your criminal, it is not a good theory to use. Tie in concepts to specific facts of your case.
Assignment, address each question and subquestions in the paper:
1) Write an Introduction
2) Write ONE page on Speck’s background and his crimes using only information on page 98. ONE PAGE in your own words.
3) Was Richard Speck an XYY? What parts of the XYY Theory apply to Speck? Why was Speck not an XYY?
4) Using the Constitutional Theory of William Sheldon, what part of the theory applies to Speck? What parts of Sheldon’s Body Types Theory do not apply to Speck?
5) If you learned that Speck’s father was a minor criminal, how could you use the Theory of Criminal Families to explain the behavior of Speck?
6) How would Konrad Lorenz explain Speck’s violence using the Biological Roots of Human Aggression Theory?
7) Speck was given the death penalty which was later changed to life in prison, why was Speck never a good candidate for parole, even if that had been possible?
