Juvenile Crime - 3 stories

How are children developing to become violators of tomorrow? What

happens to children? ‘The ‘loveless personality’ can commit any

crime.’(Yule, 1979a:27) This may be because there are no feelings towards

anyone that hold him or her back. Some may argue that criminals and

psychopaths are born that way, but history shoes us that they were

deprived of love as children, and so never learnt what it is. Many children

react to rejection by becoming violent, disruptive, and predatory and anti

social. Others may become isolated and withdrawn. (Yule, 1979a:27)

In the industrial working class areas of big cities, even with all the

advertised things for the ‘good life’, children must learn to live in a risky

environment. (Yule, 1979b: 43)

One of the most important sociological theories that can be applied to

juvenile delinquency is the labeling theory. Once a child is labeled a

delinquent, he or she will be stigmatized, held untrustworthy by teachers,

and prospective employers. The individual then starts to believe it and

passes onto further criminal behavior. (Giddens, 1997a: 178)

Let’s imagine John, out with his friends on a Saturday night. He smashes a

shop window. We can see it in two ways. One way we can see it is as a

normal characteristic of young boisterous boys, an excusable

characteristic, maybe mischievous. If John happens to be coming from a

‘respectable’ background he is likely to be let off with a reprimand or a

small fine. His act is seen as primary level of deviance, which on this one

occasion got a bit out of hand. If on the other hand John is not from a

‘respectable background’, the police and courts will hand out a suspended

sentence, might send John to a social worker and so on. In this case this

might lead John to secondary deviance, he is now labeled.

Edward Sutherland spoke about learned deviance. His idea is very simple.

You learn to be criminal or not, depending on the people you spend most

time with and who you value most. For the most part, Sutherland argues

that behavior is learned within primary groups and peer groups. This

theory states that criminal activities can be learned much in the same way

as law abiding ones, and are directed towards the same needs and values.

(Giddens, 1997b: 176)

In this assignment I will tackle three juvenile cases: Mary Bell (UK), Erika

De Nardo (Italy) and Carla Wagner (USA). The three cases I will be

discussing deal with female protagonists and I will try to explain possible

reasons for the crime as well as characteristics of the crime they have

committed, the characteristics of the offender and so on.

Erika De Nardo

16 year old Erika De Nardo and her 17 year old boyfriend Omar Fasaro

were accused of premeditated multiple murders on Friday 23rd February

2001. The brutal multiple murders occurred between 8:30 pm and 9pm on

Wednesday 21st February 2001. Susy Cassino De Nardo and her twelve

year old son returned home and were stabbed to death ninety seven times.

All inquires by investigators lead to sixteen year old Erika De Nardo.

The suburban town of Novi Ligure, a small well to do town in the northern

region of Piedmont was visibly shocked by these murders. A wooden

handled, 15 cm knife was recovered but of the killers there was no sign.

Erika De Nardo had told neighbors that two men had broken into their

house and that her brother and mother were bleeding, pleading for help.

Police that arrived at the crime scene recalled being shocked. It was a

‘slaughterhouse’. Police had to go on Erika’s description of the intruders.

She identified them as Albanians. This caused uproar in Italy, newspapers

demanded a crackdown of illegal immigrants. The Northern League

announced nation wide demonstrations and liberals squirmed and decided

that something had to be done now.

In the meantime, investigators started to unearth startling discoveries.

Erika had been lying. The blood stained footprints showed she had been

walking not running and the photo of the Albanian she had identified could

not have been in Novi Liguri that night plus nothing was missing if they

were thieves as Erika recounted. Erika was definitely lying and she was

arrested together with her boyfriend.

The fact that Erika chose to blame immigrants for the double murder put a

lot of unease on politicians. Justice minister Piero Fassino asked for the

pardon of immigrants who had been hard targeted. The Major of Ligure

went further ‘We’ve gone from one horror to another.’ The nation was

flabbergasted at this horrendous incident. Psychologists, sociologists and

psychiatrists have been called in to try and explain or understand but the

motive remains a mystery. Erika and her boyfriend continue to blame each

other for the double murder.

‘A female juvenile offender in the Novi Ligure crime is striking to the

collective imagination.” ‘‘The young murderer also breaks the mould by

infringing on the commonly accepted stereotype of the female gender

being ‘soft hearted.’

The folly of the murder might have escalated because Erika’s mother never

approved of her relationship with Marco AKA Omar. A fight ensued and

the brother, alarmed by the shouting downstairs, was murdered to silence

his screams. Further proof of what had really happened was provided by a

video recording of Erika talking to Marco about the murder whilst

incarcerated. Marco was evidently not involved in the murder but was

under the influence of Erika’s dominant character and blinded by love.

Erika and Marco were sentenced to 16 and 14 years imprisonment. Though

they were not deemed to be under insane delusion, they were found to have

personality problems. Marco admitted that he knifed the victims too, as a

proof of love. In all both victims had sustained 120 stabs.

Erika was described as being intelligent but sometimes rebellious. Her mother was very strict and reprimanded her a lot. She was always scared her daughter would start to mingle with bad company and take drugs. Marco on the other hand adored Erika and would have done anything for her. He had once fought with another guy in school who had been pestering Erika, even though he was of a quiet nature with an angelic baby face. The father never said anything about the couple but his wife Susy was constantly vigilant. Gianluca, Erika’s brother was an altar boy, disciplined and according to Erika- the perfect brother. On the other hand Erika was a rebel; she was engaged to a lower class boy and fought constantly with her mother. What brought Erika to murder her mother and brother in such a horrific manner? The case still has a black hole. A motive has never been found.

‘But jealous souls will not be answered so:

They are not ever jealous for the cause,

But jealous for they’re jealous, ’tis a monster

Begot upon itself, born on itself’

(Shakespeare, ‘Othello’ Act III, Scene IV)

Mary Bell

Mary Bell aged 11 and her friend Norma Bell, were accused of strangling

two boys. Norma was found not guilty while Mary was found guilty of

manslaughter with diminished responsibility. This all happened in the

summer of 1968, in Scotswood, an economically depressed area, north of

London. The murders of Brian Howe and Martin Brown by Mary Bell

were something out of this world.

‘Murder isn’t bad, we all die sometime anyway’, Mary Bell had said to

one of her guards.

Betty Bell, Mary’s mother had been blamed as the culprit for Mary’s

psychopathology. Mary’s father always remained a mystery and when

Betty gave birth to Mary in 1857 she staged a drug overdose. Mary’s

childhood was a series of drug overdoses and abandonment by her mother.

At the age of two, Mary was already having difficulty making bonds with

other people. She behaved in a cold detached manner, never cried and

behaved violently. When she started kindergarten her teacher recalled her

being always naughty. She was lonely and teased by the other kids. She

retaliated by kicking, hitting and punching other kids. The abuse at home

continued and Mary frequently overdosed. These were likely administered

by her mother. Mary’s mother might have been suffering from

Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. This makes the mother thrive on the

attention her child is given when these accidents happen. This may explain

why Betty always still wanted Mary back. Mary was also used as a sexual

prop by her mother who prostituted herself. If she had been violated

herself, the need to abuse others might be bigger.

The murders were gruesome. Brian was found covered in grass and purple weeds. He has been strangled. He had puncture marks on his thighs and his genitals had been skinned, clumps of his hair were cut away. Scissors were found lying next to the body. On Brian’s belly an M was cut out with a razor blade. The wounds were very bizarre.

The fact that she had also murdered Martin was of her doing. Mary wanted

to get caught. She and Norma had plagued the mourning family and though

no one knew that Martin had been strangled, she knew.

Psychiatrists were brought over to examine Mary Bell. Dr.Orton claimed

that he had never seen anyone like Mary in his entire professional career.

Mary was as intelligent and manipulative as she was dangerous. When the

judgment was finally handed out Norma was seen as a victim of an ‘evil

and compelling influence just like that of fictional Svengali’. The

prosecution continued to say that ‘In Mary you have a most abnormal

child, aggressive, vicious, cruel, incapable of remorse, a girl moreover

possessed of a dominating personality, with a somewhat unusual

intelligence and a degree of cunning that is almost terrifying.’

Britain had never incarcerated little girls who murdered, so a great

dilemma arose. Prison was out of the question for an 11 year old and a

mental hospital was not equipped to take her in. She was deemed too

dangerous for such institutions. So, Mary ended up in an ‘all boys’ facility.

Carla Wagner

18 year old Carla Wagner, an honor roll student at a Catholic school in

Coconut Grove, Florida was found guilty of manslaughter while driving

under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, of Helen Marie Witty, aged

16.

The parents of Helen Marie Witty out of respect for their generous

daughter’s spirit suggested a plea bargain. So, instead of a possible 25 year

prison sentence, Carla Wagner was sentenced to six years in a juvenile

facility, 10 years probation, conditions of which are to speak to youth

groups, ordered to pay restitution to the family, and ordered to donate $16

to MADD for 10 years on the anniversary of Helen’s death.

Shortly before the accident Carla Wagner drank 12 shots of tequila and

smoked marijuana before speeding off in her silver 2000 Audi A4. She was

speeding so she could get money from her parents before they left on a

trip. According to the press (www.time.com) Carla Wagner was a spoilt

kid. She had spent the afternoon drinking tequila charging it on her

American Express Gold Card before speeding off in her high performance

Audi A4. To make things worse her parents asked the judge whether it

would be ok if Carla went ahead and spent the summer in Paris as she

usually did. Carla started to be described in local papers as ‘poster child for

spoiled teens.’ Parents in a TIME/CNN pleaded overwhelmingly guilty to

indulging their children too much.

There are gender differences in aggression. In most societies males are more aggressive than women. There are a number of explanations such as sex hormones and because males have a larger amount of testosterone than females. A number of studies have been conducted on this phenomenon on inmates. The results showed that both female and male offenders who had committed aggressive crimes had a higher testosterone level than normal. Whatever the effects of testosterone, most researchers agree that social roles have a strong influence on physical aggression. (Adapted from Brehm & Kassin, 1996a:293)

Most criminologists see crime as a result of social problems rather than

causing social problems as we can clearly see in the Mary Bell case.

Structural theorists suggest that acquiring deviant values leads to

criminality. Most life course theorists assume that the seed of criminality

are planted early on in life and will continue to grow as the child grows

older. Females who suffer from anti social behavior most likely experience

difficulties such as increased drug and alcohol use, poor school adjustment,

mental health problems, poor sexual health, psychiatric problems, higher

rates of mortality, criminal behavior and so on and forth. (Adapted from

Siegel, 2006a:293)Many children react to rejection by becoming violent,

disruptive and anti social. Mary Bell’s case was an exceptional one, even

when reviewed today. It astounded psychologists and psychiatrists alike

that such a young girl could be capable of such hideous murders and

remain so cold and unattached from it all.

Those born into affluent families (Carla Wagner) according to the general

theory of crime have low self control. Is it possible that these youths

coming from affluent families commit crime as a function of their

impulsive and low self control? Empirical evidence supporting the general

theory of crime states that female drunk drivers are extremely impulsive

who manifest a low self control; coupled with drug taking they enjoy

engaging in risky behavior. (Adapted from Siegel, 2006b:312)

In Erika De Nardo’s case, though the motive remains mysterious, there

could be many theories that might come close to the truth. One of them

could be emotional aggression. It is usually carried out instinctively, in the

heat of the passion, like a jealous lover strikes out in rage. Freud saw

aggression as innate and instinctual motivation. It is also a struggle to

survive. The intensity of arousal of aggressiveness is important. When the

emotion is positive, the aggression decreases, when it is neutral there is

usually no effect, but when the emotion is negative aggression increases

greatly. Experiences that create negative emotions increase aggression, add

high arousal and this combination can be lethal, as could have happened in

the case of Erika de Nardo. (Adapted from Brehm& Kessin, 1996b:302)

Juvenile delinquency, in these three cases I have explored have had different upbringings, backgrounds, social status, culture but what they had in common is that they were all female. One tends to associate juvenile delinquency mostly with males, but as I have shown women too are at a high risk of delinquent and criminal behavior in the early stages of life. In all cases, the family played an important part, negatively mostly. Some questions arise, most importantly are the parents mostly at fault?