Motivational Spectrum in the Classification of Homicide
Revitch and Schlesinger (Revitch, 1977; Revitch and Schlesinger, 1978, 1981, 1989) developed a classification system of crime and homicide based on the “motivational spectrum” of the antisocial act itself. At one end of the motivational spectrum are external or sociogenic factors that stimulate the homicide. At the extreme opposite end of the spectrum are offenses motivated by internal or psychogenic factors. From the external or exogenous end of the scale to the endogenous end, offenses are divided into (1) environmental, (2) situational, (3) impulsive, (4) catathymic, and (5) compulsive categories. External, environmental, or sociogenic factors play less and less of a role as one approaches the extreme end of the scale occupied by the compulsive offenses, which are determined almost entirely by internal psychogenic sources. This classification system is not intended to be rigid, as borderline cases with characteristics belonging to adjoining areas are inevitable. The motivational spectrum is illustrated graphically in Figure 3.1.
Social and Environmentally Stimulated Homicides
The sociological study of homicide is chiefly concerned with the relationship of murder to other societal variables, including culture, religion, race, age, region, and socioeconomic status. As all behavior takes place within the context of society and is more or less influenced by it, such determinants have to be taken into account when one is trying to understand specific types of conduct, such as crime and homicide.
For instance, Wolfgang’s (1958) comprehensive study of 588 homicides in Philadelphia between 1948 and 1952 detailed numerous social and environmental factors associated with murder, and most of these relationships are relevant today. Merton (1957) specifically pointed to social breakdown and feelings of “anomie” as major contributors to crime and homicide. Other theorists have investigated the relationship between crime and economic depression (Gibbons, 1968), and also, paradoxically, the increase in crimes and homicides sometimes noted in periods of economic prosperity (Cohen and Felson, 1979).
Figure 3.1 The motivational spectrum.
Still others, beginning with LeBon (1910), have emphasized the role of society as a restraining force. LeBon believed that the social environment not only stimulates homicide but also keeps homicide in check. He theorized that the need to kill is primitive, an ancestral residue always ready to appear unless vigorously repressed; thus, only severe societal punishment will keep murder and crime in abeyance.
In keeping with LeBon’s theory, numerous historical examples demonstrate an increase in crime, violence, and murder when society is unable to impose restraints and discipline. One such example is the biblical account of a group rape and murder of the victim. “In those days there was no King in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). In fact, a reading of the Book of Judges gives the impression that crime, violence, and murder were rampant in the loosely organized tribal society of Israel in the 11th and 12th centuries B.C. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) was marked by a complete absence of discipline among the mercenaries. Officers were corrupt, and troops frequently committed acts of vandalism, robbery, and homicide of innocent civilians. Wedgewood (1957), describing these conditions, speaks of soldiers
having fine sport firing at the feet of passers-by through low set windows of the cellars. It was sport to shoot prisoners tied in long rows one behind the other, and lay wagers on the number of people that one charge of shot would penetrate, (p. 228)
Social disorganization also was rampant during the various epidemics of plague which fostered bizarre behavior, disruption of interpersonal bonds, dehumanization, violent crime, and murder.
In his seminal work on group psychology, Freud (1921) supported LeBon’s concept that a group is not just a collection of individuals but has dynamics of its own. Individual characteristics are dissolved in the anonymity of a group, repression is discarded, and unconscious urges dominate behavior. Thus, suggestibility, contagion, and a feeling of power are the main features. This account of group dynamics helps to explain gang behavior, where individuals commit homicide only within the security of a group because individual responsibility becomes dissolved in the group (Kogan and Wallach, 1964). Arendt (1966), Lifton (1986), and others have linked various Nazi atrocities directly to general societal and subgroup influences. In fact, psychological evaluations of Nazi leaders (Gilbert, 1947) have demonstrated that their conduct was the result not of personal psychopathology but, rather, of social, environmental, and group influences.
In the same vein, Gault (1971) described several episodes of murder perpetrated by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War. Here, many ordinary men, without overt disturbance or a particular predisposition toward violence, became engaged in slaughter because of the general social atmosphere of war, which fostered dehumanization of the enemy, dilution of responsibility through groups, and the pressure to act. One veteran stated, “You become a hunter. We’d bomb the village and take turns going down for clean-up. Whoever is alive, you kill.” Another described an incident where he and his friends drove jeeps and ran over civilians, including women and children. “We would run them over. Run them off sides of cliffs. I must have killed hundreds of them. At the time it was fun. Everyone did it. But now it bothers me.”
Of course, pathological individuals with a need for violence—assassins or would-be assassins, terrorists, or cult members—also are influenced by the social context and social climate, which may release, give meaning to, and direct the aggressive act. The social environment of the late 1960s, along with the social pressure found in the cult itself, influenced many of the members of the infamous Manson family (Bugliosi and Gentry, 1975). Many of the middle-class women who were involved in these cult murders overidentified with Manson, a rather charismatic leader. Their irrational acts seemed at that time consistent with the goals of their cult. There is even some experimental research (Milgram, 1963; Zimbardo, 1973) demonstrating that ordinary people can easily be made to engage in all sorts of potentially aggressive behavior if the context or environment condones it. A lot of gang related murder—which is easy to understand—is stimulated by social, environmental, and personal motives. An example is a 26-year-old male, with a long arrest record and gang affiliation, killed a rival gang member in retaliation for “disrespectful” acts toward his group.
Homicides committed by amateur, semiprofessional, and professional contract killers are other examples of subculturally stimulated murder. Schlesinger (2001c) reported the case of an individual who claimed to have killed over 100 people for profit. This case also illustrates the distinction between a contract murderer (who kills multiple people for money) and a serial murderer (who kills multiple people for sexual gratification, rather than profit).
Case 3.5: Professional Contract Murder
A 52-year-old male described a professional career as a contract murderer that spanned over 30 years. He used traditional methods of killing such as shooting, choking, and knifing, but he became most noted for his proficiency in cyanide poisoning. The murders were carefully planned and his techniques were methodical and disciplined, often involving elaborate staging to throw off law enforcement.
DD was apprehended not for contract murder but for killing several close associates who he believed could implicate him in a number of other crimes. His history was replete with instances of childhood abuse, family disruption, and the adoption of a criminal lifestyle where antisocial behavior—including murder—was condoned. This offender had been married for more than 25 years, raised several children, and provided his family with a traditional middle-class upbringing, much different from his own experiences.
Extensive psychological evaluation found no indications of mental illness, except for antisocial personality disorder. Antisocial personality, however, does not explain DD’s numerous homicides; in fact, most individuals with antisocial personality disorder never commit a murder (Revitch and Schlesinger, 1981; Tanay, 1969).
Acquired subcultural values played a dominant role in DD’s decision to pursue a career as a contract killer. Personality traits involving a need for order, control, and hypervigilance helped DD in his methodical approach and subsequent thwarting of law enforcement. He also had a good capacity to rationalize his actions and encapsulate his emotions; he demonstrated superior practical and social judgment as well. Thus, multiple factors in his social background and personality contributed to this unique criminal career.
Interestingly, DD did express a feeling of “power and control” during several of the murders. Some individuals may therefore consider him a “serial” murderer because this feeling has been reported by many sexual murderers. It could be argued that these murders were perhaps sexually stimulating or erotized at an unconscious level. However, whatever inner gratification DD achieved from the killings was not even close to the main motivation for his crimes, which was simply profit.
Case 3.6: Amateur Contract Murder
A physician had his license suspended in the 1980s for insurance fraud. After about 25 years, he once again came to the attention of an insurance fraud task force, which utilized a cooperating witness. The cooperating witness—a former patient of Dr. A.—brought various individuals to the medical practice in order to get prescriptions for narcotics. The fake patients were paid just to get the prescription and fill it. The pills were sold on the street, and Dr. A. received several thousand dollars per month for his part in the scheme.
At one meeting between Dr. A. and the cooperating witness, the doctor asked him whether he would be able to kill a woman with whom the doctor had a relationship and to whom he owed $250,000. The cooperating witness said that he would, and the insurance task force then turned the entire investigation over to the homicide unit. In numerous recorded meetings between the cooperating witness and Dr. A., the offender wanted to know all the details of the planned murder, which would benefit him as he would not have to pay the target the money he owed her. Dr. A. was curious as to whether the targeted victim would be dead before or after being placed in a wood chipper. Dr. A. thought it was a good idea for her to be killed and then placed in a wood chipper. Dr. A. also wanted to have the cooperating witness kill a former business partner to whom he also owed money.
After obtaining enough evidence, the authorities arrested Dr. A. While in the county jail, he met another inmate and asked him whether he would kill his wife, who had several hundred thousand dollars of life insurance and who he believed would leave him when she found out about his prior affair. The inmate then contacted the prosecutor’s office, and he also became a cooperating witness.
At the time of sentencing, Dr. A. told the court he was “a new man” and that the targeted victims would not have to worry. Individuals such as Dr. A who hire amateurs to kill somebody do so because they have no contacts or means to hire a more professional or experienced assassin.
A contemporary example of the impact of subcultural environmental factors on behavior is the case of three adolescent boys who killed a female classmate. After becoming obsessed with a “death-metal” band’s music—which included lyrics of sacrificial killing, necrophilia, and mass murder—the boys stalked, abducted, and killed a 15-year-old girl in a ritualistic fashion under an altar they had constructed. They said they wanted to mimic the lyrics of the music they admired. Following the girl’s murder, the three offenders engaged in various necrophilic acts with the body for over a week. None of the teens had a history of significant psychological disturbance or violence. In this case the murder, as well as the necrophilic acts, were not (primarily) sexually motivated, but were stimulated by their cult-like adherence to the death-metal music and its message.
