Running head: CRIMINOLOGY 1

Criminology

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
CRIMINOLOGY 2

Criminology

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………3

2. Incest Survivor………………………………………………………………………………...3

2.1. Past history…………………………………………………………………………………....3

2.2. Impacts on the crime………………………………………………………………………….3

3. State of Disassociation………………………………………………………………………...4

3.1. Reasons……………………………………………………………………………………….4

3.2. Nature of Illness………………………………………………………………………………4

4. Delusional Disorder…………………………………………………………………………...4

4.1. Explanation…………………………………………………………………………………...4

4.2. Causes………………………………………………………………………………………...4

4.3. Impacts………………………………………………………………………………………..4
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1. Introduction

Susan Smith belonged to the USA and was convicted for murdering her own two young

sons back in 1994. She initially reported to the police that her sons were kidnapped by a black

man. However, with the investigation process, it became clear that she was the one who

murdered the children. From the medical reports, it was suggested that she was deadline with

psychological issues that forced her to commit such a crime. In this paper, the psychological

issues faced by Susan Smith will be discussed in detail to analyze their impact on criminal

behavior.

2. Incest Survivor

Susan was subjected to sexual abuse during her childhood which was the most impactful

moment of her life. This can be enough to understand what was building up in the mind of her

during all those years. She had not only been abused in childhood but also could not get over it

due to constant issues after that. She was involved in a failed marriage as well in her life. This

added more to the poor life circumstances she was facing since childhood. The most significant

of them was that her mother refused to put charges on her step-father who was the culprit behind

child molestation.

Normally, depression is associated with sexual abuse in any form of age. Susan was also

reported by the school counselor as the student who had such issues in her personality. However,

her mother was not convinced by this recommendation. She chose not to go under medical

treatment for her daughter. This situation resulted in severe damage to the personality of Susan

who suffered from depression and dissatisfaction in life (Abajobir et al, 2017). At the time of the

murder, she was so much depressed that she wanted to kill herself and her children as well.
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Besides this, it can be deduced that she might have developed temperamental issues because of

it. Hence, she gradually developed into a murderer because of her past experiences in life.

3. State of Disassociation

Child sexual abuse often links up with disassociation personality within a person. It

means that the murderer was not in their normal state while committing the crime. Rather, she

had developed some other personality and did not know what was going on at that moment.

According to research, the person is altogether absent during the whole time (Hébert et al, 2018).

She does not remember what was actually done by her during this time interval. This could have

been the psychological factor behind her crime which she earlier refused to remember. This

argument was put forward by the defense of Susan Smith at the time she was getting investigated

for her crime. However, it could not get determined whether she was suffering from

psychological disease through medical tests at that point in time.

4. Delusional Disorder

Patients suffering from delusional disorder have idiosyncratic beliefs or impressions

which are quite opposite to that of reality. These types of patients often take action on the basis

of their imagination (Abajobir et al, 2017). There is strong evidence that Susan Smith was facing

this issue. She had gone the idea from her environment that she would not be loved by anyone as

she was the mother of two kids. Therefore, she felt that her love life was getting failed because of

her children. This triggered her mind to attempt this sort of action which caused the death of her

children in the end.

The attempt of murder can be categorized as the action taken by Susan due to desperation

in this case. She wanted to be loved and she attempted to murder her children whom she thought

was a barrier in her love life.

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References

Hébert, M., Langevin, R., & Oussaïd, E. (2018). Cumulative childhood trauma, emotion

regulation, dissociation, and behavior problems in school-aged sexual abuse victims.

Journal of affective disorders, 225, 306-312.

Abajobir, A. A., Kisely, S., Scott, J. G., Williams, G., Clavarino, A., Strathearn, L., & Najman, J.

M. (2017). Childhood maltreatment and young adulthood hallucinations, delusional

experiences, and psychosis: a longitudinal study. Schizophrenia bulletin, 43(5), 1045-

1055.