Prep Guide -Chapter 4

Chapter four focuses on social construction and social theories of serial murder, juvenile mass murders
and serial killers, the McDonald Triad, and the trauma control model of serial killing. After reading the
chapter, answer the following questions below in detail.

You will need to specific and thorough since your prep guides help you study for your weekly quizzes
and your midterm and final exams. You will need to embark on a deep dive in the reading to answer the
questions below. Do NOT try to answer these questions from your own thoughts; use the book. You will
not be successful in this course if you do not read the chapter.

***The prep guides are NOT graded for “correctness”; you simply receive points if they are submitted on
Bb on time by the due date. If you do not make the effort to complete a thorough prep guide, it is likely
you will experience difficulties on the weekly chapter quizzes as well as the midterm and the final
exam***

1. Name and define the six social theories of criminality and/or murder. Be detailed and specific.
- Social structure theory:
These theories focus on individuals’ socioeconomic standing, claiming that poor
people commit more crimes due to stifle in their quest for financial or social success.
Offenders are seemingly blocked in various ways from achieving the “American
Dream” through legitimate means a s a result of their racial, ethnic, or subcultural
standing. This causes them to seek success through deviant methods.
- Social class theory:
This theory states that a serial killer from the upper-working or lower middle classes
feels excluded from the class they wish to join, so they search for vengeance,
murdering people they don’t know, but represents to them (by behavior, appearance,
and location) the class they were rejected from.
- Social process theory:
These theories state that criminal behavior is a function of a socialization process,
including many sociopsychological interactions by the offender with institutions and
social organizations. Due to peer-group pressure, family issues, poor school
performance, legal entanglements, and other situations offenders turn to criminal
behavior. This theory acknowledges that anyone is capable of criminal behavior no
matter their socioeconomic status or race.
- Neutralization theory:
This theory views delinquent youths as individuals who become criminals as a result
of neutralizing their attitudes and personal values as they drift between illegitimate
and conventional behavior. To drift more towards criminal behavior, they learn
techniques of neutralization including denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial
of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, and the appeal to higher authorities.
It has been found that serial killers dehumanize their victims to make it easier to
murder them when they are not perceived to have feelings or an identity.
- Social control theory:
 This theory makes note that fear of punishment is not enough to refrain one from
criminal behavior, while a sense of commitment to society, family, and education act
as deterrents to crime. Individuals utilize attachment, commitment, involvement, and
belief to weaken or strengthen the relationships within the society they live.
- Labeling theory:
This theory views abnormal behavior as a process in which a person graduates from
primary deviance to secondary deviance. The offender is labeled as a deviant,
carrying a societal process of negative social sanctions that engender resentment and
hostility in the offender, making the offender react negatively to the label and
therefore act against society.

2. List and define the four types of juvenile killers from the Myers studies. List and define the three
types of juvenile serial killers from the Kirby study.
Myers studies:
1. EXPLOSIVE:
Offenders who release repressed feelings of sexual aggression with a desire to
dominate and destroy families

2. PREDATORY:
Juveniles who stalk and hunt their prey, typically strangers, and are sexually aroused
in anticipation of the murders

3. REVENGE:
Juveniles who kill out of anger toward non-strangers who have wronged them in
some manner, and these murders typically involve detailed planning

4. DISPLACED MATRICIDE:
A rare type of juvenile murder where the killers live near the victims and the attacks
had evidence of rage and control

Kirby study:
1. PRIMARY JUVENILE OFFENDERS:
Primary offenders killed between 2 to 7 victims ranging in ages between 10 to 17 at
their first kill, 11 to 17 for their second kill, and 15 to 17 for their third kill

2. MATURING JUVENILE OFFENDERS:

Murdering one victim at any given time, with the first victim prior to age 18 and the
remaining victims prior to 21
About 40% of this group experienced multiple forms of childhood trauma, 80% had a
history of violence, and 20% were arrested prior to their first kill
 3. SECONDARY JUVENILE OFFENDERS:
Murdering one victim at any given time, with the first victim prior to age 18 and the
remaining victims after age 21

3. List and define the three parts of the McDonald Triad. Explain how this theory relates to murder
and/or serial murder.
The McDonald Triad theorizes that maladaptive behaviors have been linked to violent adult
behavior, including torturing animals, enuresis (bed-wetting), and/or fire-setting. This triad is
not a valid instrument to measure future violence, nor is it a good predictor of later adult
violent behavior. It is proposed as an alert and pathognomic sign to the community and the
parents that the child is troubled and if left untreated, the pattern of hostile behavior may lead
to adult aggressive antisocial behavior.

4. Define/explain the Trauma Control Model of the serial killer. What are some of the most
common facilitators utilized by offenders according to this model?
The Trauma Control Model of the serial killer states that serial offenders are influenced by
several factors, and this model understands the process in which individuals become involved in
murder. Traumatizations are referred to when destabilizing events occur in the lives of serial
offenders, including unstable home life, death of parents, divorce, corporal punishments, sexual
abuse, and other negative events occurring during the formative years of the offender’s life.

Some of the most common facilitators utilized by offenders according to this model are
rejection, including rejection by parents and relatives. It has been reported that one of the
major forms of rejection is an unstable, abusive home, where the child feels a deep sense of
mistrust, confusion, and anxiety when they are physically or psychologically abused by an adult.