Criminology is the scientific study of how to control, identify, mitigate, and avoid criminal behavior on both a social and an individual level. Criminology is a subfield of social and behavioral studies that includes social anthropologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, philosophers, and law scholars among its researchers. The Menendez brothers were suspected by the authorities because they killed their parents and wasted the wealth they had accumulated in hasty ways. The brothers eventually confessed to killing their parents after being questioned repeatedly, and they were sentenced to life in prison. (Mulvey 214). Our society faces different criminal issues where the truth is hidden and in some cases we find innocent people suffering for other persons mistakes. Criminology has helped prevent these types of issues and thus helps bring justice to those who should be convicted. Through the help of the criminology laws, professionals in this area of study are able to investigate these crimes in deep and finally come up with the main victims to be convicted for their crimes.
The aim of this study is to explore criminology where the study will be based on the case of the Menendez brothers who happened to murder their parents. The study will explore how the criminology theories are interrelated to the case. More so, the study will look into the background of the brothers and their motive in committing the crime. Their court procedures and judgment outcomes will be considered.
Background
Originally, the Menendez family comprised of Jose Menendez and Mary Louise who were the parents to Lyle and Erick Menendez. Jose Menendez was an emigrant from Cuba at the age of 16 years old. At this point he worked hard from the position of a dishwasher, at the Independent Film Company Carolco Pictures, to that of the executive vice president in the same company. In the year 1941, he got married to Mary, where he was 19 years old. At this age, he had already become a millionaire. Lyle was then born in the year 1968 while Erick was born in the year 1970. They all lived in a very expensive house in Beverly Hills (Mulvey, et al. 216).
Jose is described as a very authoritative, demanding, and controlling father to his sons. The sons tried very hard to please their father but to avail. They both failed to meet the expectations their father had of them. Their mother then went into a drug addiction due to the depression which resulted from the relationship between her husband and her sons (Davis 38).
Due to the poor relationship between Jose and the brothers, Lyle and Erick began to get into trouble with the law at a very tender age. However, they did not get into serious crimes and collision with the law since their father’s wealth came in handy to bail them out of their problems. There was a time when the brothers were convicted for burglary. Lyle was found guilty of plagiarism during the time when he was studying at Princeton.
Lyle has had a history of being troublesome. He also has a terrible temper in addition to being sociopathic. Throughout the case, it was a common thought that Lyle could have been the mastermind of the whole murder. Lyle was also older than Erick. He thereby had a lot of influence on his younger brother. Erick was seen to be a quiet and sensitive individual who was always shadowed by his brother (Mulvey 234).
After the murder, the brothers decided to seek therapy sessions from their therapist, Jerome Oziel. During these sessions, Erick then confessed to the therapist about the murder of their parents. When it came to Lyle’s knowledge that Erick had spilled the beans, Lyle decided to threaten the therapist in case he went to report the case to the police. Due to the pressure, Oziel told Judalon Smyth, his girlfriend, where she decide to alert the authorities. The trials then were set to begin where the brothers accused their parents of abusing them during their childhood in spite of the fact that the allegations have not been cleared (Mulvey, et al. 220).
Court Procedures and Judgment
Kitty and Jose Menendez were watching television one evening, in the year 1989, when they were shot to death by their sons. The weapon of murder was a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun where the incident took place in their home in Beverly Hills. Lyle then called the police to report the incidence. They came up with a story which stated that the two brothers came home only to find their parents murdered. In the year 1990, the two brothers were arrested as suspects of the killings. In 19993, the brothers were tried in different courts under separate juries. During their trials, both of them self-defended themselves with the claim that their parents had harassed and abuse them during their childhood. In the year 1994, a mistrial was declared (Burns 235). A retrial then followed in the year 1995 where both brothers were tried by one jury in the same court.
In the year 1996. Both brothers pleaded guilty of first degree murder where the judgment convicted them to life imprisonment with an exclusion of parole. Each one of them was taken to a different prison from the other. Lyle is serving his sentence in Mule Creek State Prison in Lone, California while Erick is serving his sentence in Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California. The two brothers have managed to remain in touch with each other through mails where they even play chess via the mails (Mulvey 223).
The marriage lives of the two brothers have been quite challenging. Lyle first married in 1997 to Anna Erickson where they then divorced in the year 1998. He then remarried Rebecca Sneed, a magazine editor, in the year 2003. Erick married Tammi Saccoman in the year 1999. The state law of the California prohibits conjugal visits to individuals who have been life imprisoned without parole (Davis 45).
Analysis
There are several behavioral theories which are: attachment theory, preconventional theory, psychopath, anxious attachment, sociopath, IQ, attachment theory and finally the mask of sanity. In relation to the behavioral theories, we would greatly understand why the two brothers murdered their parents, basically this is as a result of several reasons. Among the theories, the relation cause theory greatly suites the Menendez situation where we find the two brothers murdering their parents for the purpose of personal gain which can be explained in a form of ego-boosting reasons like power, money, learning or status (Bruinsma and Weisburd 68).
According to this theory, a criminal may commit a criminal offence and act on it upon them examining the consequences, options and benefits of the act. After these assessment, the offender then picks the location of the crime, the crime itself and the main target of the crime where they later execute the crime with great knowledge knowing that the crime is wrong but do not consider other options. As of our Menendez case, the brothers knew it is wrong to murder their parents but went ahead and did so despite the consequences where they obviously knew it would be a life sentence but did not choose otherwise and went ahead to do the act (Burns 245).
The crime was categorized as a first degree murder crime where after two trials and three juries, they were sentenced for life imprisonment. According to the relation cause theory as of criminology, the theory suits our case greatly where the two brothers lavished their parent’s money with going for shopping sprees, buying Rolex watches, buying a Porsche plus hiring a personal tennis coach. After the murder, they had the power to use and lavish the cash left behind, their status increased where they stated by hiring a tennis coach to help them gain professional skill. As of the stated theory, all these features greatly suites the theory perfectly (Mulvey 224).
The sociopath theory also fits the situation in this case. The case proposes that Lyle was a sociopath as well as temperamental. A sociopath refers to an individual who does not exhibit any interest in social activities. They also do not associate with other people and lack empathy as well. They are also associated with issues related to the societal laws. These individuals are found to be quite troublesome when it comes to observance of the law (Bruinsma and Weisburd 87). Lyle is seen to fit all these characteristics and in relation to the high standards that Jose had set for his sons, Lyle was unable to contain his condition by influencing his brother Erick to engage in law-breaking activities like burglary. More so, Lyle was convicted of plagiarism in Princeton where he used to study (Dunne 71). He had a terrible temper which also falls under the characteristics of a sociopathic individual. This temper and aggressiveness led to his act of threatening the therapist after he learnt that Erick had confessed to murdering their parents. In most cases, the disorder is associated with the sexual, emotional or any physical abuse to the individual at a tender age (Burns 56).
The sociological theory also fits the case of the Menendez brothers. The sociological theory asserts that the social status of an individual could greatly influence criminal behavior. As such. The Menendez brothers were born in a family that was already wealthy. As such, they could commit crimes knowing that their father could always bail them from the authorities. As such, the brothers engaged in a number of crimes such as those associated with burglary and plagiarism. Due to this situation, the brothers then thought that they could get away with the murder of their parents and inherit all the wealth automatically. Unfortunately, this was not the case (Dunne 90).
The psychological theory also applies to the case. This theory states that the actions of the individuals could be as a result of their past experiences which lead to their depression and trauma. The traumatizing situations could then lead them to be sociopathic or psychopathic. As such, their behaviors towards other people could be violent where the violence could lead to serious crimes. As such, Lyle was greatly affected by the past experiences where he claims that he was being abused by his parents and developed a sociopathic condition which could have contributed to the murder (Mulvey 233).
There is also the preconvention theory which falls under the morality theory. The morality theory has three main development levels which include the pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional morality. The case of the Menendez brothers could fall under this theory because the children grew up with very high standards set for them by their father. As such, the children aspired to please their father in every action they take in order to avoid punishment in the pre-conventional stage (Bruinsma and Weisburd 66). In the conventional stage, the children started to gain interest in the actions they take. They wanted to gain profits in any task they carried out, they wanted to keep up with their lifestyle through the freedom of spending their father’s wealth as they pleased. Due to their father’s principles, they started engaging in crime to meet their needs without even considering the consequences of their actions (Dunne 79). They set their own principles in the post-conventional stage of their lives. At this point, they made the choice to murder their parents so that they can acquire the wealth and spend it as they please (Burns 67).
Conclusion
The study has successfully explored the case of the Menendez brothers both being convicted with the crime of murdering their parents. They were then tried in court by different juries in the first trials and were found guilty. A mistrial was declared and after that, another trial was conducted where they were tried together by the same jury and were still found guilty. In order to plead guilty, the prosecuting party had to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the two brothers had the motive to murder. They also had to provide evidence to support their claims.
The two brothers used a shot-gun to commit the murder. As such, their motive, as presented in the court, was that the brothers intended to acquire all their parents’ wealth and use it for their own benefit and with freedom. This motive was as a result of the experiences they ad with their parents as they grew up. Their father was very strict and set very high standards for them which they could not meet. More so, their mother became depressed and became a drug addict. They also claimed that their parents harassed and abused them as children. Consequentially, Lyle became sociopathic, a condition which led to the murder.
The actions of the two brothers could be associated and explained through some theories like the sociopath theory, the cause-relation theory, the psychopathic theory and the preconvention theory. As such, the verdict by the court of life imprisonment without parole could have been too severe considering the claims that the children had been harassed and abused by their own parents.
Works Cited
Bruinsma, Gerben and Weisburd David. Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, 2014.
Burns, Stacy. "Impeachment Work in the Menendez Brothers’ Murder Trial.” Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance. Emerald Group Publishing, pp.233 – 256
Dunne, Dominick. Justice: Crimes, trials, and punishments. Publisher Weekly, 2012.
Davis, Mark. The Concise Dictionary of Crime and Justice. 1st ed. Sage, 2010.
Ferrell, Jeff. Cultural Criminology. Theories of Crime. Routledge, 2011.
Mulvey, Ann. "Murder in the Family: The Menendez Brothers." Victims & Offenders, vol. 1, no. 3, 2006, pp. 213-224.
