Crimes That Have Been Committed By Alexander Pichushkin

Crimes that have been committed by Alexander Pichushkin

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Introduction

The question, which everyone would ask, why would someone kill? The case of Pichushkin was one of the rare cases, which shocked Russia justice system and society. It was a rare confession in the history of serial killers never witnessed in Russia. Alexander Pichushkin prolific killer believed that life without killing is like living without food. Alexander a Russia born citizen was charged and sentence for killing forty-eight people. Pichushkin killed his victims with passion with an intention to reach the number of chessboards, which are sixty-four people. According to Minnis, Thompson, and Gillberg (2015), Pichushkin described his first killing as his first love and therefore, it indicated that he was so obsessed with killing people. However, during the trial, the prosecutor asked the judge to jail Pichushkin for life in prison due to the nature of damage caused by the action of the suspect. The paper also illustrates the relationship of criminal theories with the case of Alexander Pichushkin.

However, based on the testimony from Pichushkin it is evident that he was suffering from mental illness, which kept driving him to commit murder. The fact that he narrated that killing was like his love means that Pichushkin found peace in blood and through killing he could comfort himself. Therefore, this paper analyzes the case of Pichushkin killing. It illustrates what motivated Pichushkin to kill several people. It also discusses theories, which can be related to the case and what these theories informed by Pichushkin case. It includes providing a detailed summary of the case and what should be done to prevent such cases from happening in the future.

Modern Deterrence Theory

Modern Deterrence theory was discovered after the First World War. It is associated with wars and mostly conflict. As stated by Wright and Bolger (2015) deterrence theory points out that people decide to commit a certain crime or obey the law after calculating the repercussion of their actions. It is, therefore, means that some of the offenders may not know that they are committing an offense. However, there are several types of deterrence theories which are general and specific deterrence. The general deterrence helps in the prevention of crime from taking place in the public. And therefore, the state punishes offenders to act as an example to others to prevent such offense from occurring. Wright and Bolger (2015) pointed out that it is also meant to show the people the horror of committing an offense to make the rest of the population afraid of committing any offense. However, specific deterrence theory is meant to prevent the offender from committing a similar crime in the near future.

In the case of Pichushkin, action could have been influenced by his past treatment. It is noted that Alexandria Pichushkin hit his head was a kid accident when being carried by his mother. He spent his time at the disability center and therefore, he described the situation at the disability center as traumatizing CITATION Wri15 \l 1033 (Wright & Bolger, 2015). In modern deterrence theory, the action of an individual or a criminal is influenced by past experience or action. It is likely that because of trauma, which Pichushkin experienced during his stay at the disability center, he became obsessed with blood and only through killing he could get happiness.

Biological and biosocial theory

Biological and biosocial theory of criminology is mostly linked to an individual criminal act to his or family and the actions, in early life CITATION Ont15 \l 1033 (Ontario Child Community, 2015). The theory illustrates that there is a correlation between criminals and the biological aspect of an individual offender. It noted that the crimes have a unique physical appearance, which is distinct from the rest of people in society. It is, therefore, means that some people are born to be a criminal based on their physical appearance. With biosocial, the act of crime is caused by an imbalance of glucose in the system. This imbalance can be caused by accident, which results in bodily injury. Studies also indicate that criminal behaviors are related society condition, which includes poverty, employment rate and poor condition of the society CITATION Pau14 \l 1033 (Pauline & Adrian, 2014). This could be related to biosocial theory where imbalance glucose is noted to be one of the major causes of criminal acts.

It is important to point out that biological and biosocial theory of criminal explains that criminals are lured actions, which might have happened in their early lives. In the case of Alexander Pichushkin, his criminal act was influenced by what happened to him as a teenager. The head damage might have caused an imbalance of glucose in the brain system causing mental imbalance, which kept driving him to criminality. During the accident, the brain of Alexander Pichushkin lost glucose contents below the normal required level. This resulted in anti-social behavior as a result of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and temper tantrum CITATION Qua16 \l 1033 (Quackenbush & Frank, 2016). It is, therefore; likely that the accident caused the imbalance of glucose in the body of Pichushkin and this resulted in his behavior. It could be pointed that Alexandria Pichushkin was not born a criminal and he only turned to a criminal act because of the accident he sustained as a teenager, which can happen to any other person if not treated properly. It is also important to point that Pichushkin lost his grandfather who was so dear to him and left him a dog, which kept with him through his killings. It is likely that the death of his grandfather depressed him hence pushing to revenge through murdering other people. A study conducted by the University of Colorado states pointed out that loving someone could be hurting and without proper advice, it could lead to a criminal act CITATION Liu15 \l 1033 (Liu & Walke, 2015). It is possible that lonely Pichushkin could not take it anymore and because he was so depressed he turned himself into a killing machine.

Evolutionary theory

The evolutionary theory illustrates that some people were born criminals. It states that criminal behavior or characters are passed from one generation to another. According to Quackenbush, and Frank (2016), criminal acts could be genetically inherited. This means that if an individual comes from a criminal background it is automatic siblings would one day follow the act. It means that criminals are born from criminal families. It states that the action is either inheritance from the mother or the father and therefore, every criminal are born. It states that there is a link between criminal behavior and family traits. Baker (2017) pointed that twins are united on their criminal activities and therefore if a father or mother of twins are murderers the possibilities of the twins becoming killers as their parents are high and therefore, criminal behavior is one of the traits, which is genetically inherited.

Analysis of the history of Alexander Pichushkin indicates that his parents were not criminals and he spent most of his youthful time with his grandfather. It is impossible to associate his criminal behavior with his family. It is noted that his mother put him in a disability center because of the accident, which made him disable but the mother or the father was not criminal and therefore, the action of Pichushkin could be as a result of what happened to him. However, it could be possible that his great grandfather or any of his family had committed such criminal act, which is not properly illustrated. However, evolutionary theory is a major influence of behavior and in several cases, it has been established that it has influenced several criminal acts in society.

Conclusion

The action of Alexander Pichushkin surprised Russia and the world and therefore, it might be action or events which pushed him to become a serial killer. Based on the analysis of the theories of criminology, the theory which can be associated with the case of Alexander Pichushkin is the biological and biosocial theory. The biological and biosocial theory states that criminal action is influenced by experience, what happened in society to an individual and even physical or mental injury CITATION Min15 \l 1033 (Minnis, Thompson, & Gillberg, 2015). The theory is associated with Pichushkin case because it is evident that the action of Pichushkin was pure as a result of depression from the loss of his grandfather and the damage he sustained when he was a teenager. After Pichushkin lost his father he kept visiting the graveyard and the park where he used to stroll with his grandfather with good. This could have led to depression, which turned him into a serial killer. However, the biosocial theory is associated with an imbalance of glucose in the brain system, which makes an individual become anti-social hence depressed. It is possible that the head injury, which Pichushkin sustained when he was made him lose a lot of glucose, which resulted to low glucose concentration hence it might be one of the factors, which influenced the criminal behavior of Pichushkin. The biological and biosocial theory is more associated with the criminal nature of Alexander Pichushkin.

References

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Liu, J., & Walke, A. (2015). Biosocial bases of aggressive and violent behavior Implications for

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Minnis, H., Thompson, L., & Gillberg, C. (2015). Neurodevelopmental and Psychosocial Risk

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Ontario Child Community. (2015). Review of the Roots of Youth Violence: Literature Reviews.

http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/professionals/oyap/roots/volume5/chapter01_biosocial_theory.aspx, 2-42.

Pauline, Y., & Adrian, R. (2014). Biosocial approaches to crime: Psychophysiology and brain

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