Susan Smith-Cold Blooded Killer Essay Example

3, 1994, nine days after she drove her two children, Michael and Alex into a lake. Susan Smith was a ife, a mother, a daughter, and a friend to most. She had no prior offenses or history of criminal activity. She committed a heinous, violent crime of premeditated murder. Her victims, her own two children, age three and fifteen months. Susan Smith went on with her infamous alibi about the black man that had carjacked her at a red light in South Carolina for nine agonizing days. She stood before press pleading with the ficitional carjacker to return her children to her safely. All the while her children were floating lifeless in her 1989 Mazda at the bottom of a cold murky lake, waiting for someone to rescue them.

Literature Review & History Susan Leigh Vaughan Smith was born in Union, South Carolina on September 26, 1971. Her mother Linda was a homemaker, and her father Harry a firefighter. Susan’s home life was dysfunctional as a child. Her parents’ marriage was not going as planned and there was stress and strain on the entire family. As a result of the life she lived at home, “susan was an unhappy child. The mother of one of her playmates described Susan as “unsusal and sad”. (Susan Smith: Child Murderer or Victim? ). Susan seemed to be in another world staring off into space and inchorenent often times.

Susan was close to her father, Harry and only happy when she was around him. In 1977 her parents divorced. Susan was only six years old. Harry was deeply hurt by the divorce and became more depressed as a result. On January

15, 1978, five weeks following the divorce finalization, Harry commited suicide. Susan’s mother remarried a wealth man, Beverly Russell.

The children went with their mother to live with her and her new husband. Susan was doing well in school and in 1989, she was voted “Friendliest Female” at Union High School (Susan Smith: Child Murderer or Victim? . She did well in school and was great as a friend, but she still had problems at home. Susan’s stepfather Beverly was molesting her. On several occasions he would place her hands on his genitals while she slept, fondle her, and even went so far as to French kiss her whilst she slept. Susan kept quiet for a while and decided to see how far Beverly would go, a response that seemed odd when she finally came out and spoke. She told her mother and counselor of the molestation but decided not to bring formal charges against Beverly (Susan Smith: Child Murderer or Victim? ).

Relationships had failed Susan in every way. She was attractive, but for some reason her relationships with men ended sadly. Susan picked up a job at Winn-Dixie Supermarket in Union where she would later meet her husband. She was secretly dating one of her co-workers who was known to be married. On one occasion the man’s wife entered the store and said “I see your baby is working tonight” (Smith, 1995) as Susan bagged her groceries. Susan became pregnant and h ad an abortion while secretly in a relationship with another co-worker. When the married man found out, he broke up with her.

This sent Susan into a deep depression and her second suicidie attempt.

She tried to overdose on aspirin and Tylenol in November 1988, her first attempt was at the age of 13. She failed, and was admittied to the hospital for one week. She took a full month off of work for recovery (Smith, 1995). At work, Susan befriended another employee, David Smith. The two were friendly at first but then began having casual sex. Susan’s previous boyfriend has problems with fertility so she wasn’t used to using protection. David agreed to go along with the risky act and in no time, Susan became pregnant.

The two sat down and mutually decided to get married. There was no proposal, no ring, just a rational choice that seemed like the right thing to do if they were going to raise a family together (Smith, 1995). The two didn’t make much money so they were forced to move into David’s grandmother’s house. They went on to have another child soon thereafter. The boys were almost two years apart. They named them Michael and Alexander. Not long after, tensions heightened between the couple. They began to argue, and not see eye to eye.

Susan was having an affair, as was David. He moved out to live with his mother before finding his own apartment and she kept the house that they had purchased on Toney Road in Union for her and the boys (Smith, 1995). Susan’s extramarital affair had become strained as well. The man she was seeing didn’t want children. Between her separation from David, divorce preceedings, mental health issues, single motherhood, and financial situation, Susan Smith was overwhelmed beyond belief. She thought of suicide but instead of ending her own

life, she did the unthinkable.

She decided to put her children out of their misery before they were old enough to realize they had any. She falls into several categories of criminological theory. The three best to describe the causation for her crime are social control theory, trait theory, and general strain theory. Criminological Theory 1 Social control theory is the view that people commit crime when the forces binding them to society are weakened. When a person feels that they have no support from the community around them, they feel no obligation to do right by the society. Susan Smith didn’t have a great deal of support.

After she drowned her two boys, while in jail, she told her husband that “no one [cared] about what she was going through” (Smith, 1995). Susan didn’t display a great deal of self control. She once invitied her husband to a party to make him jealous while she toyed with her boyfriend right before his eyes (Smith, 1995). Social bonds consist of commitment, attachment, involvement, and belief. Susan wasn’t committed to any one person. She had several affairs and lied about them. She seemed distant and detached from people who were once her friends. She and David atteneded Church on Sundays together but it was his idea.

She may have gone along in order to keep the peace. Susan’s only activity was her job at Winn-Dixie which didn’t pay her much. She took up another job worker as a textile weaver in a factory (Smith, 1995). She wasn’t happy with the money she made, or the life she lead. She was molested and no one offered to help as charges

were never formally brought against her stepfather. He was let go without consequence for his action. Her father had killed himself, and her mother stayed married to a man that molested her daughter. How could Susan feel any support from around her?

It’s difficult to feel loved once you’ve been abused. Criminological Theory 2 Trait theory is the view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits. Susan smith attempted suicide two times that are known. This does not include any times that she may have tried to kill herself and did not report or was not injured so medical help was unnecessary. Depression set in on her after her father’s suicide and her failed relationships. After she confessed to her children’s murders, she told the Sheriff about her abortion, an indicator that it had a major detrimental effect on her.

Her mother shut her out when she made public her stepfather’s molestation. Susan displayed a narcisstic personality disorder. She craved sexual attention and a deep need for love. In a August 2000 news article, it was reported that Susan had a sexual affair with a jail guard who was suspended (Susan Smith Accused of Having Jail Affair, 2000). She wanted to live a glamorous but didn’t have the means to. She needed to get rid of her children in onrder to shed her single mother, divorcee image and reclaim a new one with her lover. Susan displayed traits of schizophrenia.

She didn’t know why she had done the murders, and played along to a very carefully planned alibi which later had holes punched right through it. She deceived many and even had people comforting

her while all along she knew exactly where her children were. Schizophrenia is characterized by hallucinations and delusions. Susan, clearly delusional, told David that if she got out of jail she wanted to have more children with him (Smith, 1995). This is prior to her trial when the murders of her sons were still fresh in the minds of all around the United States.

There is “evidence that family relationships can have an important impact on the course of schizophrenia” (Jones, 2004). The word schizophrenia is derived from the Greek word meaing “split mind” (Jones, 2004). These people can occur in two places at once as Susan Smith did. She was albe to murder her children and play along as if they were seriously carjacked by a mystery black man in a small town where everyone knew eachother and eachother’s business. Crimininogical Theory 3 General Strain Theory is the view that multiple sources of strain interact with individual’s emotional traits and responses to produce criminality.

Susan Smith fits right into this theory because of all the stress in her life and the ultimate reason to kill her children was the overwhelming feeling she received. Strain is produced through a few different things. First, negative affective states. Negative affective states are anger, frustration, and adverse emotions produced by a variety of sources of strain (Siegel, 2008). Susan was angry because her relationships were failing. Not only did her marriage fail, but her affair was failing too! She wasn’t making much money at Winn-Dixie, and was on her own as David lived in his own apartment.

She was depressed from all the mess she had endured in her life. From

childhood into adulthood she faced disappointments and failed relationships which threw her over the edge. As she drove down that street in October, Susan had thoughts of suicide, but instead she chose murder. In her confession she told plice she wanted to kill herself and her children but after releasing and re-engaging the parking brake several times she got out of the car and sent her children to their death (Susan Smith-Narcissistic Delusions).

Failure to achieve goals, dysfunction, expectations and achievement, removal of positivie stimulit, and presentation of negative stimuli all fall under the umbrella of general strain theory (Siegel, 2008). Susan wasn’t the glitzy, rich girl she had wanted to be. Her boyfriend, Tom Findlay had money. However, a letter was later found in which he was empathetic about not wanting children or wanting to raise her children and needed to be by himself (Susan Smith-Narcissistic Delusions). Her once bright relationship with David was tarnished, ruined, and irreconcilable. She didn’t have anyone positive around her.

Her relationship with her family was strained as a result of her molestation, and she was sleeping with married men. Right up until the murder, Susan’s finances were a wreck, her marriage was in shambles and her affair had just ended. She was under immense stress to say the least. The stress was so profound, that she was driven to rid herself of her children in a desperate attempt that someone might love her again. Outcome/Conclusion/Prevention Susan Smith was convicted on July 22, 1995 and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of three year old Michael and fourteen month old Alexander.

The case made national headlines and stunned a nation.

Michael spoke out in his book, Beyond All Reason: My life with Susan Smith. He did it not for profit, but so that people were aware of the things that led up to the murder of his two young children whom he loved deeply. Susan Smith’s confession was written neatly on paper with hearts. The same way she wrote a letter to David explaining that she was sorry, missed her kids, and didn’t know why she had chosen to end their lives. She complained that no one understood what she was going through or the pain that she felt (Smith, 1995).

Anyone going through mental health issues should seek immediate medical assistance. Waiting until a fuse blows is the worst thing that one can do. Molestation is serious and victims of crime tend to commit violent crimes themselves. Especially those who are sexually abused as was Susan Smith. This case was a pivotal point in history and has served a comparison to other crimes where mothers kill their children such as Andrea Yates, Casey Anthony, and Banita Jacks. There are programs for mothers who suffer post partum depression or are just completely overwhelmed with life and their children.

There are hundreds of families who are unable to have their own children and would love nothing more than to care for someone else’s. This case should serve as an example for mothers going through the same situation. Seek help. Do not wait until the urge to kill beckons before medical attention is sought. Support groups and social networks are springing up all across America. A sign that there is hope for children that would otherwise fall victim to

senseless acts of violence.