Is Crime a Learned Behavior?/ Social and Behavioral Aspects of Criminal Behavior

For this Discussion, you consider the degree to which criminal behavior is learned and whether the current criminal justice system is equipped to help offenders “unlearn.” To prepare:

 Identify a recent crime that received news coverage and for which there is information about the offender’s background and motives.

Post a response that addresses the following:  Summarize the crime you have identified.  Why did the offender commit the crime? To what extent do you think the crime

was the result of learned behavior?  Is the current criminal justice system equipped to help offenders “unlearn”

criminal behavior, such as that involved in this crime?

Week One Discussion One: Is Crime a Learned Behavior?

Hello Everyone,

The social learning theory suggests that when it comes to some criminal behavior, is learned by imitating or mimicking the behaviors of those around you. For instance, the Bogle family who has had a history of criminal behavior dated back to the 1920s having 60 members of their family either being incarcerated or on probation or parole (Butterfield, 2018). The first thing that came to mind for this discussion is not a recent news story but one that did receive nationwide news for many years.

The Crime

In December of 2009, Susan Cox Powell of West Valley City, Utah a town right outside of Salt Lake City was reported missing, and neither she nor her body has ever been found. Her husband Joshua Powell was the main suspect police were investigating for her disappearance. Many friends and the family members of Susan believed was not just responsible for her disappearance but that he killed her. In 2012, Susan’s parents were awarded custody of their two young boys who were two and four at the time she went missing and this resulted in Joshua Powell blowing up and killing the two children and himself. According to ABC News, Joshua Powell took a hatchet to his two boys then set off a “gas-fueled explosion” killing all three of them (McBride, 2019).

Why Would Joshua Commit These Crimes?

What I could find about why maybe Susan disappeared and some believe was murdered is she was a member of the Mormon church (LDS) and brought their two boys with her avidly. Even though Joshua was raised LDS he did not practice the religion and did not approve of his children attending. His father was a member of the church when he grew up but in the 1980s began to denounce the religion (Finn, 2019). This may be where Joshua’s issues with the church stemmed from. Joshua’s way of handling his issue with his wife over the boys going to the church may also stem from his father. Joshua’s parents’ divorce papers state both of their concerns about Joshua's behavior and include his father accusing his mother of witchcraft in the Mormon church and accuse his father of teaching his boys to view women in a solely sexual and demeaning way (Seattle Times staff, 2012).

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Was This Behavior Learned?

When Joshua became the main suspect for his wife’s disappearance, he moved him and his two children from Utah to Washington where they lived with his father Steven Powell. During a search of the home over of the custody battle for the two boys with Susan’s parents, a warranted search discovered that Joshua’s father Steven had many files on his computer that contained child pornography, some of them even contained photos of Susan before the age of 18 and he was convicted and served time. His father Steven was in prison over these charges when Joshua killed his boys and himself and Joshua’s younger brother Michael killed himself by jumping off a building after being denied the insurance money from the death of Joshua (Nye, 2013). His mother Terrica Powell put in the divorce papers with his father that she believed he had developed a disparaging or derogatory way of looking at women. It also states that Joshua tried to commit suicide as a teen by hanging himself and that when he was younger, he killed his pet gerbils, and even threatened his mother with a butcher knife when she asked him to do the dishes. They also claim that his father Steven disciplined Joshua harshly and was mentally unfit to raise children because of his views on pornography, polygamy (Seattle Times staff, 2012).

Can This Behavior be “Unlearned”?

I think had the courts paid attention to Joshua’s parent's divorce papers and their concern with regards to him this may have been preventable. He needed counseling or a psychological evaluation and treatment at a young age if he was killing his pets and things of that nature. According to Criminal Behavior and Mental Health (2017), a study was done about the effects of childhood victimization. Many believed that childhood abuse and neglect are related to criminal activity once they are an adult, but this study focuses on gender, substance abuse, and psychopathy (mental illness). Many factors contribute to criminal behavior from the environment, home life to mental illness (Howell, et al., 2017) If these things are noticed and help is given at a young age a future crime is preventable in certain cases. Joshua needed mental help long before the disappearance of his wife and the murder of his two sons and himself.

References

Butterfield, F. (2018, October 22). When crime is a family affair. The Atlantic. Received from https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/10/crime-runs-family/573394/

Finn, N. (2019, May 04). The details surrounding Susan Cox Powell’s unsolved disappearance and the death of her sons don’t get more chilling than this. EOnline. Retrieved from https://www.eonline.com/news/1038120/the-details-surrounding-susan-cox-powell-s-unsolved- disappearance-and-the-death-of-her-sons-don-t-get-more-chilling-than-this

Howell, K. H., Cater, A. K., Miller-Graff, L. E., Schwartz, L. E., & Graham-Bermann, S. A. (2017). The relationship between types of childhood victimization and young adulthood criminality. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 27(4), 341-353. Retrieved from https://doi- org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1002/cbm.2002

McBride, J. (2019, October 04). Steve Powell death: How did Josh Powell’s father die? Heavy. Retrieved from https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/10/steve-powell-death-now-today/

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Nye, J. (2013, February 13). Brother of killer dad Josh Powell commits suicide after losing battle for $1.5 million insurance payout over deaths of his family in fire horror. Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2278078/Brother-killer-dad-Josh-Powell-commits- suicide-losing-battle-1-5million-insurance-payout-deaths-family-horror.html

Seattle Times staff. (2012, February 11). Powell’s story: Cruelty, abuse from an early age. Retrieved from https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/powells-story-cruelty-abuse-from-an- early-age/

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