Critical Case Study Report James Fairweather

Critical Case Study Report: James FairweatherStudent Name

PSY356 Criminal Psychology

Date

The Crime and the Criminal

In 2014, James Fairweather was convicted for the murder of two strangers in Essex. His first murder occurred on 29 March 2014, when he attacked and killed 33-year-old James Attfield who had a brain injury at the time of the attack. He stabbed the victim 102 times. His second murder occurred three months later on 17 June, when he attacked and stabbed 31-year old Saudi student of the University of Essex, Nahid Almanea to death (Odd Murders and Mysteries, 2021). He was apprehended as he was planning his third murder in May, 2015. While he admitted responsibility for murdering the two victims, and claimed that it was manslaughter instead of murder because of diminished responsibility.

James Fairweather was 15 years when he committed the two murders. As a young child, precisely at the age of six years, in his school report, it was noted that he was a well behaved child, who was sensitive to the needs of others. However, in high school, his behavior turned to the worst. It was reported that he was subjected to bullying, whereby students targeted him because of his large years, and had nicknamed him ‘Dumbo (Odd Murders and Mysteries, 2021).’ He in turn started bullying other students. It is alleged that he behaved in this manner because he was afraid of being bullied. In addition to that, he increasingly began displaying aggressive behavior to the point of going through a teacher’s bag to take a report of him. Furthermore, there are students who claimed that on more than one occasion, he had stated that his future career aspirations were to become a murderer (Odd Murders and Mysteries, 2021). Also, prior to committing these murders, he had been engaged in a knife-point robbery at a local store, but was apprehended and sentenced to youth supervision. This occurred three days before his first murder.

Theoretical Explanations

Earlier definitions of serial killers, such as the one provided by the FBI in 1988 described serial killers as individuals who had committed at-least three murders at different occassions. This provided them with a ‘cooling-off,’ period between the murders. In 2005, at the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, it defined serial killing as an unlawful killing of two, or more victims by the same offender in separate events. Given this recent definition, James Fairweather qualifies to be labeled as a serial killer.

Researchers have provided different factors to explain why serial killers behave in the manner that they do. According to Vronsky (2004), infancy is an important part of proper development and it influences an adult’s personality. The first twelve months of a child play a critical role in the overall development of emotions for a child such as the development of different emotions such as affection and remorse. In this case, if a child is not subjected to things such as physical touch, or receiving adequate attention, then they are likely to develop personality disorders in the future (Canter, 2005). This notion was supported by Vronsky (2004) whose study suggested that it is possible to determine if a child has serial killers tendencies as early as when they are two years old. It has been determined that a majority of serial killers did not receive adequate attention and physical touch when they were infants as in most cases, they were abandoned, or given up for adoption by their biological mothers. This has been demonstrated by assessing the lives of serial killers such as David Berkowitz, Joel Rifkin, and Kenneth Bianchi who did not receive enough attention as children when they were infants as their mothers gave them up for adoption. In the case of Fairweather, he was raised by his biological points, and there were no indications that he lacked attention from his parents, going by his six-year old school report, which described him as a loving and caring child.

Serial killers are described to have been isolated from their peers as children. The reason for this is that, they may have suffered from a range of problems, which affected their self-esteem. Issues such as weight problems, stuttering and learning problems such as dyslexia could contribute to a child becoming isolated and ultimately contribute to him, or her becoming a serial killer.

From a biological perspective, it has been described that a majority of serial killers have been described to suffer from a condition, which is known as Minimal Brain Dysfunction (MBD). MBD may contribute to an individual displaying aggressive behavior and motiveless homicide (Siegel, 2005). This coupled with physiological, and physical abuse can contribute to an individual becoming a serial killer. This correlates with Fairweather as it has been described that at school, he suffered from dyslexia and autism, which were not diagnosed until when he was detained. In addition to that, he had prominent ears, which contributed to him being subjected to bullying at school. Such issues could have contributed to him becoming a serial killer, as it has been alleged that his behavior worsened once he reached high school. He began to bully people to avoid being bullied, and even took the blame for the other students’ bad behaviors within the school setting.

Studies have revealed that a majority of serial killers are obsessed with fantasies. In an early study that was conducted by Burgess, Hartman, Ressler, Douglas and McCormack (1986) it was determined that unresolved stress feelings and experienced trauma may contribute to a child becoming obsessed with fantasies of domination and control, which arise from either sexual, or aggressive fantasies. In another study that was conducted by Hickey (2010), the study findings indicated that, there are people who engaged in obsessive fantasies of torture, control of their victims, and murder fascination as a coping strategy. The murder fantasies mainly arise from conflict with other people, and for them, fantasizing about killing acts as a solution to the problem that they are facing.

It has been determined that, James Fairweather fantasied a lot about killing. This is based on indications of the violent video games that he played. In addition to that, his mobile phone search history has been described as ‘grisly.’ In addition to that, he had a serial killer fantasy whereby he spent a majority of time looking up, or searching for other serial killers such as the Yorkshire Ripper, and the Stockwell strangler (Christodoulou, 2019). In addition to that, he had spent a considerable period on online encyclopedias searching for information on different type of murderers. Furthermore, there were DVDs that were seized from his home such as ‘Bind Torture Kill,’ ‘Serial Killers: A Peter Sutcliffe documentary’, and documentary on the serial killer Ted Bundy. These are all indications that he fantasied about displaying aggressive behavior and controlling his victims (Christodoulou, 2019). This can explain why he stabbed his victims so many times. He stabbed Attfield 100 times, while for Almanea, she was stabbed 16 times.

Serial killers will normally fall into two sub-sets based on their activities-organized and the disorganized offenders. This is mainly determined by the evaluation of the crime scene, assessment of the victims and forensic evidence, and engaging in the personality and behavioral characteristics of the perpetrators (Vargas Cervantes, 2019). On one hand, the organized offender is assumed to lead an organized, and average life. For this killer, it is assumed that he has an above average intelligence level, a skilled employee and socially competent. The crime scene of an organized offender alludes to the fact that he or she carefully planned the attack, by for instance, carrying a weapon, and leaving it with him. In addition to that, he will take careful measures to avoid leaving evidence such as finger prints by wearing gloves. On the other hand, the disorganized serial killer will leave the crime scene in a disarray manner. It has been determined that the offender is an opportunistic killer. This means that he does not plan his attacks well before executing them. In addition to that, the killer is thought to be socially inadequate and has a below-average intelligence level.

Assessing the crime scene, location of the murders and the intelligence levels of the killer, it can be deduced that he is a disorganized killer. First, he was an opportunistic killer. It can be determined that he did not plan his murders and he killed because an opportunity presented itself. Secondly, he left his crime scenes in disarray. Although he did not leave behind his weapon and even wore a glove as was witnessed in his third murder attempt, his first two murder scenes were disorganized. Third, and perhaps the most important was that he was not intelligent. He performed poorly in school and did not fit well with his peers from a social perspective. All these factors contributed to him being categorized as a disorganized killer.

Intervention Strategies

There are various intervention strategies that could have been put in place to avoid these murders. The first step that could have assisted James Fairweather was to subject him to counseling initiatives once the teachers and parents noted a decline in his academic performance. During these counseling sessions, the psychologists would have diagnosed his autism and dyslexia issues, and he would have received the right academic assistance to assist him perform well in school (Vargas Cervantes, 2019). Secondly, counselling would have helped him in terms of dealing with self-esteem issues and bullying at school. He would have been able to accept his big ears, which were subject to his bullying, and it would have assisted in helping not to develop the aggressive behavior, which contributed to him to become a serial killer. Thirdly, it would have helped him to be able to cope with his grandmother’s death. It is alleged that he was close with his grandmother, and after she died, evidence from his classmates indicate that he did not deal with his loss properly. It was around that time when he became increasingly violent, and started telling his classmates that he intended to undertake murder as a future career. Had he undergone counseling, he would have been able to deal with the death of his grandmother better than was the present case, and this would have assisted him to not engage in those murders.

Law authorities should have taken serious measures and provided him with a stricter sentence for his first crime. He used a knife to commit a robbery, and instead of being provided with youth suspension, a stricter sentence could have been handed to him (Myers et al., 2008). A harsher sentence would have maybe prevented, or helped him not to commit these murders. It can be argued that by being provided with a light sentence for a serious crime could have motivated him to engage in these murders because he felt that the law would be lenient for him as a minor. However, had a stricter sentence been provided, it would have maybe deterred him from engaging in these other crimes because he would have been aware of the consequences of his actions.

The parents should have been more vigilant. It is alleged that he was watching documentaries of serial killers at home. This should have been a point of concern for his parents, given that he was displaying aggressive behaviors in school. It would have helped in reducing the likelihood of him engaging in these activities because they would have alerted the relevant authorities who would have taken the right measures to prevent him from engaging in these crimes (Myers et al., 2008). For instance, by telling the police that he was watching these programs, it may have contributed to his phone being searched, identifying that he may have had ulterior motives in his initial crime and him being sentenced for his actions. It would have also contributed to his school actions being assessed deeply and determine that there was a trend in his behavior which needed to be addressed. This would also have contributed to him being recommended to get psychiatric assistance, and if this had been achieved, it can be argued that it would have prevented James Fairweather to become the youngest serial killer in the United Kingdom. His murder victims can be considered to be a way for him to vent out, or explore his fantasies and if he had received psychological assistance, it would have been alienated at an early stage.

References

Burgess, A. W., Hartman, C. R., Ressler, R. K., Douglas, J. E., & Mccormack, A. (1986). Sexual homicide. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1(3), 251-272. https://doi.org/10.1177/088626086001003001Canter, D. (2005). Offender profiling and investigative psychology. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 1(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.7Christodoulou, H. (2019, May 24). UK’s youngest serial killer shows cops how he knifed a dad 102 times. The Sun. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9144179/james-fairweather-serial-killer-footage-police/Hickey, E. W. (2010). Serial murderers and their victims (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Leamjng.

Keppel, R. D., & Birnes, W. J. (2003). Recognition and acknowledgment of serial murder. The Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations, 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012404260-5/50002-7Myers, W. C., Bukhanovskiy, A., Justen, E., Morton, R. J., Tilley, J., Adams, K., Vandagriff, V. L., & Hazelwood, R. R. (2008). The relationship between serial sexual murder and autoerotic asphyxiation. Forensic Science International, 176(2-3), 187-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2007.09.005Odd Murders and Mysteries. (2021, February 7). James Fairweather • Child killers • Teenage murderer. Home • Odd Murders & Mysteries • True Crime • Resources. https://oddmurdersandmysteries.com/james-fairweather/Siegel, L. J. (2005). Criminology: The core (2°d ed.). Australia: Thomson Wadsworth.

Vargas Cervantes, S. (2019). Framing the serial killer. The Little Old Lady Killer, 25-62. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479876488.003.0002Vronsky, P. (2004). Serial killers: The method and madness of monsters. Penguin.