Preview

Psychoanalysis of Juvenile Murder Accused Nathaniel Abraham

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
425 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Psychoanalysis of Juvenile Murder Accused Nathaniel Abraham
By: Tom Palermo
E-mail: snowrage@mediaone.net

Nathaniel Abraham was eleven years old when he committed the act of murder. Under a 1997 Michigan law a child of any age may be tried as an adult for severe crimes. Abraham was the first juvenile to be tried under this statute. Accused in the murder of Ronnie Lee Greene Jr., Abraham faced first degree murder charges. Now, at the age of fourteen, Nathaniel has been sentenced to a juvenile facility until the age of twenty-one. Oakland County Probate Judge Eugene Moore hopes that rehabilitation will put an end to Nathaniel's criminal activity. Nathaniel, a black youth from the slums of Pontiac, Michigan, grew up with out a father, or a strong family unit. He, in turn, never learned the responsibility of his actions; he was not privy to an upbringing that reinforced positive ideals. Crime & Criminology describes, in depth, the relation between family and criminal activity in youths. Page 126 (chapter four) sited two relevant facts; 1) Blacks have much higher rates of illegitimacy and female headed house holds. 2) Blacks have a much higher rate of crime than their white counterparts. In Nathaniel's case, it can be said that his lack of a positive role model, or father figure lead to his involvement in criminal activities. His mother, Gloria, was struggling to raise three children by herself. Nathaniel's father had left when he was born, leaving her with no one to depend on. The family moved in with an older couple who offered to help them. With limited supervision Nathaniel was a constant source of aggravation for his mother. Police reported that Nathaniel was suspected in over 22 local crimes, ranging from assault to armed robbery. He, in fact, had been arrested five days before Greene's murder on the charge of robbery. All this by the age of eleven. In families where there is no male role model a child is far more likely to become involved in crime. The data that exists suggests a direct correlation between youths

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Facts: After spending a morning and afternoon drinking beer and injecting cocaine, Pervis Tyrone Payne entered the apartment of 28-year-old Charisse Christopher and her two children, Lacie, age two and Nicholas, age three at approximately 3:00 p.m. on June 27th, 1987. Payne made sexual advances toward Charisse Christopher. She resisted, which lead Payne to kill both Charisse and Lacie. Nicholas was found with several severe stab wounds that completely penetrated him front to back, but he managed to survive. Payne was apprehended later that day hiding in the attic of a former girlfriend’s house. Payne was convicted by a jury of two counts of murder. At sentencing, Payne presented the testimony of his mother, father, Bobbie Thomas and a clinical psychologist. These testimonies’ showed Payne was of good character, he attended church and he was of low intelligence and mentally handicapped. The State presented the testimony of Ms. Christopher’s mother, who spoke of the negative impact of the murders on Nicholas. Furthermore, the prosecutor presented argument regarding Nicholas’ experience. The jury sentenced the Payne to death on each count of murder.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    By reading this book, I learned a lot about teenagers’ critical situations at juvenile hall. This book gave me a greater insight and deeper understanding of what their lives are like and the challenges they face in this place. I also learned that the legal system is not doing a great deal to help these young kids mend their lives. They are not being offered counseling or therapy which could help facilitate a great deal of things for them such as, getting a better orientation of a path for them to follow, dealing with the excessive amount of stress they face in a healthy way and learning tools for becoming effective members of society once they get out of that place. This book gave me a broader view of the factors that could have potentially contributed and played a big role in these teenagers getting engaged with gangs or committing these crimes. Most of these teenagers, to not say all, come from a very dysfunctional family where they were either battered by the father, had no positive role model to follow or no parents at all. Probably most of them joined gangs to feel they belonged to a group or where part of a family. I learned how miserable they feel by being in this place and the feelings they experience such as, loneliness, confusion, depression, no sense of personal worth and extreme stress. Many of them feel like they just want to die. All these feelings are not being managed by therapy or counseling but rather by just having regular nurses give them psych drugs which is very sad. I learned that these young kids are in great need of affection especially from their mothers and how much a compliment means to them. I also learned the importance of being tough as a survival skill in the prison setting. Many of these teenagers feel remorse for what they have done and would like to have a…

    • 2750 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In September of 1993, Christopher Simmons broke into the suburban St. Louis home of Shirley Crook with the intention to rob and possibly kill her. Simmons and a friend tied the victim up with duct tape and drove her to a nearby state park. At the park, Simmons pushed the victim, who was still alive, off of a bridge and into the Meramec River where she drowned. Simmons was 17 years old at the time of the murder. Before the crime, he had told several of his friends of the plan to burglarize a home and kill the occupants, noting that they could do it and “get away with it” (not get charged for it) because they were juveniles. 1…

    • 1957 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Johnny Cade Murder Essay

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Johnny Cade has killed Bob Sheldon and is now on trial for his murder. However, questions have risen regarding to what degree are Johnny’s actions justifiable? Should the defendant be accused of first degree murder, second degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, or is he simply not guilty? I believe that Johnny Cade is guilty of second degree murder.…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Certain behaviors demonstrated by the adolescent become unregulated and uncontrolled. These youths grow up and due to their unregulated behavior, consequently corrupt the future youths of the community they live in (Why Do Youth Join Gangs?). Their behaviors become cultural norms within the community resulting in the creation of barriers that prevent social and economic opportunities. The defiant character that may manifest from gang affiliation produces a “fatalistic view of the world” providing the youth with the interpretation that everything or anything that happens around them is fate and…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kent V America

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages

    If one looks at the background of juvenile crimes, they would find that there has been much development on the trials of adolescents and how they were viewed. Children have been described as the future, the greatest resource, and the hope for a better tomorrow. Children have been viewed as lacking in self-control by many Americans. “ Juveniles in adult institutions are five time more likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to beaten by staff, and fifty percent more likely to be attacked with a weapon than minors in juvenile facilities” (White). They are usually beaten or harassed by hardened, adult criminals. For centuries, criminal youngsters have been on the wrong side of justice. In the 1800’s, the belief was shared by the public that juveniles and adult offenders should be prisoned…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    youth growing up without a father can be put into a situation where he has to trust or depend on gang members. More than three quarters of Toronto residents say that the city is now a more dangerous place, than compared to five-six years ago. These growing gangs in Canada, especially in Toronto and Scarborough area, have been getting worse in the last six years and have been the cause of much rising violence in Canada.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The offender is one one of 1,300 cases nationally of a teen killer sentenced as an adult to life. He came from Privilege. Whenever he got in trouble, his parents fixed it. If young teens aren’t punished harshly for committing a serious…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The racial differences that begin with juvenile involvement become greater within communities, they more poverty stricken the more law enforcement. This could also be due to the more urban the community is the more condensed it is with people. Most researchers find that minorities especially blacks are disproportionally represented at most stages of the juvenile justice system beginning with the initial contact with law officials (Piquero, 2008). Minority juveniles are more likely to come into contact with law officials than their white peers. Minority youths are also predicted to have higher levels of aggression than whites youths. Tests have been conducted showing that minority youths have more community stresses causing a higher survival rate (Vazsonyi, 2010). Many minority youths are faced with being thrown away by parents. Which causes them to self support themselves at early stages of life, this may increase their risk of coming into contact with law officials more frequently. Another leading factor to higher aggression levels in many minority youths could be caused by self dependency. The disproportionate minority contact is the leading source to a mass incarceration of minority…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Week 3

    • 568 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Infancy is one of the ten general legal defenses used when a child, an individual of seven years of age or younger, is found to be an offender of the law. Our text defines infancy as, “she or he is too young (typically younger than seven years of age) to be able to form the mens rea necessary to commit a criminal act.” (Meyer and Grant 2003) Children who are under the age of seven do not understand the difference from right and wrong, therefore he or she may break the law and may not even be aware of doing so. Those who are eight years of age or older, are expected to understand what right and wrong is, therefore they are then able to be sentenced and punished as an adult if seen fit. Cases of individuals of seventeen or younger are handled on case-by-case basis. Because of the increasing amount of crimes committed involving those under the age of eighteen, laws are constantly being changed to rehabilitate children and teenagers.…

    • 568 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Growing up as a kid, life can either be optimistic or rough and stressful, all depending on how they are raised. The childhood of Eric Smith, Lionel Tate, and Mary Bell were all full of dark and twisted memories. At the early years of their teenage lives, the three kids decided to make one of the worst decisions anyone can make; taking the lives of another innocent person. But why? Growing up Smith, Tate, and Bell all had one thing in common, improper parenting.…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Racial Disparities

    • 1783 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Hopson, R. K. &Obidah, J. E. (2002). When getting tough means getting tougher: historical and conceptual understandings of juveniles of color sentenced as adults in the United States. The Journal of Negro Education, 71(3), 158-174. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3211234…

    • 1783 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Teen Crime in America is on the up rise. In 1992, juvenile courts handled 2,500 criminal homicides and over a million cases of lesser crimes. (Boys, 2007,p.1). According to research, several disadvantages exist for teens who murder being executed. However, for the purpose of thesis essay, the writer will investigate the following: (1) community’s (2) criminal justice systems; (3), parent’s supervision; and (4) school systems. The writer’s examination is based on where crime from teens mainly takes place, and how teens are punished when doing so.…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, the actions of a juvenile also rely on the juvenile’s personal experiences, parenting, economic status, nutrition, culture, psychological state, environment, and social relationships and interactions. Juveniles should not be punished as children because of their actions. It is only fair that “Juveniles that commit violent crimes should be tried as adults in order to teach crime severity”(Backstrom). Serious crimes should not have light punishments due to a person’s age. All serious crimes that are committed need to be tried in adult court in order to ensure that the individual that committed the crime does not commit the crime again and that the individual is punished for their actions accordingly. However, in cases tried in the Juvenile Justice System, “Children who commit violent crimes are given opportunity of a new start with short sentences”(Dolphin). These short sentences are given to violent offenders simply because the offenders are young. Treating a violent crime offender differently based on the offender’s age is a flaw within the Juvenile Justice System, and therefore requires a…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Forensic psychology is a vast field of psychology and can lead you in many directions. There are studies where forensic psychologists look at whether children act as more formative than adults in eyewitness testimonies because often the memory of a child is thought to be less reliable than that of a grown person. But, that is not the case, considering they stand more prone in answering a leading question or suggestion given by police officers or lawyers. Are the witnesses or expert witnesses credible? Forensic psychology answers questions like this by being able to read people’s emotions, responses, and behaviours by embodying a series of informed deception detection strategies.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics