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  • Essay / Jason Alexander Downie: Case of triple murder committed by an 18...

    Criminology is often referred to as the study of crime and its attackers. However, many people debate the very definition of crime. There are different definitions of crime, such as the legalistic definition where crime is defined as the act of criminal conviction (by Paul Tappan), or the statistical definition where an action is considered a crime if the frequency of it is weak. (by LT Wilkins) (Muncie J 1996), leaving aside the fact that the crime itself is not defined. The definition of crime may change over time due to alteration in culture, moral conduct, values, beliefs, etc. For example, the act of sodomy was once considered a crime, but today even same-sex marriages have been legalized. On the contrary, regardless of definitional changes, murder has always been considered delinquent behavior and a serious crime. The punishment would typically be equally harsh, ranging from the death penalty (such as hanging, decapitation, and lethal injection) to what is more common in our modern times, a long-term prison sentence of life. This essay will discuss a murder committed in Adelaide and explain the causes of the crime as well as the relevant theory. The criminal case covered in this essay involves a triple domestic murder committed by an 18-year-old college student named Jason Alexander Downie. Jason emigrated from Kilmarnock, Scotland to Adelaide, Australia in 2006 with his mother. He was known to have a sexual infatuation with a 16-year-old girl named Chantelle Rowe (Shears 2012) and was jealous of a friend of his who was dating her. Downie's lawyer said his client had no intention of killing anyone and only wanted to "confront Chantelle's boyfriend in the mistaken belief that he was staying at her house......mid paper......2012-04-18/kapunda-killer-jason-downie-motive/3957046 [Accessed April 12, 2014].Matza, D. (1964) Delinquency and drift. New York: WileMuncie, J. and Mclaughlin, E. (1996) The Crime Problem. London: Sage Publications in association with the Open University, pp. 6-19 Shears, R. (2012). “Obsessed expat teenager stabbed girl's parents to death before raping and killing her because she rejected his advances” Mail Online, April 17, 2012. Available at: http://www.Shears. co.uk/news/article-2130901/Kapunda. -murders-Jason-Alexander-Downie-stabbed-Chantelle-Rowes-parents-death.htmlSutherland EH, Cressey, DR and Luckenbill, D. (1992) Principles of Criminology. 11th ed. DixHills, NY: General Hall, pp. 88-90 Sykes, G. and Matza, D. (1957) Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. Kindle edition, American Sociological Association, vol 2 pp.. 664-670