As a criminologist my job is to research the scientific methods of studying criminal behavior. In society many crimes are being committed such as murder, rape, and burglary. Some people are found not guilty while others are being convicted for the crimes they’ve committed. One case that I’ve studied is based on a killing of an alleged drug dealer. Terrance Pinkley was abducted by a group of men who was demanding cocaine from a friend of Pinkley. The group of mean also demanded a ransom form Pinkley’s grandmother according to testimony in the courtroom. After none of their demands was meet, it was a decision made to kill Pinkley. After his body was dumped next to an abandoned house overlooking a cemetery in the 8300 block of Milan Street located in Metairie. Many witnesses came forward one being a keener resident by the name of Floyd Munson. He claimed to be a witness to the kidnapping and slaying of Terrance Pinkley. After denying participating in the death of Pinkley, Munson confessed that he was present during the crime and that his brothers was the ones who committed the crime. Later police discoverd that Munson was not telling the truth Pinkley was shot with a 40 caliber pistol, which was later found in Floyd Munson home. The weapon was examined and police discovered that Floyd Munson had murdered Terrance Pinkley. By the actions that were depicted during the cause of this killing two criminological theories were compared to. First the strain theory was compared to because individuals are unable to obtain success they begin to take upon on criminal behavior to deal with their anger. The strain theory deals with this particular case because Munson and the others who participated wanted to receive money in exchange for the life of an human being. This showed that during their lives they didn’t achieve much success, therefore they thought by demanding money for the crime they was commiting would have been more of a success. The strain theory also includes the taking away of valuable things. For example, the life of Pinkley that was token away. It’s no individual right to decide whether one’s life should be taken away. Another theory that deals with this case is Rational choice theory because of the benefits they thought they were going to gain from the crime that was taken place. Like their main outreach was to retrieve money, it may have been because the victim was alleged drug dealer. So they probably believed that he had lots of money, so they target him because of his benefits. For example, instead of these people deciding to go burglarize a bank, they assumed that robbing a local drug dealer would be much easier. Which they fail to understand that both robbing a bank, and killing an individual will land you in prison regardless of the circumstances. In this case, Floyd Munson gave many statements as if he was an witness. As things had unfold the prosecutors later reviewed it as an confession. He knew exactly where and when the crime took place, how and why it took place. Being aware of all that information they knew it was more to Munson story then he was letting being known. Later his cell phone would be the cause of him getting arrested, because his phone was used to make the phone calls for the ransom of money they wanted from the drug dealer grandmother. In all the cases that I’ve studied this one was so interesting because Munson played more of a victim than a criminal. He basically switch his roles up in the act of the crime. I believed he wanted to see if the police would be able to identify him as being the killer. One thing that is skeptical to me is that the other people who were involed was not convicted of anything. By how the crime played out Munson was not in it alone. He played a major role, but there wasn’t no witnesses who identified his as being the killer. The only evidence that showed he was even apart of the criminal act was the his gun that was used
