On December 13, 2018, I was sitting at the dinner table with my boyfriend for his birthday celebration when I got a text from my best friend in the Netherlands, “Hey, did you hear what happened to Lily?”. By the way, I’m changing everyone’s names to protect their identities. I responded, “Hey, no…what’s up?”. She proceeded to tell me that our close friend was just brutally murdered by her roommate. I couldn’t believe what she just told me. I was at a loss for words. My Lily? No. That can’t be, we had just celebrated her 21st birthday together not long before. I just saw her post a picture on Instagram a few days prior.
At the time of the incident, I had just moved overseas and transferred universities. I learned about the details from our friends and the media because it made worldwide news. I knew Lily from university in the Netherlands and she was a small-town girl from America. Lily was on her way back to the apartment to pack her things but her roommate, Dan was there waiting to talk. Earlier on in the week Dan told Lily he was going to murder a few people so Lily told her friend. When she was going to pack her stuff to go stay with her boyfriend, a fight had broken out between her and her roommate and he violently stabbed her over 25 times. He called his mom who immediately reported the incident to the police. He was arrested while trying to run away. He was only sentenced to six years in prison because he suffers from a combination of disorders. At the time of the incident, he was suffering from psychosis and later said he didn’t recall what happened during trial.
There are several paradigms which help explain criminal behavior including biological, sociological, and social psychological theories (Gruman, Schneider & Coutts, 2016). According to the biological theory, criminal behavior is the result of psychophysiology, biochemistry, neurological functioning, and genetics (Gruman et al., 2016). The roommate, Dan, has autism and depression comorbidity. He also has schizophrenia, hence the psychosis. The comorbidity of autism with mood disorders such as depression is 54 percent (Brian, 2019). The judge sentenced Dan to 6 years in prison with the addition of institutionalized psychiatric treatment because they said he can’t be held entirely accountable for what happened.
The verdict was disappointing, but I also know that Dan probably doesn’t truly remember because he was having an episode. Lily knew of her roommate’s issues and there was some foreshadowing leading up to the event. I’m extremely saddened by what happened and I wish more justice could have been made. At least by giving him a longer sentence and the compulsory psychological treatment, maybe he’d be less likely to commit a similar crime in the future since he can’t remember it.
References:
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. ProQuest Ebook Central. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com. Accessed on 3/2/2021.
King, B. (2019). NEJM Journal Watch: Summaries of and commentary on original medical and scientific articles from key medical journals. Jwatch.org. Retrieved 9 March 2021, from https://www.jwatch.org/na50475/2019/12/16/autism-spectrum-disorder-and-comorbid-mood-and-anxiety.
To begin, I am deeply sorry to hear about what had happened to your friend. What a horrific and traumatizing situation to have to experience. To have a friend taken from you in such a horrendous way is very difficult to deal with. I hope that you had a solid support system to help you through that difficult time.
If a social psychologist were to consider the biological aspects of criminal behavior, there are many factors that should be considered and researched. Did Dan’s nuclear family (specifically, parents) have any history of criminal activity? According to our text, male children of parents who have participated in criminal activity have a higher risk of participating in criminal activity themselves (Gruman, 2016). Were there any difficulties during Dan’s prenatal and/or postnatal development? Substance use during pregnancy or exposure to toxins before and after birth can inhibit mental development in children, which could correlate with Dan’s mental disorder diagnoses and explain his deviant behavior (Gruman, 2016). Was Dan an aggressive child? Did Dan show any signs of conduct disorder when he was young? Could early intervention benefitted Dan’s situation so that this crime would have never been committed? There are so many questions to ask, but it is unfortunate that we must ask these questions in hindsight.
Regardless of what information can be gathered now to explain Dan’s criminal behavior, it does not change the fact that a young woman lost her life. I am sure that there were other steps that could have been taken to prevent a crime like this from happening to Lily, but that is why mental health treatment is so important. Just because a person diagnosed with a mental disorder feels good and stable for a period of time does not mean that they are cured and that they do not have to follow up with their doctors and continuously evaluate the success of their medications and/or treatment program. It is a shame that she had to lose her life for Dan to receive the treatment that he so desperately needed.
References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. ProQuest Ebook Central. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com. Accessed on 3/10/2021.