Deviance Theory Application Essay

Applying Deviance Theory: Richard Ramirez & Assault and Rape of Jean Wu

            Richard Ramirez, dubbed ‘The Night Stalker’ by the media in the mid 1980’s, was a serial killer, rapist, thief, and necrophilia partaker. When Ramirez was caught, he was guilty of 13 counts of murder, and 30 other charges including burglary, sodomy, and rape. The assault and rape of Jean Wu was neither his first, not last crime of his spree of terror across Los Angeles. Ramirez’s deviant act against Wu was one of brutality. Wu and her husband, both in the mid-sixties were at home when attacked. Wu’s husband was shot in the head, killing him instantly, before Ramirez turned on the younger wife, namely, Wu. The reports state that after shooting Harold Wu, the husband, Ramirez punched, bound, and violently raped Jean Wu, before leaving their home. After this assault, Ramirez had decided his MO – kill the man quickly.

            There are many possible reasons for why Ramirez decided to attack Wu and her husband. According to the (structural) strain theory, this states that deviance is likely to occur when there’s a gap between one’s goals and acceptable means of obtaining that goal, it’s possible that Ramirez was looking for a way to achieve his goals; be them acceptable or not. When using this theory to explain the actions of Ramirez, he was rebelling. He rejected and replaced socially acceptable goals with his own, goals. The means of which he used to achieve his new goals were also of his own idea. He replaced the goal of finding a mate or partner with that of being in control and having power over someone else. The means of legitimately finding a partner were replaced with his own ideals of breaking into homes, killing the men, and having his way with women. He exercised his control over them with acts of brutality; savagely beating, raping, forcing sexual acts upon them, and so forth.

            There is more than one theory to explain behavior, however. The control theory explains that deviance occurs when someone has weak, brittle bonds with society. In accordance to this theory, Ramirez’s behavior resulted from his being isolated from society and lacking those strong bonds between him and society. As a child, Ramirez was fairly isolated. He didn’t fit in at school, and had little to no friends. He grew up entirely alone and had no one to help him tie strong bonds to society. As he progressed through adolescence into adulthood, those weak societal bonds traveled with him, and if anything, grew weaker. According to the control theory, this was the cause of Ramirez’s deviant and criminal behavior.

            With the differential association or cultural transmission theory, there is yet another way to explain Ramirez’s behavior. The differential association theory states that individuals learn deviance in proportion to the number of deviant acts they are exposed to. Expanding on that, it continues to say that if one knows mostly deviants, one is more likely to repeat those deviant behaviors. Also, if one's significant others are deviant; one is more likely to adopt that deviance, also. It is also stated that younger children learn deviance more quickly than older children. Using differential association to explain his behavior suggests that Ramirez learned his deviance as a child. Growing up in a home with an abusive father, Ramirez watched his father abuse his siblings and family, at an early age when he was very vulnerable to learning the deviance. Later, in early adolescence, Ramirez in a way, replaced his father with his cousin Mike, a Vietnam veteran and ex-Green Beret. Mike and Ramirez began to hang out, smoke weed, and Mike would show Ramirez pictures of him raping and torturing people during his time in Vietnam. Sources say that Ramirez fascinated with the brutality displayed in the photographs. On a particularly bad day, Mike’s wife began to yell at him for being lazy and he needed to find a job, so he pulled a gun and shot her in the head, right in front of Ramirez. Still at a reasonably young age, and with Mike as his significant other, the differential association theory suggests that between an abusive home and his time with Mike taught Ramirez it was fine and normal to brutally attack, rape, and kill people.

           

Works Cited

Bruno, Anthony. "Night Stalker: Richard Ramirez, Famous Satanic Serial Killer — "Satanists Don't Wear Gold" — Crime Library on TruTV.com." TruTV.com: Not Reality. Actuality. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. <http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/ramirez/terror_1.html>.

Grise, Jennifer. "RICHARD RAMIREZ." Nyu.com. New York University. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. <http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/ww1/grise.html>.

Montaldo, Charles. "The Night Stalker - Richard Ramirez The Night Stalker." Crime and Punishment Home Page. About.com. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. <http://crime.about.com/od/serial/p/nightstaker.htm>.