LANDMARK CASES IN CRIMINAL LAW: FAMOUS SERIAL MURDERS IN TEXAS

Landmark Cases in Criminal Law: Famous Serial Murders in Texas

Landmark Cases in Criminal Law: Famous Serial Murders in Texas

Outline

Over the past twenty years, claimsmakers have asserted that the mid-1960s marked the beginning of an unprecedented and ever-growing mass murder wave in the United States. Recent research has shown, however, that mass murder was just as common during the 1920s and 30s as it has been since the mid-1960s. Using the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) and newspaper, network television news, and newsweekly magazine coverage, this report examines why and how mass murder was constructed as a new crime problem On July 14, 1966, Richard Speck committed one of the most notorious mass murders in American history when he killed eight student nurses in Chicago. The mass killing attracted an enormous amount of media attention and was dubbed the “crime of the century” by the coroner working on the case (Duwe, 2004.).

Body

A little more than two weeks later on August 1, 1966, the United States witnessed another catastrophic mass murder. This time, the location was the University of Texas at Austin, where 25-year-old student Charles Whitman climbed atop the 307-foot high campus tower and began shooting at passersby below. Whitman killed 16 and wounded 30 before he was fatally shot by police. Recalling that the Speck massacre was labeled the “crime of the century,” Austin Police Chief Robert A. Miles observed, “It isn't anymore” (Duwe 2004). Together, the Speck and Whitman murders were thought to have had a substantial impact on beliefs and perceptions about crime. These two incidents occurred on the cusp of a turbulent period in American society, as the 1960s brought forth political assassinations, the civil rights movement, urban riots, the war in Vietnam, and the rise of the youth counterculture. It was also a time in which crime rates were increasing dramatically.

As two of the most celebrated crimes in recent memory, the Speck and Whitman massacres figured prominently in discussions about the rise in crime and were later cited as examples of the general violence problem in the United States (Jenkins 1994). It was also believed that they had a profound influence on the public's fear of crime. Lavergne (1997) argues that Richard Speck shattered people's perceptions of safety in their own homes, whereas Charles Whitman had an equally damaging effect on notions about safety in public places. The Speck and Whitman killings have also played a significant role in shaping what is known about mass murder, which is generally defined as an incident in which a number of victims (at least three or four) are killed within a short period of time (i.e. 24 hours) (Dietz 1986; Duwe 2000, 2004; Fox and Levin 1998; Holmes and Holmes 1992; Levin and Fox 1996). During the 1980s, journalists, scholars, and other commentators began to assert that the mid-1960s marked the onset of an unprecedented and ever-growing mass murder wave. And the Speck and Whitman massacres were frequently cited ...