A copycat crime is a criminal act that is modeled after or inspired by a previous crime. It notably occurs after exposure to media content depicting said crimes, and/or a live criminal model.
According to a study, copycat crime is a social phenomenon that persists and is prevalent enough to have an impact on the whole criminal landscape, primarily by influencing criminal tactics as opposed to criminal motive or the emergence of criminal traits. [1]
The copycat effect is the alleged tendency of sensational publicity about violent murders or suicides to result in more of the same through imitation. [2]
The term was first coined in the early 20th century, following crimes inspired by Jack the Ripper. Due to the increase of replicated crimes, criminologists soon began to believe that media coverage played a role in inspiring other criminals to commit crimes in a similar fashion, and even for non-criminals to begin committing crimes when they otherwise might not have done so. [3]
A book written by Loren Coleman called The Copycat Effect describes the effect that the media has on crimes and suicides, which are inspired by crimes that have been widely covered across the media. Coleman's view on the media is that the constant coverage of these events, rather than the events with a positive message, gives these criminals a type of fame. The five minutes of fame, book or movie that is dedicated to these criminals provokes other individuals with a tendency to behave in a similar way. Due to this type of fame, the "copycat effect" takes place. [2]
The US documentary television series CopyCat Killers investigates murders that appear to be based on Hollywood films.
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People who mimic crimes seen in the media (especially in news and violent movies) are more likely to have prior criminal records, severe mental health problems, or histories of violence. This suggests that the effect of the media is indirect (more affecting criminal behavior) rather than direct (directly affecting the number of criminals). [4] However, that indirect influence that the media has on the individual could possibly give them an idea of how to commit a crime. The type of reaction that the media coverage gives crimes can determine the path another criminal might take. This is because most copycat criminals are intent on the shock value of their actions. They commonly want to do something that will cause a high media coverage because of the attention that they will get, as well as the horror a crime may create. For example, if going on a shooting rampage in a public space causes this attention (because of previous incidents), then an individual with the tendency to commit the crime will more likely take that path. [5]
The norms, heroes, anti-heroes and the spectacles of the time and place also influence how a crime is committed. One modern example might include dressing as a villain and going to a public place armed; occasionally, individuals replicate their favorite movie or TV show scene. Conversely, before modern media, such crimes might be associated with religious beliefs or phenomena in the natural environment. In both scenarios, it is the public interest that sparks what crime might be committed. [5]
Some researchers hold the view that the interaction between violent media content and the emotional development of an individual play a role in copycat behaviors. Individuals who are less emotionally developed will more likely commit the crimes that they see on TV. Characteristics such as demographic (age and sex), criminal factors (mental/personality disorders, failure in human bonding/lack of identity, social isolation and alienation) and relationship to media (trust in media, media literacy, identification with the perpetrators seen in media), mixed with media characteristics and cultural-environmental factors influences the copycat behavior in individuals. Media characteristics include the blur between fantasy and reality, positive response to violence and crime, and how the crime is being committed. Cultural-environmental factors include the cultural view of fame and crime, reliance to the media for information, and moral panics. Offenders most likely to be influenced by these characteristics are usually under the age of 25. [6] However, these claims are an object of an ongoing debate in research on the effects of violence in mass media.
Apart from these, the findings of another study showed that instead of a first-time violent offender, a copycat offender is more inclined to be a professional criminal who commits property-related offences. Since the social background aspects affecting copycat crimes have not been established, it is still uncertain how exactly media coverage and the behaviour of copycat crimes are related. [7]
American cryptozoologist Loren Coleman and author Zeynep Tufekci have suggested that copycat crimes can be prevented through a number of means, including: the use of carefully selected, non-sensationalistic language on the part of law enforcement and the media when communicating news of crimes to the public; avoiding the release of details on both the methods of crimes and the name of any suspects; avoiding the perpetuation of cliches and stereotypes about criminals and the causes of their behavior; emphasis on the effect of the crimes on the victims and their loved ones; and including protective factors like helplines when publishing stories on such crimes. [8]
Various criminal acts have been inspired by many television shows, movies, books as well as other criminals. A list of a few crimes that have been a result of the copycat effect are:
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The television show Breaking Bad has been suspected of inspiring a number of crimes. The series depicts a high school chemistry teacher with cancer who begins making and selling drugs to obtain money for securing his family's financial future. Some of the most notable include the following:
In Canada, Mark Twitchell was arrested in 2008 for the attempted murder of one man and the successful murder of another. He was convicted of the latter crime only in 2011, but he documented his efforts to become a serial killer and is a fan of the television show Dexter .
This section needs expansionwith: more examples. You can help by adding to it. (October 2018) |
This section needs expansionwith: more examples. You can help by adding to it. (October 2018) |
Fictional series can reference the concept of copycat crimes.
A snuff film, snuff movie or snuff video is a type of film, often explicit, that shows, or purports to show, scenes of actual homicide. The victims are supposedly typically lured to their murders by false pretenses and their murder is filmed and then produced for the goal of a profit or financial gain.
A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people, with the killings taking place over a significant period of time between them. The serial killers' psychological gratification is the motivation for the killings, and many serial murders involve sexual contact with the victims at different points during the murder process. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, and attention seeking, and killings may be executed as such. The victims tend to have things in common such as, demographic profile, appearance, gender or race. The FBI will focus on particular patterns that the serial killers follow throughout their murders. They will then use on the patterns they find for key clues into finding the killer along with their motives. Although a serial killer is a distinct classification that differs from that of a mass murderer, spree killer, or contract killer, there are overlaps between them.
A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders in a short time, often in multiple locations. There are different opinions about what durations of time a killing spree may take place in. The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics has spoken of "almost no time break between murders", but some academics consider that a killing spree may last weeks or months, e.g. the case of Andrew Cunanan, who murdered five people over three months.
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an agreement which includes some form of compensation, monetary or otherwise. It is an illegal agreement. Either party may be a person, group, or organization. Contract killing has been associated with organized crime, government conspiracies, dictatorships, and vendettas. For example, in the United States, the Italian- and Jewish-American organized crime gang Murder, Inc. committed hundreds of murders on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate during the 1930s and '40s.
The Penguin is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character made his first appearance in Detective Comics #58 and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The Penguin is one of Batman's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's rogues gallery.
A thrill killing is premeditated or random murder that is motivated by the sheer excitement of the act. While there have been attempts to categorize multiple murders, such as identifying "thrill killing" as a type of "hedonistic mass killing", actual details of events frequently overlap category definitions making attempts at such distinctions problematic.
A murder–suicide is an act where an individual intentionally kills one or more people before or while killing themselves. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms:
Copycat is a 1995 American psychological thriller film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, and Dermot Mulroney. The score was composed by Christopher Young. The film follows a criminal psychologist and a homicide detective who must work together to find a serial killer who is committing copycat crimes modeled after notorious murderers.
Daniel Julian Gonzalez, also known as the Freddy Krueger Killer and the Mummy's Boy Killer, was a British spree killer who murdered four people and injured two others during two days across London and Sussex in September 2004.
Maury Troy Travis was an American serial killer. Travis was named in a federal criminal complaint for the murders of two women. At the time of the murders, he was a hotel waiter, and on parole for a 1989 robbery. While Travis claimed in a letter to have murdered 17 women, some authorities were doubtful; others thought he may have murdered up to 20 women. He died by suicide by hanging in custody in St. Louis County, Missouri, after being arrested for murder.
Harvey Miguel Robinson is an American serial killer currently imprisoned on death row in Pennsylvania. He was 18 when he committed his violent spree, killing three and injuring two.
The Stoneman is a name given by the popular English-language print media of Calcutta, India to an unidentified serial killer who murdered at least 13 sleeping homeless people in Calcutta in 1989. The name is also given to the perpetrator of a similar series of murders in Mumbai from 1985 to 1988. It has been speculated that these were the work of the same person, who could have been responsible for as many as 26 murders.
Raman Raghav, also known as Sindhi Talwai, Anna, Thambi, and Veluswami, was a serial killer active during the mid-1960s, labelled by many as Jack the Ripper of India. Raghav went on a killing spree for over three years, with the first round of murders taking place in 1965 and 1966 when 19 people were attacked, and a second round of killings taking place in 1968. He was caught by Maharashtra Police on 27 September. Raghav was spared a death sentence due to mental illness, and was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment; he died in hospital while in prison custody in 1995.
Kiyotaka Katsuta was a Japanese serial killer and thief.
Pedro Rodrigues Filho, also known as Pedrinho Matador, Killer Lil' Pedro, Killer Killer Petey, or simply Killer Petey, was a Brazilian serial killer, spree killer, vigilante, and YouTuber known for pursuing and killing exclusively suspected criminals as a teenager, between the age of 14 and 19, in particular an entire gang in response to the murder of his pregnant girlfriend. Officially sentenced for 71 murders but claiming to have killed over 100 drug dealers, rapists, and murderers, he served 34 years in prison before his release in 2007. In 2011, Rodrigues was imprisoned again on charges of inciting riot and deprivation of liberty; he was sentenced to eight years in prison, but was released again in 2018 after seven years on good behavior.
Since the 1994 film Natural Born Killers was released, several attacks suspected to be copycat crimes have been committed by fans of the film, mostly by high school students within the age range of 15 to 18. Though apparent links have been claimed between the film and most of the incidents described below, certain causality has not been proven.
In May 2012, Jun Lin, a university student, was fatally stabbed and dismembered in Montreal, Canada, by Luka Rocco Magnotta, who then mailed Lin's hands and feet to elementary schools and federal political party offices. After a video depicting the murder was posted online, Magnotta fled Canada, becoming the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and prompting an international manhunt. In June 2012, he was arrested in an internet café in Berlin. In December 2014, after eight days of deliberations, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder. Magnotta was given a mandatory life sentence and 19 years for other charges, to be served concurrently. Magnotta was previously sought by animal rights groups for uploading videos of himself killing kittens.
Mass shooting contagion theory is the studied nature and effect of media coverage of mass shootings and the potential increase of mimicked events. Academic study of this theory has grown in recent years due to the nature of mass shooting events, frequency of references to previous rampage shooters as inspiration and the acquisition of fame using violence, particularly in the United States. The Columbine High School massacre is cited as being the first shooting to receive nationwide 24/7 publicity, giving both shooters near instant widespread infamy, and thus often is claimed by researchers as being a source of inspiration for would be copycat mass shooters.
Gary James Lewingdon and Thaddeus Charles Lewingdon were American siblings and serial killers, who committed a series of ten murders in different Ohio counties from December 1977 to December 1978 for the motive of robbery. As a murder weapon, the criminals used .22 caliber pistols, due to which they received the nickname The .22 Caliber Killers. In 1979, both brothers were sentenced to several terms of life imprisonment.
Yiğit Bekçe and Mehmet Karahasan, collectively known as The Highway Killers, are Turkish spree killers who killed seven people and injured two others during a 52-hour trip across six cities in October 2006. The first known spree killers in the country's history, the pair were jointly convicted of the killings and given five life terms.