Obviously this case is an anomaly; needless to say, the vast majority of criminal justice students do not go on to use the knowledge they've gained in class to avoid detection in their careers as serial rapist-murderers. And, though I understand why the media have seized upon this story (headlines doesn't get much more tantalizing than "confessed serial killer had law enforcement degree"), I have to admit to being somewhat annoyed. It doesn't take a criminal justice degree to become reasonably familiar with police homicide investigations. A marathon viewing session of The First 48 would accomplish the same thing. (Not that I'm obsessed with that show or anything.)In his early 30s, fresh off his release from prison on rape charges, Timothy Krajcir enrolled in college to study psychology and the criminal justice system.
Like other students, Krajcir was seeking self-enlightenment, a detective said.
But over the next six years, Krajcir murdered at least six women in two states, covering up his crimes in part by using what he learned at Southern Illinois University, authorities said.
Authorities say Krajcir is a rare specimen -- smart enough to elude police during his crime spree, and apparently private enough to keep his deeds secret in the ensuing years. He eventually graduated from Southern Illinois with a degree in law enforcement...
"If he was studying criminal justice and law enforcement, he definitely would know what police were looking for and how to avoid detection," Smith said.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
We Want Our Students To Learn From Us, But...
...I don't think this is what anybody hopes for in terms of students' retention of our course material:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I'll go on the record as saying I'm a lot annoyed with this particular story and the headline. I find it difficult to believe the cops are promoting the idea this guy benefited from his undergraduate studies. He was incarcerated several times before he enrolled in college, so he clearly had a strong understanding of the justice system already. My hunch is the Smith quote has been taken somewhat out of context (a shock to believe the media might do this, I know) to make it appear he is endorsing this notion.
If Krajcir was a medical professional accused of killing patients (or random people in the community) would the same leap be made? Would we claim he studied medicine to carry out his crimes and elude capture? Would we splash the name of his alma mater across the media? Would we infer the school's efforts to teach him anatomy, physiology, biology, etc. had helped him perpetuate his crime?
The whole thing is really asinine, in my view.
A better focus might be asking whether the justice system failed his victims. This was an offender with a known history of sexual assault. I'm not suggesting we run toward a knee jerk "crime control" endorsement based on this one case. At the same time, it might be better to question if the system is doing enough to address the treatment of such offenders, the identification of those at higher risk for repeat offending, and/or the monitoring of possibly high-risk offenders within the community. Why all the focus on the crime/criminal and not the victims?
Then again, I'm known as Dr. Cranky for a reason. Maybe I just need a hug.
Donald Miller was the Lansing area's first (and up until last year, only) serial killer, who had a CJ degree from our alma mater. Southern Illinois has MSU grads teaching there. Clearly, MSU is producing serial killers through teaching.
I suppose it's sad when we all come to a point where we fail to be surprised at asinine comments from the media.
Post a Comment