The Work of the Sociologist as Mitigation Expert in Cases of Violent Crime

Abstract

This chapter examines the role a sociologist as a mitigation expert in a murder case. The author of this chapter testified in this specific case and has worked as a sociologist in over 300 violent crime cases, mostly capital murder, over the past 20 plus years. The role of the sociologist is such cases, generally is presented. The use of the subculture of violence as mitigation in a specific case is offered. This chapter offers a description and interpretation of the contextual influences on a criminal act. It will be noted that the mitigating factors in this case differ somewhat from cultural defenses of violations of the law. Cultural defenses usually consist of maintaining that norms and beliefs of particular cultural groups may lead their members to commit acts that are not crimes in their own eyes, although they are crimes in the eyes of the larger society. In this case, the mitigating factor is the interaction of those ideas. Like many crimes of violence it is also an accumulation of social–psychological experiences. Cultural and subcultural theories also focus on the role of ideas in causing criminal behaviors. These theories may explore the sources of those ideas in general social conditions, but they are characterized by the argument that it is the ideas themselves, rather than the social conditions, that directly cause criminal behavior. These motivations along with situations of close contact heighten the potential for violent incidents and go far toward accounting for high rates of homicide among lower class citizens. This argument makes it unnecessary to invoke personality pathology to account for homicide. The increasing diversity of America’s population means that judges and juries will need more insight into varying motivations and cultural backgrounds of defendants. Culture, although predictable, is the least understood factor in the calculus of crime. Culture captivates the criminal justice system; a system that appears to have little tolerance for such explanations. The existence of a subculture of violence means that violence will have predictable features. Far from being senseless and random, aggression will be patterned and quite rational when viewed in light of the subcultural values, norms, and expectations governing its use. Actions that may appear senseless to outsiders are not so to members, and it is precisely because they are predictable that they endure over time. This is exactly why a witness at trial said he stayed away from situations like this; what he referred to as women problems; because it is predictable. The defendant, once facing death, received a sentence of 8 years.