Beyond Bloodiness: An Interdisciplinary View into Crimes Tic-toc. Shotgun. Death. Silence… Physical crimes never cease to draw our attention. Victims, bloodiness, drama, motives, psychological issues and conflicts: they are at the heart of most physical crimes. Cyber crimes are not viewed as dramatic and pervasive by many, but its consequences can be even bloodier within seconds: hundreds of millions of victims and billions of dollars can be rapidly caused with two elements, a criminal mind and one computer. We are not safe from either bloody crimes or cyber crimes such as cyberstalking, cyberbullying, and financial theft.
In fact, “cybercrime affects everyone-business, governments, and citizens. ” (2). Wealth, a safe neighborhood, or bodyguards could potentially reduce the risk of physical crimes. However, cyber crimes know no boundaries. The types of crimes, victims, and consequences and more far reaching than one could ever imagine: from Megan Meier who committed suicide by being cyberbullied from the safety and comfort of her home, to billions of dollars in damages and privacy breaches to the CIA Director, worldwide banks, and even the White House.
Thus, taking advantage of all tools and resources possible to prevent and combat cyber crime is essential, as merely standing helpless or spending billions of dollars to fix all this damage does not suffice. Literature is one of the numerous disciplines and resources that we can use. Truman Capote, the author of In Cold Blood, illustrates the bloody murder that happened dozens of years ago in an small town in Kansas, U. S. Capote, through the account of a bloody murder with multiple victims, portrays how the psychological effects of the traumas, accidents, issues, rustrations, or lack of opportunities, starting in childhood and beyond, were the main culprits that caused the main characters, Perry and Dick, to commit one of the bloodiest and random criminal acts in America. Thus, Capote focused on what led these two men to commit these audacious physical crimes, rather than looking at the surface and giving an account of the facts, legal aspects, consequences of their actions, and punishment. That is a fundamental step towards understanding and preventing any type of crime.
Truman Capote analyzes how psychological and mental issues, stemming from childhood traumas, physical insecurities, lack of opportunities, bad parenting, accidents, and violence all contributed to Perry and Dick’s abhorrent actions. For instance, Capote argues how Perry’s life had not been “a bed of roses! ” (158); neither of his parents had truly taken care of him or offered a safe and healthy environment necessary for a child to develop normally. “[M]other became acquainted with alcohol” (173), and his father had beaten his mother on numerous accounts.
Capote explains, to a certain degree, Perry’s murderous actions through the troubles he had been exposed to in his childhood. The author emphasizes Perry’s frustration of his lack of opportunity to receive an education: “Every damn one of you got an education. Everybody but me. ” (115). Further, Capote includes Dr. Jones’ analysis of Perry: “Perry Smith shows definite signs of severe mental illness” and grew “up without direction, without love, and without ever having absorbed any fixed sense of moral values… ” (296-297).
Capote wants to illustrate to the readers how, due to this, Perry had developed to be resentful of people who had the opportunity to further their education, life, and career, unlike him. In addition, Capote illustrates the traumatic experiences that Perry had experienced when he was merely a child. The author includes a statement in which Perry recalls how he was severely mistreated as a kid in a Catholic orphanage and a Children’s Shelter, as well. “Hitting me. Because of wetting in bed. Which is why I have an aversion to nuns. And God. And religion. [… ] They hated me too.
For wetting in bed. And being half-Indian. she’d fill a tub with ice cold water, put me in it, and hold me under till I was blue. Nearly drowned “(132). Capote thus emphasized how these traumatic experiences from an early age made him developed feelings of hatred and a lack of faith in God and people. A hatred that later on culminated in murderous actions. As for Dick, his childhood circumstances had been better and more forgiving than Perry’s; nevertheless, he became hateful and frustrated as well through limitations imposed by his parents and lack of resources.
Capote includes a statement from Dick’s mother saying that, “Dick was always the star player. A pretty good student [… ] After he graduated from high school he wanted to go on to college. But we couldn’t do it. Never have had any money. [… ] I guess Dick resented it, not getting to college” (102). Dick had wanted to make something of himself, but he was not able to because of money issues. The bitterness caused by this lack of opportunity, even though it came later for him than for Perry, is remarkably similar to Perry’s lack of possibilities in education as well.
In addition, another factor that could have contributed to his later violent and bitter actions towards the more fortunate could have stemmed from his little stature (5’4), commonly known as the Napoleon syndrome. Even though Dick had been the typical popular athlete in high school, he had later been filled with bitterness, resentment, and hate towards people who had the opportunities in life that he was denied, as Perry had been too.
Capote thus seems to be arguing that both Perry and Dick had resorted to illegal and violent actions not just to fill their void inside and make up for the lack of money and possibilities, but to limit more fortunate people from their opportunities and futures. Moreover, Capote presents how both Perry and Dick had gone through horrible accidents that left them permanently scarred. In Dick’s case, “the imperfectly aligned features were the outcome of a car collision in 1950-an accident that left his long-jawed and narrow face . tilted, the left side rather lower than the right, with the results that the lops were slightly aslant… (31).
In Perry’s case, the “injuries received in a motorcycle wreck, were severer than Dick’s; he had spent half a year in a state of Washington hospital and another six months in crutches [… ] his chunky, dwarfish legs, broken in five places and pitifully scarred, still pained him so severely that he had become an aspirin addict” (31). Since then, both Perry and Dick had to carry the traumatizing marks of their accidents that would forever impair their physical appearance and capabilities and possibly make them resent others that were more fortunate. There was no excuse for Perry and Dick’s actions.
All they knew about their victims was that the Clutters were a well-to-do family, and they could not stand other people having a better life than them. A murder in cold blood that no one in that little town has ever been able to forget since. Perry and Dick were ultimately hung for their actions. Thus, Capote’s analysis is not attempting to persuade readers to excuse these criminals and have pity for them. Instead, Capote is using this multiple murder to build a framework of analysis that leads to deeper understanding, as slowly cutting down on crimes does not come without that first step.
Capote’s book is thus more than a masterpiece in non fiction writing. It offers insight into the critical thinking tools that can be used towards understanding what leads people to commit physical crimes. The same tools can be used and expanded towards preventing and combating cyber crime. At the very least, this book teaches us that asking the right questions can sometimes be more important than having superficial and traditional answers that will do just that: superficially fix these problems and leave us vulnerable to the expanding web of cyber attacks and crimes.
Just as in Capote’s book, many crimes are unexpected and victims are chosen randomly, just as is the case in cyber crimes. With one cyber crime act, millions of random victims can suffer financial ruin, severe emotional distress, and many may consider suicide. Nevertheless, we have many instances of physical crimes where the criminal knows the victim personally, as is also the case in cyber crimes. For instance, there are thousands of cases dealing with cyberstalking through GPA surveillance or texts and emails and identify theft of marriage partners or exes that ended in terrorizing those victims and even murder (see U. S. v. Matusiewicz, U. S. v. Grob, U. S. v. Curley, and People v. Rosa).
As Perry’s wise sister told him once, “It is no shame to have a dirty face-the shame comes when you keep it dirty. ” Analogically, society should not feel shame in the fact that our world is now boggled with both physical and cyber crimes. Instead, it would be shameful if we don’t actively try to use all resources and analytic tools at our disposal to do what we can to prevent both physical and cyber crimes.