Abstract
The paper explores and explains the criminal behaviour of David Berkowitz by employing the excitation transfer and coercion developmental theory. The paper discusses how while neither of these theories really explain why Berkowitz did the things he did - there is evidence that he suffered from mental illness almost from the beginning of his life - a combination of the two explains why he sought aggressive means of satiating his own grievances and why he chose to explain away his actions by insisting that a bunch of barking dogs made him do the things he did.

From the Paper
"The following paper will explore and explain the criminal behaviour of David Berkowitz by employing the excitation transfer and coercion developmental theory. While possibly neither of these theories really explains why Berkowitz did the things he did - there is evidence that he suffered from mental illness almost from the beginning of his life - a combination of the two explains why he sought aggressive means of satiating his own grievances and why he chose to explain away his actions by insisting that a bunch of barking dogs made him do the things he did."

Tags:behaviour, deviant, criminal

Abstract
This paper discusses the value of Berkowitz's book as a text-reader. It explores it major themes. The author expands on the concept of the news as a social production. It also reviews the strengths and weakness of the book.

From the Paper
"News as a human construction shaped by its social world is the major idea in Daniel Berkowitz's book, "Social Meanings of News". The book is a text-reader and as Berkowitz points out the readings represent a blend of classic studies and lesser-known pieces that ..."

Tags:News, Social, Book, Berkowitz, Text, Media, Communications, Themes

Abstract
The paper presents an analysis of media concepts and methods in Part III of Dan Berkowitz's book "Social Meanings of News". It discusses news as social narrative or familiar stories, and news as myth.

From the Paper
In order to organize the variety of research and concepts in his text-reader Social Meanings of News Dan Berkowitz uses a conceptual scheme that highlights key topics about news and network. Theories and practices of mass communications are the core of the ..."

Tags:Media, Social, News, Berkowitz, Methods, Concepts

Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of chapters 9-20 of Dan Berkowitz's text-reader "Social Meanings of News". It discusses various methodologies and theories presented by authors of various articles on media.

Tags:News, Berkowitz, Social, Methodologies, Mass, Communications, Media

Abstract
This paper discusses David Berkowitz whose reign of murderous terror gripped New York City from 1976 to 1977. David Berkowitz, known as the Son of Sam, was eventually arrested, tried and convicted for the series of gun-attacks that left six people dead, seven wounded and an entire city in fear. The paper shows that when caught, while there existed a potential for his being determined to be insane, Berkowitz pleaded guilty to the six murders and, under the sentencing rules of the time, was given twenty-five years to life. The paper examines how Berkowitz, while in jail, turned his crimes into profit by writing and authorizing books to be written about him. Outrage against this led to the "Son of Sam Law" which now disallows criminals in jail from profiting from their crimes while behind bars. Berkowitz has become an icon in the study of the psychology of murder, of serial killers and of the sociology of fear. This paper examines the life of David Berkowitz, the nature of his crimes and offers an analysis of the serial killer's mind.

From the Paper
"People like David Berkowitz have been part of our human society since humanity began. Thomas Hobbes observed that communities form for the purpose of mutual protection and that they are a refuge from the Wild. For people like David Berkowitz, communities are, in essence, the wild and their psychopathology is the protection from that. The problem, however, is that the psychology of murder is one that cannot truly prevent such people from becoming murderers, it can only explain them once the horror has happened. David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, terrorized a community that he had perceived as rejecting him. He retreated into a world of delusion, of fantasy, and of fear of the supernatural. Once in that world, he rationalized the destruction of human life and carried out his murders with the calmness and purposefulness of a mail carrier delivering a package. "I wasn't going to rob her, or touch her, or rape her. I was just going to kill her" (Berkowitz quoted in Chelser & Robb, 1996). What psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists have determined about people like David Berkowitz, is that they almost universally suffer from significant psychological breaks, traumas often suffered in childhood, that have changed the very nature of their thought process and moral structure."

Tags:Bronx, demons, Satan, Voskerichian, Francis, Carr, Cassara, Stacy, Moskowitz

Abstract
This paper explains that David Berkowitz, who, during the 1970s in New York, murdered six innocent people and severely injured many other victims, experienced a troubled childhood and early adult life. The author points out that, at his recent parole hearing in 2002, he sent a letter to the Governor stating that he did not wish to have parole granted because he did not deserve to spend a single day free after the pain and suffering he had caused many families during what he says now was the work of the devil. The paper relates that the Son of Sam Law was enacted to prevent any future violent offenders from profiting after they commit such heinous crimes.

From the Paper
"Even as a small child Berkowitz was not a social person. He preferred to stay to himself and, as he grew older, he was physically much larger than other children his age, which he later reported made him significantly uncomfortable. He became a bully and spent much of his childhood picking on other children and taking their money from them. He was called hyperactive, which was the term used for ADHD in those days, and he was prone to have violent outbursts with little or no warning."

Tags:bronx, mother, pyromaniac, victims, publicity

Abstract
Presents a summary and analysis of the first eight chapters of Dan Berkowitz's text-reader "Social Meanings of News". The paper discusses the notion of the gate keeper, the media, paradigms, and news selection.

From the Paper
"Dan Berkowitz is prominent among American writers on the sociology of news work and the process of newsmaking. In the text reader Social Meanings of News editor Berkowitz chooses media readings by communications and media experts representative of both ..."

Tags:News, Bekowitz, Social, Media, Paradigms, Chapters, Gate-keeper

From the Paper
"The insanity defense has been a controversial legal tactic for centuries. The centuries-old idea that mentally ill criminals should not be held responsible for their actions has infuriated observers of American law. Those who seek a get-tough approach to crime see the insanity defense as legal fakery, one more tactic in a defender's bag of tricks.
Jeffrey Dahmer, John Hinkley, Jr., David Berkowitz, and Jack Ruby, among many others, will forever be linked in the public mind by their courtroom use of the insanity defense as much as by their infamous deeds. In his The Insanity Plea: The Uses and Abuses of the Insanity Defense, Winslade adds the following high-profile criminals to the roster of those who have attempted to use such a defense: Dan White, Prosenjit Poddar, Leonard Smith, Tex Watson, Robert Torsney, and James Grigson."

Abstract
This paper looks at the root of evil which manifests itself in serial killing. It also analyzes the morality of serial killers by studying the behaviorial patterns of Bundy, Berkowitz, Gacy, and Toole. It examines the lack of moral development in serial killers, specifically those which fall into the category of psychopaths.

From the Paper
"The lack of morality displayed by serial killers is something that is easily identifiable through hindsight. Once their malicious and brutal "secret lives" have been brought to the forefront, it is quite easy to say that these men (and sometimes women) have no concept of morality. If this lack of morality is so obvious, why then do we not notice it prior to their murderous rampages? The most likely answer to this question is that the majority of serial killers can be classified as psychopaths. According to John E. Conklin (1997, 564) a psychopath is "a person who has a specific cluster of personality traits; is asocial, aggressive, highly impulsive, and unable to form lasting bonds of affection with others; and feels little or no guilt for antisocial activities." Clecky (1976) has outline 16 major characteristics of psychopaths, which include: intelligent, rational, calm, unreliable, insincere, without shame or remorse, having poor judgment, without capacity for love, unemotional, poor insight, indifferent to the trust of kindness of others, over-reactive to alcohol, suicidal, impersonal sex life, lacking long term goals, and inadequately motivated antisocial behaviour. Due to their high levels of intelligence, psychopaths are capable of being very manipulative, and thus are able to feign the appropriate emotions necessary to blending in with society. Psychopaths make a conscious effort to distance themselves socially, and share intimacy with only those whom they can control psychologically. Thus, the immorality of psychopaths often goes unnoticed by the general public. It is not until a serial killer is captured that their personality is scrutinized closely enough to recognize the symptoms of psychopathology. These symptoms may even continue to hide after the killer has been apprehended. When Ted Bundy was first arrested he quickly made friends with his captives, and was granted special privileges which eventually lead to his ability to escape. Thus the very symptoms of psychopathology are what make it so difficult to detect prior to a serial killer's conviction."

Tags:criminal, justice, psychology, bundy, berkovitz, gacy, toole, disorder

Abstract
This work is a short examination of the primary habits and characteristics of serial killers. Some of the serial killers profiled include famous names like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer and David Berkowitz (Son of Sam). Subjects explored concerning the killers include method, family background, and religious background.

From the Paper
Murders are committed everyday in this world. Many people constantly walk in fear that some person lurking in the shadows will jump out with a weapon and kill them. Even though people fear all types of killers, perhaps the most feared types of killers are serial in nature. These people kill repeatedly and often torture their victims before their murderous outburst. Although most serial killers share a few characteristics in common, they are all quite unique in one way or another.

Tags:dahmer, murder, murderer, sam, son, violence, character, traits