like David losing his mother does a great deal to an individual’s development in society due to the fact that there is no longer a positive cohesive whole unit as a family. We find that many people who lack a solid family background struggle later in life. An example of this would be the two guest speakers that spoke to our criminal justice class on November 12, 2001. Both individuals had parents who were once in jail or they had a limited relationship with. Sociologists tend to link the lack of a parent to criminal activity in later life. I believe that this may be true in many cases. Following his mother’s death, David deteriorated rapidly, his grade point average began to suffer, his life long commitment to Judaism dissipated, and he began to further alienate himself from the outside world. The downward spiral climaxed when David’s father remarried and moved with his new wife to Florida abandoning him to New York City at age 18. After their departure David joined the Army were he was immediately recognized as a highly skilled marksman. While touring in Korea David was said to have experienced his one and only sexual encounter, with a Korean Prostitute who left him with Venereal disease. This concurrence appears to be the only relation Berkowitz ever had with a woman (Bardsley 2001).The path of violence appeared to be a conglomeration of his rejection from his father, his frustration with women, and a fantasy life that he created and was swept into. His new found relationship with the Process church; a satanic organization was the final straw. In a letter to his father David stated, “People are developing a hatred for me. You wouldn’t believe how much people hate me.... I walk down the street and they spit and kick at me. The girls call me ugly and they bother me the most (Berkowitz).” This was the last known cry for help ever emitted by David Berkowitz before he began a killing spree t...
