Restorative Justice Case Summary

Holmes had been born into a wealthy New Hampshire family and was given the name Herman Webster Mudgett (America’s Serial Killers). “If Mudgett or his brother or sister were bad, their strict Methodist parents sent them to the attic for a full day without speaking or eating,. Mudgett’s father was especially abusive after he’d been drinking - which was often” (Spikol). However, his father was a wealthy and respected citizen and had been the local postmaster for nearly twenty five years (Taylor). It is surprising an important member of the community was a child abuser. The abuse of his father may be one of the

Like Jack the Ripper, most of Holmes' numerous victims were females. Some of them worked for him as stenographers in his pharmacy or hotel, and others he courted and later married. However, unlike the infamous British serial killer, Holmes did not kill face to face. He preferred "being near enough to hear the approach of death in the rising panic of his victims" (349). It was in those moments that "his quest for possession entered its most satisfying phase" (349). For Holmes, choosing how his victims died, be it "[filling] a room with gas and [letting] the guest expire in her sleep, or [creeping] in with his passkey and [pressing] a chloroform-soaked rag to his face" (349), was a measure of his power; the ultimate form of establishing dominance over the

Before we dip into the psychology behind James Holmes' mental health, and of course the shooting, let's take a brief glimpse at his personal life.

Julie Hilt is the executive director of the Solano County Bar Association. Julie realized that Solano County didn’t have a restorative justice program. Julie realizes this program is new to Solano County and hope the program is supported in the community. Julie states the purpose of the restorative justice program in Solano County focus is to restore the community and promote healing after a crime; the process has additional benefits, such as increased restitution for victims, greater satisfaction with the system and potentially lower recidivism. Julie believes the restorative justice program is designed to teach the offender to be accountable for their wrong doings. Julie says the practices of the program are allowing the victim(s) who is willing the opportunity to come forward and participate in a face to face meeting with offenders.

During the opening statements by Holmes’ lawyer Daniel King, he stated that Holmes was a normal child, but began to have mental health problems in middle school and attempted suicide at age 11 (Villanueva, 2015). Holmes was also described as socially awkward and possibly something deeper. "Mental illness can strike like cancer, without regard to your background, without regard to your status in life, without regard to how intelligent you are," defense attorney Tamara Brady told the jury; "And when James Holmes was born, he had this psychotic mental illness in his blood. It was in his DNA." (O’Neill, 2015) Holmes continued to keep away from other even in High School and was even noted by a coach that he was uncomfortable standing close to other

With the estimated 200 victims of Holmes 9 confirmed and 27 confessed, we could have pin pointed exactly if he was their murder and this would have eased so many families minds who wondered what had happened to their loved ones. In the late 1800s when identifying a body, family members would have to recollect on features such as, teeth or hair, if it was still available. For example, long black hair was used to describe Nellie Pietzal. In cases now, we use fingerprints to identify bodies and most of the time their killer simply because of evidence left on the victim. It is hard to tell how many people walked into Chicago’s fair daily, but with the help of today’s technology we could pin point every set of prints that were there. In fact, most of Holmes victims were lured from the fair to his very own hotel where the crimes were committed. This alone could have aided in the incarceration of H. H Holmes

During this time H. H. Holmes was referred as “The Beast of Chicago.” After Holmes settled in Chicago, in 1893, constructing his infamous murder castle and insurance fraud at the same time. He was arrested in Boston for the death of his helper, Benjamin Pitezel and two of Benjamin’s boys and girls. While on the run, Holmes had the wrong impression about Pitezels wife and gathered insurance money for his friend Benjamin. Police made a shocking discovery of one of the children and which this led to his first arrest.

When answering the question(s) should James Eagan Holmes, who convicted of 24 counts of murder and 140 counts of attempted murder for the July 20, 2012 shooting of the Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, is a tough one. For one thing, I do feel he is mentally unstable and has a chemical imbalance in his brain. When it comes down to it, he should be put the rest, because I feel as, do some of the juniors or in the medical field, that he planned the whole event. The question was the MI the cause of the event, or was the event cause from his will to

Holmes impulses to experiment with animals did not cease throughout his childhood after those events. He would discover forest animals close to his home in the neighboring woods, and dismember them to learn more about their anatomy and physiology. (Bailin, 2008). This didn’t only provide Holmes the knowledge of how to dismember, but it also provided him the psychological enabler to fuel his delusions. It is quite possible that Holmes obsession with death may have driven him to murder at the young age of 11, disguising it as an accident. Holmes had a friend who was older than him named Tom, and they would sometimes hangout. On one particular occasion, Tom and Holmes were exploring an abandoned home. Holmes recalls during their exploration, seeing Tom Fall off a landing to his death, but many speculate that Holmes may have pushed him. (Schechter, 2003).

Holmes murdered dozens - perhaps hundreds - of people who stayed in his hotel while they were in Chicago to attend the World 's Fair. His victims were primarily women, but he preyed occasionally on men and children as well. His Murder Castle was specially

To encourage, inspire, and to help others along with myself to achieve inner peace and to be able to settle differences peacefully among family, friends, and the community.

When questioning Holmes’s motives, one can first examine biological theories. Did crime run in his family? Did he have a bad childhood? Or maybe he was just born with a gene that would somehow trigger him to be a criminal eventually in his life. It’s very possible that he could have suffered an abusive childhood, causing him to grow up and seek a way to somehow enact ‘revenge’ for his own pains.

The time HH Holmes started his crime it was an interesting time period in the city where he committed his crimes. Chicago was hoisting the

On July 20, 2012, a major tragedy happened in Aurora Colorado during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. James Holmes willingly without showing no remorse entered the movie theater Century 16 at Town Center. He was resembling the Joker with red hair wearing a gas mask and body armor murdering 12 people and wounding 70 people. A jury found Holmes guilty on 24 counts of first degree murder, two counts for each of the 12 victims. Also, he was found guilty of 140 counts of attempted murder for the 70 people wounded (Biography, 2016). James Holmes’ life, upbringing, and behavior preceding the massacre, the significance of the case from a behavioral and security management perspective, the response time by the theater staff and law enforcement, the legal and ethical considerations in this incident and what learning outcomes are relevant to this case study will be some of the highlights covered in this case analysis.

Holmes was born into a well to do family, he often got in trouble and punished by his abusive father. He was also bullied because of how small he was. Researchers say that serial killers are “frequently the products of broken, or severely brutal homes, where they have themselves been subjected to gross cruelty, sexual abuse, and in some cases prolonged and systematic torture” (Whittington-Egan 327), this shows that Holmes’ home life was a contributing factor on how he became as sadistic as he was. Why would he later want to prey on women? He wanted power and people to feel how he felt when he was younger, hopeless and alone. According to Richard Whittington-Egan, Holmes’ motive for murder was “financial profit—admixed with sexual advantages” (351). As a young boy Holmes, like most serial killers in the making, had a fascination for torturing and dissecting animals. It was said that he left them “reveling in their pain and took care to make sure they stayed alive, helpless, and distressed for as long as possible” (Gibson 212), this shows how much his psychopathic tendencies were starting to develop at a really young age, and how he felt pleasure in other’s pain. Eventually, Holmes moved