Case Study and Position Paper

Case Study and Position Paper
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Case Study and Position Paper
The assignment this week is to research the life and death of serial killer Ted Bundy. Be sure to research his youth, his crimes and the course his criminal behavior followed. Be certain to learn about the times he was arrested and the court proceedings leading to his eventual execution. 
You will choose a position based on your research, which will guide your writing. The position you choose may be criminological, argumentative, or you may choose to emphasize a certain aspect of your research
Ted Bundy, born in November 24, 1946 as Theodore Robert Cowell was an American rapist, necrophile, kidnapper and serial killer who assaulted and murdered many young girls and women during the 1970s. He died in the electric chair at a prison in Florida on January 24, 1989 (Philbin & Philbin, 2009). Using criminological position, this paper discusses the life and death of the serial killer Ted Bundy with emphasis on his youth, crimes and the course his criminal behavior followed. The times he was arrested, and the court proceedings that led to his eventual execution are also highlighted.
According to Philbin and Philbin (2009), Ted Bundy was born to Louise Cowell in Burlington, Vermont at the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers. After two months at the home, his mother moved to her parents’ house in Philadelphia from where Ted Bundy was raised until 1951 when they moved to Tacoma, Washington where his mother married a military cook, Johnnie Bundy. In spite of his parental circumstances and economic challenges, Bundy was well mannered and grew into an attractive teenager who performed well in school and was generally liked (Larsen & Larsen, 1989). Upon completion of high school education, he enrolled at the University of Puget Sound from where he continued to excel academically, although he felt uncomfortable being around his peers who were predominantly from wealthy families. To escape the uncomfortable feeling of his financial meagerness, he transferred to the University of Washington. In his teenage and youthful years, Bundy was socially challenged and suffered from acute shyness, and this made him appear socially awkward. Although he had friends in college, Bundy never blended comfortably with others into doing social activities that others did, he kept to himself and rarely dated (Michaud & Aynesworth, 2000).
Sullivan (2009) recounted that the first known violent crime committed by Bundy was when he was only 27 years old. He broke into a campus in Seattle where he sexually assaulted a college girl who was a student at the University of Washington. Barely a month later, he kidnapped another college girl from her home and murdered her. Sullivan adds that Bundy then continued to prey on female university students throughout 1974, habitually posing with his arms in a sling or on crutches, and pretending to have difficulty in carrying books (2009). He killed no less than eight women in Washington, and became more courageous with time and even kidnapped and killed two young women he had approached on a beach in broad daylight (Larsen & Larsen, 1989).
Ted Bundy was first arrested in 1975 in Utah for kidnapping as well as criminal assault, and became a prime suspect in an increasingly longer list of unsolved murder cases in several states including Colorado, Washington, Utah and Florida. This arrest came after he had moved to Utah from where he enrolled to a law school. A routine traffic stop resulted to his arrest after a vehicle search revealed questionable items including a crowbar, masks and handcuffs. Police then linked his Volkswagen car to a kidnapping, and he was convicted and given a sentence of 15 years in...