Forensic Psychology

Forensic Psychology
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Forensic psychology
The field of forensic psychology has become significant in relating cases to associated aspects especially with increased high level crimes in the world. According to Fulero and Vrightsman (2008), forensic psychology is the use of psychological studies, schemes and theory on issues and questions relating to law. It seeks to provide understanding regarding criminal acts and hence necessitate rule of justice in law courts. This is achieved through collecting information which is then analyzed and interpreted for judgments (Greene & Heilbrun, 2010). This paper aims to examine two cases and show their relation to forensic psychology. The effects and implications the cases would bring to the field will also be discussed.
The case of the murder of Pamela Vitale
Pamela Vitale was found dead at the entry of her temporary home by his husband Daniel Horowitz when he got back from work (Velez-Mitchell, 2007). She was bludgeoned to death indicating an attack before the culprit escaped. The murderer was unknown and investigations were conducted though with little achievement in the immediate few days. The event led to a court case and the forensic evidence presented charged Scott Dyleski who was only seventeen years old, with the death though he denied. Initially, a teen neighbor who had been involved in burglary was arrested linking him to the homicide. Scott’s mother had also been jailed over the death and released when she accepted to give evidence against him. According to Velez-Mitchell the evidence availed in court accusing Scott can be as summarized below:
* The evidence collected from the scene showed the late Vitale had aggressively fought her murderer before succumbing to death. At the time Scott was arrested had scratched face, bruised arms and cuts on his right leg which could be as a result of violent fight-back. His housemate also testified that he had fresh cuts, abrasions and was bleeding when he got home the night Vitale was murdered.
* A bag that had a face mask, glove and coat was found at Scott’s home and had the teen’s name tag. The mask, bag and shoes had DNA for both Scott and Vitale. Moreover, DNA partly consistent with Scott’s was found on the right foot of Vitale.
* An artwork inscription with phrases "live for kill" and "murder" signed by Scott was discovered at his home and cruel imageries were seen in his drawings according testimony of former schoolmates.
* A creepy list that read "knock-out/ kidnap, question, keep captive to confirm PINs, dirty work, dispose of evidence (cut up and bury)" was caught in a drawer at Scott’s bedroom. More intriguing was the title on the list which read "to do" an implication of a mission to be executed.
* A teenage friend gave a testimony that the together with Scott devised a method to use information for neighbors’ credit cards to buy an equipment online. They thus placed orders at specialty-lights who confirmed the address to be from Vitale’s home and declined it. This could suggest Scott attacked Vitale to steal her credit card.
* A CD boxed set whose liner annotations resembled those on Vitale’s back were found in Scott’s room. The set was for the Acid Christ band.
Scott could also be convicted for Vitale’s murder in consideration of his behavior as testified by witnesses and friends. His former boyfriends explained a drastic change of Scott’s character when his older step-sister died in an accident. He changed from a normal kid into a "Goth". His girlfriend took the court aback when she claimed that both were masochists and their talks concerned of torture and deception of credit cards. She also revealed that Scott was attracted to sequential killer, Jack, who removed victims’ internal body parts. Consistently, Vitale’s intestines were found exposed (Velez-Mitchell, 2007). A woman in Scotts homestead indicated that the teen’s dog was hit by a neighbor leading to its death which irritated him. The failure to purchase the plant growing equipment coupled with anger from his dead dog could stir up revenge actions. All these unfrie...