Year: 2013

THE LACK OF CRIMINAL HISTORY REVEALS LITTLE ABOUT INTENT TO HARM IN CASES OF DV

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior , , ,
Image Sedona, AZ

 Michael Sefton, Ph.D.

New Braintree, MA  Once again domestic violence has resulted in deadly force being used to stop one man from killing his intimate partner and the child they have together.  This cowardly man paid no attention to the court ordered protection order that was in place bringing lethal force to bear upon his family.  His guns were not removed from his control leaving him armed and dangerous.  Only this time, it is he who died in the violent final act before he could finish what he had come to do.  Police were ready for violence and met force with appropriate force resulting in death.  The surviving victims are fortunate for the action of the brave and courageous officers on duty in Calais, Maine on this night or they may have lost their lives in a murder-suicide – now all too common in northern, Maine.

The details of this Calais, ME case of domestic violence are being carefully guarded.  It is known that Daniel Phinney, 26 was out on bail after being arrested and charged with domestic violence and criminal threatening in May 2013.  At that point he must have both physically assaulted his significant other and threatened to kill or maim his family resulting in the charge of criminal threatening.  Police are quick to say that Phinney had no prior criminal history perhaps in an effort to circumvent the obvious outrage evoked by the system of bail in Maine that releases violent abusers over and over again.  Had anyone made an effort to determine the degree of risk posed by Daniel Phinney prior to his release?  Had anyone registered safety concerns based on the defendant’s behavior and history?  Had they undertaken a psychological assessment of Phinney that may have provided important details about his impulse control, substance use, and proclivity toward violence?  These details may become more apparent in the coming days.  Perhaps a second look at the Psychological Autopsy of the Dexter Maine Homicide may be of value in terms of understanding risk and red flag behaviors that warrant containment of domestic terrorists.

The Phinney case is reminiscent of the 2011 Steven Lake homicide in Dexter in too many ways.  Lake had twice been released on bail before murdering his family.  The medical autopsy concluded that “in spite of psychological counseling (the state) failed to appreciate the degree of anger and violence in (Steven Lake)”.  He too had been charged with criminal threatening after holding his family at gunpoint as he drove home the point about how much he loved them but he could not let Amy move on.  Perhaps criminal threatening behavior should trigger a closer look at risk factors when setting conditions of bail.

I was a member of a team that conducted a psychological autopsy on Lake that resulted in over 50 recommendations to the esteemed Maine Attorney General’s Homicide Review panel in November 2012.  At first glance what is clear is brash indifference toward the court protection order and the availability of firearms to the defendant.  It is now important to study the case of Daniel Phinney and learn from the many red flags he waved in the weeks prior to his death.  These events can be stopping and containments points in future cases of domestic violence and domestic violence homicide.  No family should be kept in fear by a spouse whose loathsome behavior derails all human spirit and sense of dignity.

What can we learn? Clues to the Active Shooter

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior ,

NEW BRAINTREE, MA March 27, 2013  What can be learned from the survivors of mass shootings? Is it worth anything to the larger body of knowledge moving forward?  The most surprising thing that has been released since 6 people were killed and 12 were injured in Tuscon, AZ is that the shooter gave off clues that something was going to happen.  He visited friends revealing to them his newly purchased firearm. Exposing some underlying drive state or growing urgency toward aggression.  What was Jared Lee Loughner trying to say by showing the weapon to friends?  Was he exposing his intentions – ultimately expecting to be stopped? 

The first published remarks by Loughner’s parents revealed growing frustration with his emotional detatchment from them in the months before the shooting. In a Washington Post publication Randy Loughner is quoted as saying that “he (Jared) wouldn’t talk or communicate with him” and became increasingly erratic. His mother reported that they has asked for a mental health evaluation but this never took place. Loughner was said to have elaborate conversations with himself and had the habit of making unusual noises. These behaviors are often associated with psychotic thinking but Loughner’s mother worried about methamphetamine abuse that can also result in erratic, aggressive behavior. Drug testing did not reveal any drugs in his system. Loughner’s emotional break down was observed by several close friends in addition to his parents. After his trial, and ultimate guilty plea, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and is now serving 100 + years for the killing in 2011.

It is all to often that red flags for violence are not fully appreciated by people close to the final brutality. Yet there are facts that can be identified and appreciated if one takes the time to analyze the prodromal behavior. A friend close to Loughner became shocked by the fact he was carrying a gun and had shaved his head. The underpinnings of violence were present before the crime. These were represented by the marginalized demeanor and extremist views that he documented in written musings that have come to light.

Community Auditions

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior

NEW BRAINTREE, MA April 3, 2013  Every time a police officer is required to enter someones home he or she is placed in a momentary disadvantage.  You are entering someone’s castle as if you are an invited guest.  Arguably, whenever a police officer enters the average home it serves as an audition for whether or not the police department will get a thumbs up or thumbs down on that day.  I understand and espouse the community policing model that regards every citizen encounter as an opportunity to press the flesh and high five a few school children.  You will be judged with each contact you have.  If something doesn’t go just right then you will receive a failing grade – a bad audition.

With every person I meet I am watching for consistency in behavior.  How different is John Q. Citizen on Saturday night from Sunday morning?  Is the man you see heading into mass on Sunday the same guy who raged at you the night before when you had to break up a party that his teenage son had sparked?  They weren’t hurting anybody after all and in spite of being minors using alcohol he had taken all the car keys.  What is all the fuss about?  Was I auditioning or was he on his first audition with me and my crew?

It is well known that parents set the tone for the behavior of children.  They model proper etiquette and provide the tenor for community involvement.  Most fathers wind up coaching youth hockey or little league while the mothers take turns teaching the cub scouts to be brave, courteous, and loyal.  There are some obvious twists to this idyllic portrayal of today’s modern family who audition regularly the the community hit parade.  Some of these community auditions raise the specter of negligence and frank stupidity.

One of my roles is a field training officer.  I am the sergeant that keeps track of the important things new trainees must accomplish before they are free to patrol on their own.  In a sense these officers are auditioning both for the citizens and for me.  On this night we received an E-911 call from the state police.  Cell phone calls regularly are routed through one of the barracks nearby and transferred to our dispatch center.  On this night an emergency call went dead but not after the call taker could hear a flurry of f-bombs being thrown about and a female asking for the police.  It sounded like a large fight and was located on a street in my town.  Not good.

After a survey of the area in which the call had been triangulated we found what appeared to be a large group of males standing around a bonfire.  My training and experience suggested that this might be the very spot we were looking for.  I called for additional cars and we approach the lot just to see what was up?  Remembering that all citizen encounters are auditions we were on our best behavior.  Always.  But we needed to find the female who had made the emergency telephone call because clearly there had been some urgency and there may be someone injured or in danger.  We would deal with this group later.  Meanwhile one of the back-up cars stopped at the home of a neighbor who also had a large bonfire just to see if anyone had called for help? More than one adult at that home was intoxicated and borderline belligerent.  The bellicose homeowner waved me in and strongly urged me to leave the others alone – suggesting to me that he knew the identities of the crew at the bonfire down the lane.  In fact, this group was the parent units of the boys just next door – just having fun.  “They are good boys and have no alcohol” ranted the unsteady former den mother.  I didn’t need to bother going back.  But little did she know about the E-911 call I was investigating.  I was unmoved by her audition and could plainly see she needed some spit and polish on her act.  It was her niece who called 911 and she knew it.  This from a woman with whom I had had prior contact after giving her son a citation for operating his 4-wheeler on the road and refusing to stop.  She believed I was unfairly targeting the newly licensed operator.  I suggested that he may not have the maturity to be driving a car. She went directly to the chief of police to report my insolent remarks.  At this point neither audition was going well.  I felt like a circus clown who couldn’t raise a smile in his audience.  I needed to speak with the female who called 911.

Finally her father emerged from under the circus tent and confided that it was his 15-year old daughter who had called.  She didn’t get along with her cousin who was hosting the group next door and she went home after the exchange of niceties.  She was fine.  Very well, I would clear the call once I spoke with the person who had felt threatened enough to call 911.

The house was dark.  Not a single light was on.  The precocious teen answered the door and in the shadow behind her I could see a large figure of a person.  Reluctantly she turned on the kitchen lights revealing a 19-year old male whose vehicle we had run just a few minutes before. “Are you boyfriend and girlfriend”? I asked,  No. The male stated he just wanted to go to sleep – a bleary eyed non sequitur. He too was intoxicated and from a town quite a way from this house and had no healthy purpose for being with this young woman that I could see.  His audition with me went poorly.  I suspect he was working magic on the little girl but it failed on both my officer-in-training and myself. He was arrested and taken into protective custody.

In all, 6 underage drinkers went to jail that night.  Most of the parents who were called to our station were grateful and respected our decisions as they picked up their kids.  The parent of one male who was handcuffed asked why that was necessary and could care less about officer safety. He too would speak to the chief. This triggered an age-old debate about handcuffing juveniles but in the end I want to go home at night and I want the officer’s trained by me to be safe.  It was a night of auditions some good and some bad.  The father of the girl who called 911 won’t get my vote for his act.  He called wanting to know why we had taken away the man with whom his daughter had been spending time – another non sequitur I thought.

The Day She Said Goodbye

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior , ,

 The day she said Goodbye

Michael Sefton

Who knew that the day she said goodbye would be the day that set a clock to start ticking.  Her parents thought they were an ill-matched pair from the start but they did not want to interfere.  Even her best friend said he should cut him loose.  Who knew that by saying goodbye that her risk of domestic violence homicide was increased by a factor of five?

But wait, isn’t it important for victims of domestic violence to break away from the coercive grasp of their tormenting intimate partners?  A sign of empowerment, they say.  She wanted to move on, finally having the courage to say goodbye after he held them all at gunpoint.  Ranting that if she ever tried to leave him he would kill her.  His hubristic thinking was never as obvious as on the day she said to goodbye.

The next day, he knew something was up when the sheriff’s deputy pulled in behind his truck and activated the pulsating blue lights.  “Your mother has really done it this time” he said to his 12-year old son.  He also had a clock ticking, unbeknownst to him or anyone else.  The boy’s mother never wanted this to happen and never expected it would become so dangerous to she and her 2 children just when she decided it was time to say goodbye.  The deputy who took him into custody that day was in fear for the child’s mother, he would admit at some point.

Victims of domestic violence are at greatest risk when they decide it is time to end the cycle of power and control. Those who work with victim’s advocates are thought to experience less abuse and report a better quality of life. This takes time, and time is all they have in the world to break the chain of violence.

People thought he was just a neighborhood bully.  They later learned he was intimidating, sadistic and sexually aggressive.  He hated his daughter when she was born and he wished she were a boy.  When she started to walk he would trip her and laugh.  It was a joke to him he would later say.  No one knew but there was a clock ticking for the little girl as well.  These were the first red flags.  Together these three shared a secret, with him.

After being criminally threatened, she was issued an order of protection.  It meant that he could have no contact with his wife or the children.  It also required that he attend counseling sessions.  In spite of this, the extent of his anger was never fully appreciated according to a state official.  Meanwhile, she also filed for divorce and he began to fester.  His jealousy and suspicion grew.  He too had a ticking clock only his was more of a ticking bomb.  Just because she had the nerve to say goodbye.

That year was a dream come true.  She met new people and managed the transition to a single parent household better than most.  She taught kindergarten and was everybody’s mother.  That year she began to feel happy – people noticed.  Her children too started to move on.  On social media websites she would post her pride in her kids with photographs and video.  She had a plan that would keep them all safe from him.  Soon it would be time to say goodbye to the controlling, manipulative abuser.

Not so fast.  He was not satisfied with this arrangement.  His wife could no longer put up with his charade.  In the months after he was ordered to stay away from his family the impact of his estrangement began to whittle away the exterior of bravado.  Arguably, he did what he pleased like standing in line behind her at a local coffee shop in violation of the court order.  He launched a social media diatribe lauding his achievements as a father and husband.  He lied about all that he had done and minimized having held a firearm on his wife and children.  Suddenly it was her fault that he could not see the children.  She was harming the kids by keeping them from their beloved father, he espoused.  Poor soul.  The irony in his internet blitz was lost on a bevy of friends who “liked” his daily status reports. They insisted he fight for his children. Time was ticking toward the 8th grade commencement exercise he wanted to attend, ostensibly to portray himself as someone everyone knew he could not become.  Time too was growing near to the final divorce decree and to his day in court.

By now people began hearing the ticking clock.  Family members said a change came over him.  He was depressed and talked of suicide.  “When I do it, it will be on CNN” he managed with his typical hubris.  He faced the end of his 10-year marriage and a court trial from his action one year previously.

All at once, the totality of his anger and deception came into focus to the police who saw his truck in her driveway.  They were called when she failed to come to school on that day.

Some saw how much danger they were in and did nothing.  Red flags raise the specter of risk.  “I never thought he would take the kids” said a family member, in a matter of fact way.  Others blamed a district attorney for not lightening up on the stay away order saying if the D.A. had only allowed him to attend the commencement exercise he would not have done what he did.

No one knows what the impending loss of time meant to him, time in jail? Time alone?  What happened next is well documented.  He set his alarm clock for 4:45 and wrote letters to his family — 10 in all.  “I’ll see you in hell” he scribed to his wife. He entered the rental home while they slept, his intentions known only to him.  For 2 hours he raged on setting the scene.  Finally time stood still for all four.  The family’s timeline came to an end – all at once – all because she had the courage to walk away, to make a better choice for her children, and to say goodbye once and for all.

Michael Sefton, Ph.D.

Dr. Sefton is a police sergeant in New Braintree.  Along with three colleagues, Ron Allanach, Brian Gagan, and Joe Laughlin researched the Psychological Autopsy of the June 11, 2010 Dexter, Maine Murder/Suicide and made over 50 recommendations for reducing harm to people living with intimate terrorism.  They presented their findings before the Domestic Violence Homicide Review Board on November 11, 2011 in Augusta, ME.

Read more:

http://www.enddvh.blogspot.com

What are “red flags” in intimate partner violence?

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior , , ,

Law enforcement is regularly on the front line in making decisions about the likelihood of imminent violence. In the case of domestic violence police need to key in on specific behaviors that can signal elevated levels of risk to victims and children. Why?  Because over half of all cases of domestic are not reported to police.  As a result, front line responders need to be aware of both tangible and less obvious indicators of risk know as red flags.  Red flags may be predictive of future violence.  “As the totality of these red flags come into focus it becomes incumbent upon each of us to take action on behalf of those most at risk – as we are mandated to do in cases of child and elder abuse” (Sefton, 2011).

Past behavior is thought to be the best predictor of future behavior.  The history of a prior order of protection should signal to police the proclivity for violence.  This information is readily available to the street officer via the mobile data terminal seated next to him in his cruiser.  In Massachusetts, police are privy to prior protection orders and whether or not a suspect ever violated those orders.  Special care for victims may be needed in cases where suspects repeatedly violate DV “stay away” orders.  Arguably these facts should bear greater weight when determining bail conditions than criminal record alone for those arrested for intimate partner abuse.  Unfortunately, in most cases, they are not.

Victim safety should be the first consideration in any treatment plan involving spousal abuse.  Police officers have significant latitude when making decisions about disposing of cases domestic abuse.  Recommendations should include a review of the frequency, severity, and potential risk factors in the case, and consider the need for a victim safety plan.  Police may be the first in a line of many to recommend the safety plan for a battered and abused family member.  They regularly make decisions about risk based on what they see at the scene.  Red flags sometimes jump out when they interview the parties involved e.g. bruises, scratches, burn marks.  All too often decisions about “risk” are based upon what transpired prior to arrival rather than in consideration of what might happen once officers leave.  Risk factors must be included into police officer discretion.

In respect to victims of domestic violence, it is vital that red flags and risk factors become the first of its kind “road map” to reduce harm to families who find themselves in the cross hairs and assure that victims and their safety plans are not abandoned or ignored.

  1. Sefton, M (2011) Risk Assessment. Retrieved January 27, 2012. http://www.enddvh.blogspot.com

Intimate Partner Violence

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior , , , ,

“Despite receiving some mental health counseling, it is apparent, in retrospect that the degree of violence and anger possessed by the abuser was not realized”, according to the chief medical examiner in Maine following the 2011 domestic violence homicide in Dexter, Maine. Red flag behaviors are those that give off clues to the degree of risk posed to victims who have been abused. The abuser in this tragic case exhibited quite typical behaviors that raised the degree of risk to the victim exponentially. Some police officers verbalized a fear for the victim well before she was murdered by her husband.

Police and domestic violence experts need greater understanding of pre-incident behavior and red flags. These factors then become decision points for prosecutors who must decide conditions of release, including bail. The case described in Maine was researched by a team of current and former police officers with experience and training in domestic violence (Allanach,R., Gagan, B. Laughlin, J., Sefton, M. 2011). The findings of this research was published in a report of Psychological Autopsy of the Domestic Violence Homicide in Dexter, Maine submitted to the Domestic Violence Homicide Review Panel in Augusta, Maine in November 2011.

Underpinnings of school massacre

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior

The school massacre in Newtown, CT may never be understood to the satisfaction of behavioral scientists and those who lost their loved ones alike. According to analysis posted in the New York Post, the perpetrator planned his actions well before the murders. Experts argue this degree of planning is the act of someone who is organized and probably has intact sanity. This is the part that has people confused and wondering how could any sane person murder children in cold blood?

As the days and weeks pass more is becoming known about Adam Lanza the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook school shooting and despicable malefactor. The paper described a pattern of compulsive video gaming where hours upon hours of violent fantasy may have been the harbinger of the terminal rage that culminated on that day in his suicidal rampage. What sort of monster was Adam Lanza?

Everyone you speak to has his own theory about what could trigger an event as lugubrious and hateful as this. Some attribute his action to the poor attachment he had with his mother – the first victim and teacher at Sandy Hook. Others wish to blame a developmental disorder in the autism spectrum as the underpinning cause because Lanza did not make eye contact or socialize with others.

The psychological autopsy is an in depth analysis of the terminal event and the days and weeks that proceeded it. The study includes interview data from friends, family members, doctors, members of law enforcement and anyone else with first hand knowledge of Lanza and his emotional comportment leading up to the murders. Like its forensic counterpart, psychological examiners seek to uncover the motives, behaviors, and emotions that homogenized into the worst school shooting in U.S. history. We may never understand what triggered the events of December 14 but the psychological autopsy will provide a comprehensive analysis of the complex and competing psychic forces at work in the mind of the killer. The importance of this may not immediately be appreciated but the recently published psychological autopsy of the killer in the Dexter, Maine homicides has brought determinable and conclusive knowledge as to the precursory events that were apparent to many well before the terminal event. It has also contributed to the body of knowledge about domestic violence and domestic violence homicide that arguable belies the facts of the Sandy Hook killings.

WHAT IS KNOWN
The NY Post story identified patterns of functioning that may underlie the monstrous behavior. Adam Lanza was socially withdrawn and isolated which conjures up speculation about the negative impact of video games. His first killing was an act of matricide – killing of the mother. The divorce of his parents in 2008 raises the specter of divorce and its impact on adolescent mental health. Very little has been reported on Lanza’s relationship with his biological father. Clearly the senior Mr. Lanza was well established and could provide for his son yet there was no apparent emotional attachment.

Adam Lanza was home schooled.  Critics of home schooling may assume that Lanza was undersocialized and attribute this to the kind of person he became. Meanwhile, armchair psychologists want to blame schizophrenia, social avoidance, autism, or personality disorder as the cause of Lanza’s emotional perturbation and its eventual cataclysmic finale.

What would prevent Lanza’s apparently affluent parents from getting the treatment their son so obviously needed? Both were highly educated and money was not a barrier to accessing mental health care. Had Lanza been in treatment for his socially avoidant lifestyle? Arguably, parental apathy must be considered when one learns about the constellation of family relationships that comprised the life of Adam Lanza. We may never know why Lanza first killed his mother in an act of matricide – the sole human being with whom he had any regular contact. Perhaps he blamed her for the emotionally barren existence he lived. In a previous blog, Michael Sefton, Ph.D. argued that domestic violence, and one might argue mass murder, is not the product of poverty nor the inculpation of firearms – but a host of factors incompatible with emotional health that must be studied.

WHAT COMES NEXT?
It now becomes the responsibility of the state of Connecticut to investigate the events of one of the worst days in human history. There is no responsible person to prosecute – he is deceased. Some may wish to turn the page on Sandy Hook – raze the building and bury all of its untold horrors. It would be imprudent to summarily raze Sandy Hook and bury its truths without first learning what might have saved the 26 souls who perished on that day. This was done in Maine following a 2011 domestic violence homicide and brought forth some valuable knowledge about preincident behavior. Most perpetrators project red flag behaviors that forewarn their actions which sometimes become triggered by apparently benign events.

The psychological autopsy of the recent Dexter, Maine homicides suggested that social media may have marginalized the killer in such a way that his exclusion from his son’s 8th grade commencement triggered the slaughter of his two children and estranged spouse in June 2011. Likewise, it was quite obvious that Adam Lanza was experiencing life in the margins and used the killing of 26 innocent people to manifest the alienation and resentment it caused for him. Did he grow up without the emotional attachment to others so that killing his mother was like turning off a television set or video game – stopping the random noise that interfered with his perseverating fantasy and stripping him of needed emotional ballast?

We may never know what event triggered his growing frustration and pent up rage resulting in the Sandy Hook killings. It is important that we do all that we can for the victims, their families and society to uncover those factors that contributed to the man’s behavior and understand without a doubt the sequence of events that led up to the unconscionable actions taken by Adam Lanza. Only then can we begin to turn the page on Sandy Hook and only then can the healing begin.

Road Map to Violence

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Childhood violence, domestic violence, Human Behavior , , ,

ROAD MAP TO VIOLENCE – WHAT CAN WE DO TO PREDICT VIOLENCE?

There is no single road map to understanding the complexity of human behavior in general and homicide in particular.  If there were the rate of domestic violence homicide might be reduced to zero.  Unfortunately behavioral analysis as a science has not evolved into a reliable enough predictor of murder and cannot envisage when terminal rage might be unleashed.  The psychological autopsy is the study of individual cases that uncovers details about the pre-incident behaviors known as red flags. The application of this information can identify commonalities among cases of domestic violence so that police and social service agencies might have justification for early stopping and when necessary containment of high risk abusers.