FEMALE CRIMINALITY – 2 (KARLA HOMOLKA)
Usually at late night, when I am done with all my work I look for horror movies online. Yesterday, while doing the same, I came across Karla Homolka. Karla is one of Canada’s most infamous female convicts. She served in the prison for 12 years. She was involved in the crimes of drugging, raping, torturing and killing young girls over a decade ago. One of those teenage girls included her biological sister too.
Lombroso in his philosophy had illustrated that females are mostly engaged in ‘crimes of passion’ and are often ‘hysterical offenders’. The overview of Karla undeniably satisfies this belief. She was the oldest child of her parents; well adjusted, pretty, smart, popular and received ample love and attention by friends and family. Nobody ever had an idea that she was hiding deep psychotic desires.
According to the study by Lombroso, the ‘masculinity’ in females is the basic ingredient which makes them the criminal perpetrators. Taking the reference of Karla’s case, I found an edge over him until I came across another finding of his. He discovered that female characteristics contributed to make women criminals ‘terrible’ than males. He further stated that female criminals in their initial stages are conservative and passive; exactly the way Karla was. When the ideal characteristics of a woman are overcome by strong passions or drives, she becomes insensitive to pain with others.
The episode of Karla was very similar to the findings of Lombroso. What horrified me the most was when she offered her own sister to her boyfriend to rape and not just this; she too contributed in the act. In the same way, she along with her boyfriend raped and killed many teens and videotaped their acts.
The story of Karla denies the concealed concepts of womanhood. A woman wears maternal instincts, she’s kind, and she’s humble and caring. A woman who is jealous and revengeful is acceptable but, a woman who lacks womanhood not only defies the social norms but also the definition of woman. She is alarming, she is dangerous, she’s a terror; and Karla was a horror indeed!
Nitish Banka is an advocate practicing in Supreme Court of India and can be reached at [email protected] or 9891549997
