Write A Case Study Of Ronald Simmons

Some murders sprees can be thrilling like the ones on television but in reality there is no PG rating and the excitement is only for the killers. On the morning of December 28th 1987 in Russelville, Arkansas, Ronald Gene Simmons was arrested for the murder of two people along with four other attempted murders. He began by shooting a receptionist from his old job who was, “a young woman named Kathy Kendrick, with whom he had been infatuated and who had rejected him,” (Murderpedia). After her death he then moved to an oil company’s office and killed, “J.D. Chaffin and wounded the owner, Rusty Taylor, and then drove on to a convenience store where he had previously worked, shooting and wounding two more people,” (Murderpedia). He finally went

First, the domination Ronald Simmons had over his family was both sexual and psychological and was continuous for years. This domination led to all four categories of violence being physical, sexual, psychological, and depravation or neglect. This can lead to intense fear, helplessness, and threat of intensified harm to the individual as well as health conditions that can come from this stress such as intestinal issues or drug addictions. Secondly, he used a .22 caliber pistol as the weapon for the 8 adult murders as well as the four attempted murders. This shows clear evidence of both homicide and filicide. Although slightly more contemporary, a study from 2001-2010 shows that, “Arkansas had a gun death rate that was almost 50 percent higher than the national average, as well as the ninth-highest of any state in the country,” (AmericanProgress). Simmons was also a Vietnam veteran, which could have influenced his violence through PTSD or other war related trauma. Having such a violent history could have attributed to his ownership of a gun and the military mindset where he sees enemies even within his community rather than on the battlefield. Thirdly, his use of both strangulation and drowning to murder the children and grandchildren of his is a very intimate and angry way to kill innocent youths. “Over the last three decades U.S. parents have committed filicide — the killing of one’s child — about 500 times

Since this murder spree happened in 1987, we have made progressive changes as a society with the incorporation of fast worldwide Internet and services for families such as the Simmons family that potentially could have helped address the abuse they were facing. The daughter, Sheila, who had firsthand experienced the sadistic and dominating manner of her father could have gotten her family help once she moved out and married her husband. It is difficult to say that the government or social services could have gotten more involved on their own due to Simmons’ strict control over family activity and outside connection but I believe that his wife, who thought him mentally unstable, could have done the same in order to protect herself and her family. Even before this violence began to occur, the military should have more effective screening to ensure that people who are enlisted should have more rigorous psychological analysis to ensure they are stable and should follow up with additional screening when enlisted for extended amounts of time (Simmons served 22 years in the military). If individuals are thrown into an extremely violent and testosterone driven force they must be able to control this once out of service and obviously Ronald Simmons was not able to cope with his