INTRODUCTION
The American criminal justice system is a very complex entity that most people hope to have little interaction with. Most people will tell you that it can also be incredibly confusing. People become most invested in court proceedings when they are high profile cases that garner a great deal of media attention; some that many are familiar with include Amy Fisher, Casey Anthony and, certainly, the O.J. Simpson trial. Another case that became the center of media attention is the trial of Jodi Arias. Jodi Arias is a 32-year-old woman who is currently serving a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, for first degree murder, after she premeditated the murder of, her on-and-off again boyfriend, Travis Alexander in his home in 2008. There are mixed opinions regarding the verdict that was reached. Many felt that the death penalty was the most suitable to this case because of the preplanning, along with the ferocity and brutality of how she killed Alexander; Arias stabbed Alexander, nearly 30 times, slit his throat and shot him in the head, as was explained by Michael Kiefer in a 2015 article for USA Today. Both sides of the Arias debate argue different elements including police procedures, court proceedings, the sentence itself, as well as, the implications for the American criminal justice system. After reviewing the available sources, it becomes clear that Jodi Arias is a seriously unstable individual that should never be allowed to threaten the public and while her acts might have earned her the death penalty, life imprisonment without possibility release is the best compromise to which to approach this case.
BACKGROUND
In 2008 a 20-something Jodi Arias traveled to Arizona with the intention of staying with, ex-boyfriend and lover, Travis Alexander. Surprising him by showing up unexpected the two, according to Arias, engaged is some rather rough sex, involving bondage. She claimed that while taking nude pictures of Alexander in the shower, she dropped the camera and he became angered with her and became aggressive. She claimed he chased her into a closet where she retrieved his gun and “accidentally” fired the weapon. Even after she was charged and facing trial she continued to have no memory of the stabbing or slitting his throat. However, as the evidence mounted it became very clear that parts of her story just did not sound right. Later, Arias would admit her crime and the details of the murder she committed, as explained by journalists Meghan Keneally and Louise Boyle in their 2013 article for the Daily Mail. She attacked Alexander and stabbed him 27 times and slit his throat, deep enough to nearly sever his head, and then shot him in the head. She then had the forethought to return the bloody knife to the kitchen, she took the gun and threw it into the desert on her way home and then returned home actively covering her tracks. Judge Sherry Stephens, who presided over the Arias case, explained that her guilt was no longer really an issue; she committed this horrific crime (Kiefer, 2013). However, determining the nature of her punishment and whether or not the death penalty was warranted became a whole new battle. It took two sentencing trials for the jury to finally concur on a sentence of life in prison without the hope of parole or release.
DISCUSSION
Again this case became very popular on televised, print and online media. Everyone has an opinion and an outlet. Many argue that there were areas in the high profile case contributed to the inability to reach a verdict on sentencing. In order to understand some of the more controversial or debatable issues regarding this case it is best to look at the contributory factors individually.
Police Proceedings: Travis Alexander’s roommate discovered Alexander’s body five days after his death. When the police investigated the crime scene there is little doubt that this was a brutal murder. This was a vicious attack, involving a great deal of “overkill” that the killer must be acquainted with the victim. Arias worked very hard to cover-up her involvement; she even attended his funeral to avoid suspicion. Once they started questioning her they noticed that her story did not entirely fit the evidence. Police Investigator, Esteban Flores, explained how her stories changed overtime (Keneally and Boyle, 2013). First she claimed that she was never in Arizona, later claimed that a man and women broke in and killed Alexander. There is also the aspect of her story where she continued to claim self-defense; however, the majority of Alexander’s stab wounds were to his back. That does not sound like self defense and also she did not call 911, which many would think would be the typical reaction of someone who has been attacked or is “abused” as Arias, also, claimed.
Court Proceedings: Again, it would ultimately take two trials before the jury could come to an agreement on Arias’ life sentence. There are a couple of issues identified that may have contributed to that lack of agreement. Firstly, is what is being called the “Snow White” defense. Basically, it is the idea that women are innocent, helpless and primarily victims of a patriarchal society and of individual men in their lives. So the “princess” could never have done what she has done, without the fear and mentality of a battered woman, as explained by Doctor Janice Harper, in her 2013 article for Psychology Today. There is no way she could commit such a cold, calculated premeditated murderer. There are also issues in the court proceedings and jurors. Again, the modern media is everywhere. People with smart phones have the same access to external and free information as surely as form their home computers. During the trial jurors had to be questioned regarding how much time they spend on social media, like Facebook and Twitter, and whether or not that it could impact the jurors’ ability to be impartial and objective in the case. In fact, the courts ordered jurors to turn over their phones to monitor and review their online communications, explained Judge Amy J. St. Eve and her coauthors, in a 2014 article for the Duke Law & Technology Review.
Correctional Sentence: Of course, as mentioned, Jodi Arias was found guilty of the brutal murder of Travis Alexander. However, that was only half of the legal battle in this high profile case. The first jury could not determine whether to hand down a life sentence or the death penalty (Kiefer, 2013). The death penalty has and remains a controversial sentencing option. It is certainly the most severe sentence that the American court can assign to any offender. In states that allow the death penalty it is generally reserved for the most severe and disturbing crimes. Jodi Arias premeditated this act, she carried out a vicious attack against her ex-boyfriend and left his naked body as she worked to cover-up her involvement (Harper, 2013). For all tense and purposes many jurors felt that Arias personified an offender who deserves the death penalty, but not all the jurors agreed. This led to a second trial, again, the jurors were torn, however in the end Arias was saved from the death penalty and would serve her lifetime behind bars, without the possibility of parole or release.
ANALYSIS
Throughout American criminal justice system required jurors to be sequestered, so that they would not be influenced by the media or public; ideally so that they could be impartial and only be exposed to facts within the courtroom. However, that was easy when media was limited to print and broadcast television. Today, it is a very different story. The media is everywhere, both professional and public, and it can have a huge effect on the minds and, potentially, the verdicts of many jurors who serve (St. Eve, Burnsm & Zuckerman, 2014). There is little doubt that media may have played a role in how people perceived Jodi Arias, either one way or another, either for or against her. There is another issue that seems to be significant is the “Snow White” defense, which offers that women who commit murder do so because they are innately disadvantaged in a patriarchal society (Harper, 2013). Being female should not be the standard by which we judge her crime; the fact is that she did this and would ultimately confess to the crime and detail how she killed Travis Alexander (Kiefer, 2013). The reality is that women are just as capable as men of “snapping,” plotting and planning murders, acting out it displays of unthinkable violence and can suffer from the same mentalities that allow men to become murders. Had Lizzie Borden or Jodi Arias had been men it is likely they both would have been found guilty and sentenced to death.
Experts have attempted to understand the violent criminal acts of Jodi Arias from, not only the legal aspects, but also from the psychiatric and sociological perspectives as well. Psychologists, like Dale Archer, in a 2013 article, was quick to denounce any of the psychological reasons that were used in Arias defense. She was not a battered woman, she did not have a personality disorder and she did not have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. She is, also, not a sociopath, as many laymen have suggested. There is no singular diagnosis or condition that can explain her personal decision to kill and brutalize the body of her once boyfriend (Harper, 2013). Arias is a spoiled, self-involved, brat, who, like so many young people today, could not handle the rejection of Alexander and decided that if she could not have him, no one would. Sometimes people are just “bad” and there is no medical or psychiatric condition to blame (Archer, 2013).
The Sociological discussion of the Jodi Arias case is a bit different. They blame the modern gender roles that still exist in the present era. It is suggested that as a young woman she is culturally pressured into finding a career, but also to find her “prince charming.” Arias thought that Alexander was her that destined soul-mate. However, when the relationship started to go sour, she could not give up on the relationship. They suppose that Alexander knew that and continued to string her along and mistreat her. Her murder of Alexander was in response to being unable to have this ideal relationship that her gender role encourages her to have. She failed to meet the expectations upon her gender and that led her to such a violent extreme, as explained by Kristyan M. Kouri from the Department of Sociology at California State University Northridge, in a 2013 article for Sociology and Criminology. That said to continue to attempt to explain or justify Arias’ crime are denying the simple reality that she plotted the murderous crime, committed this merciless crime and proactively attempted to cover-up her crime. She knew right and wrong and legal versus illegal; that is why she covered it up. That is why it could never be self defense.
CONCLUSION
Fortunately, the jury found Jodi Arias guilty. Now, many may feel that she should have received the death penalty instead of life imprisonment. Perhaps it was personal philosophies regarding capital punishment, perhaps it was her gender or maybe it was a belief in her status as abused that guided some of the jurors away from a death penalty verdict. Regardless, what is most important is that Travis Alexander’s murder was solved and the right person is being held accountable for that crime. Jodi Arias will never step outside of a prison for the next forty or fifty years left in her lifetime; she will die there. Sometimes the pursuit of justice is a matter of accepting compromise in solutions, life sentence over the death penalty is one of those compromises.
REFERENCES
Archer, Dale. (2013). Jodi arias-Guilty, Murder 1: A psychiatric Analysis. Psychology Today. 1.
Retrieved June 22, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-between-the-headlines/201305/jodi-arias-guilty-murder-1-psychiatric-analysis.
Harper, Janice. (2013). Jodi arias and the snow white defense. Psychology Today. 1.
Retrieved June 22, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-bullying/201304/jodi-arias-and-the-snow-white-defense
Keneally, Meghan and Boyle, L. (2013). Jodi arias weeps as she reveals how she "killed travis
alexander in self defense" but has no memory of stabbing ex-boyfirend 27 times. Daily Mail. 1. Retrieved June 22, 2016, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281873/Jodi-Arias-trial-Arizona-woman-weeps-reveals-killed-Travis-Alexander-self-defense.html.
Kiefer, M. (2015). Jodi Arias sentenced to natural life in prison. USA Today. 1. Retrieved
June 22, 2016, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/jodi-arias-sentencing/25691575/
Kouri, K.M. (2013). Jodi arias from sociological perspective. Sociology and Criminology. 1(1).
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St. Eve, A.J., Burnsm C.P. and Zuckerman, M.A. (2014). More from the #jury box: The
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