Running head: DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES OF CRIME 1

Developmental Theories of Crime

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Countess Elizabeth Bathory (1560) was a Hungarian noble woman and an alleged serial

killer from the noble family of Bathory. She was married to a brutal warrior, Count French

Nasady. Bathory and her acquaintances were accused of torturing and killing a total of 650

young women between 1585 and 1609.Allegations of her killings were verified by more than

300 witnesses and survivors. The story of Elizabeth got famous that she used to bath with the

blood of virgin girls to retain her youth. In December 1610, she was imprisoned in Cachtice

Castle, confined in a windowless room where she died four years later.

The persistent criminal offending of Elizabeth can be explained using the life course

theory. The theory was formulated by Karl Mannheim (1920), who stated that human

experiences especially those undergone in childhood shape their future actions. The theory

further outlines that lack of parental guidance leads to criminal acts by an individual in the

future. The interactions between an individual and the environment are the fundamental basics

for a person to engage in crime or not to.

The scenario can also be explained using the latent trait theory which allocates crime to

people with little control over their impulses and have very little concern over the needs of the

others. For instance, Elizabeth believed that bathing in virgin blood would retain and help her

regain her lost youth. She therefore went ahead to killing people so as to achieve her self-

centered goals. However there is no enough evidence to support the allegation that Elizabeth

bathed with virgins’ blood.

The trajectory theory which states that there is no one factor that encourages delinquent

actions also applies to this case. A number of factors can be considered to have led to the actions
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of Elizabeth which may include the surrounding she grew up in, ambitions to retain her youth,

psychological issues due to the neurotic seizures she was experiencing and many other factors.

In the case of Elizabeth Bathory, life course theory accounts the best. She was born in an

era when horrific trials and sentences were carried out under her family who were the ruling

officials. She thus grew up under sheer disgust hidden behind the royalty curtains. These

experiences resulted to her having seizures that made her neurotic. She lacked the parental

guidance a child of her age needed making her deliver an illegitimate child at the age of 14.

As an adult, she was once left by her husband as the countess and the head role of the

kingdom. She then got quickly bored and resulted to entertain herself by torturing her servants

(who were considered to be property) and engaging in witchcraft. All these were as a result of

her childhood experiences. Her nurse, Darvulia, further worsened the situation by teaching her

ways of torturing and witchcraft.

The fact that she grew up in an environment where brutal torturing of servants was seen

as normal made her torture them more without mercy. She would have the fingers of her helpers

pulled off and then their heads cut off. She would then record all this in a diary that was found in

her room. The diary contained the names and techniques used during the killings she committed

and her witchcraft sessions.

The case of Elizabeth Bathory therefore proves the statement made by Mannheim true

that the connection between a series of life events and human beings determine their future

engagement in criminal acts. For instance, the brutal prosecutions made by her family attributed

to her neurotic condition which led to the massive killing of virgin women hidden behind

nobility.
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References

Farrington, D. P. (2017). A general age-graded theory of crime: Lessons learned and the future

of life- course criminology. In Integrated developmental and life-course theories of

offending (pp. 175- 192). Routledge.

Hunter, R. D., & Quinn, S. T. (2016). Research methods for criminology and criminal justice.

Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Rauf, D. (2015). Female Serial Killers. Enslow Publishing, LLC.