MacDonald Triad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MacDonald Triad - Essay Example Research evidences suggest that fire setting behaviour in childhood can be linked to release of frustration or anger, which has well been recognized as potential reasons of homicidal tendency. Criminal psychologists point out that many murderers engage in animal cruelty to get courage for harming their human rivals. Like the case of fire setting in childhood, children use to engage in animal cruelty as a way of expressing their anger and or frustration. Children consider animals as weaker and vulnerable segments and hence they enjoy a wild pleasure by torturing animals. Later, those children gain power over humans and gradually this behaviour turns to violent offenses. This theoretical concept has been supported by many scholars. â€Å"Studies have found that those who engaged in childhood acts of animal cruelty used the same method of killing on their human victims as they did on their animal victims† (RTBot, 2012). In a study conducted among 45 violent offenders by McClellan (2008), it was found that nearly 56% of them had engaged in animal cruelty during childhood. It clearly indicates the notable relationship between animal cruelty and late violent behaviors. Similarly, some scholars are of the view that a child may develop frustration if he/she was punished for unintentional bedwetting during sleep and this mental state would eventually lead to violent behavior. An additional strength is that many studies could prove a close link between fire setting and animal cruelty in childhood. According to these findings, there are many common causes for obsession with fire setting, animal cruelty, and violent behaviors. The major weakness of this model is that statistical studies do not indicate a strong link between the triad and violent offenders. Some researchers argue that the three behaviors linked to violent tendencies by MacDonald may be simply resulted from parental neglect and