By: Gabrielle Pezich

 James Holmes was born in San Diego, CA in 1987  He grew up in a relatively happy middle class family  He was described by those who knew him as a kind, clean cut young man  He started out as a very social child and had many friends growing up in elementary school  Holmes was extremely intelligent and excelled at all that he did whether it be music, school,or sports  Holmes was always at the top of the top when it came to his education, and was praised for it by his teachers  He was known to many as a child prodigy filling his excess time with writing codes, and developing a school website

 However, Holmes started to isolate himself from others later in life  When he was younger Holmes worked as a counselor at a summer cap for needy children  However unknown to many Holmes had schizophrenia, and homicidal tendencies  Holmes began to see a psychiatrist, but his condition did not appear to improve  Before committing mass murder James Holmes had no criminal background

CrimesDateVictim(s)Punishment First-degree murder July 20, 2012 Jonathan Blunk, Alexander Boik, Jesse Childress, Gordon Cowden, Jessica Ghawi, John Larimer, Matt McQuinn, Micayla Medek, Veronica Sullivan, Alex Sulllivan, Alexander Teves, Rebecca Wingo 12 life sentences without parole Attempted murder July 20, 2012 No complete list given, of those there at the time of the shooting. 3,318 years ( added with explosives charge) Possession of explosives July 20, 2012None3,318 years ( added with attempted murder charges)

 Testimonies of hundreds of people who were inside the theater at the time of the shooting  A rifle, shotgun, and two handguns that Holmes was carrying  Holmes had set a timer for thirty explosives to go off in his home during the time of the shooting  Images on Holmes I phone of him posing with the weapons  He admitted to the crime himself, but claimed to not be in his right mind

 James Holmes was convicted on 24 counts of first-degree murder, and 140 counts of attempted murder for the 2012 Aurora shooting.  As a result, he was sentenced to serve out 12 life sentences in jail, along with an additional 3,318 years for many counts of attempted murder, and an explosives conviction.  He is currently serving out his time in Colorado’s state prison.

 “ I knew it was legally wrong. You get punished for killing people. But these were not real people. It was just kind of amorphous people who were going to get hurt…I just considered them numbers really, not people”

 James Holmes was appropriately named“ The Batman Killer” since his mass murder took place during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises at the time of the shooting.

 cpag&feature=player_detailpage cpag&feature=player_detailpage  Other than this another influence on culture that James Holmes had was that after Holmes was identified as the killer, supporters of his who later called themselves Holmies took to the internet in support of the criminal praising him, and arguing his innocence.

 The sociological theory of deviance that best explains James Holmes criminal behavior would be psychological. I believe this to be the correct theory with which to explain his deviance because of how James Holmes was viewed when we look at him through the other two theories. If we look at Holmes through the eyes of society he was viewed as being a well behaved young man, who came from a good family, and excelled at school. When we look at his physical appearance we see that through the years he appeared as an averagely attractive clean-cut man. That is up until the moment he committed his crime, with an unusual head full of deep red unkempt hair. Despite this, I still feel that James Holmes’ actions can best be described through the psychological approach, as there is the most information to support this theory. One example of such information would be the fact that Holmes had schizophrenia, and often visited a campus psychologist who he expressed his homicidal thoughts as well. Since Holmes developed this at young age, but was never treated for it, this may have been what drove Holmes into isolation in his older years. Isolating themselves from society is often something that mass murders, and serial killers alike take part in. Another, thing that certain people have claimed led Holmes to commit his crime was his breakup with his girlfriend. Since the event was shortly after his girlfriend breaking up with him this was used as an argument against the insanity defense, and instead claimed that this stressful event led Holmes to commit his crime. In conclusion, I believe that that the theory that best describes why James Holmes turned to criminal behavior would be the psychological approach.