What makes couples commit? Commit crimes together that is.
A lot of you would have seen (or been aware of) the Netflix documentary Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, plus seen his ex girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in the media recently. Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on July 2, 2020 on multiple charges related to the sexual abuse of young women and girls by Jeffrey Epstein.
A super brief summary: From at least in or about 1994 to around 1997, Maxwell assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by (among other things), helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18. (The victims were as young as 14 years old – at the time they were groomed and abused, both Maxwell and Epstein,were well aware that certain victims were under the age of 18).
I thought it would be interesting to look into why couples commit crimes – murder and kidnapping unfortunately seem to be a popular pastime if the jointly messed up decide to turn to the dark side. Forensic psychologist Tom Powell says; “One person…stokes an idea and over time it takes shape. There’s often one dominant force when it comes to crimes committed by couples and it doesn’t always have to be the man.”
Gypsy Rose Blanchard
Want a quick example? Gypsy Rose manipulated her boyfriend Nickolas Godejohn (who was described as being autism spectrum disorder level 2, requiring substantial support, along with intellectual impairment) to kill her mother – and interesting series you can watch if you wish.
Powell continues, “Oftentimes, the motivation that [couples] have is one of controlling the other to do something bad. I think it’s rooted in a lot of negative relationship issues. Anger being one of them, power being another and frustration. There’s usually a pretty high level of frustration in the world.”
Joni E. Johnston, Psy.D believes; “Partners in thrill kills typically have one member who drives the murder mobile. However, this doesn’t mean the other person is a passive passenger. Most duos consist of a dominant person who teams up with an equally enthusiastic accomplice or someone who, because something is lacking in their own character, is easy to bring on board.”
So what I’ve gathered from this information is that there’s 1) usually a dominant party (Epstein) and 2) a will accomplice (Maxwell) – and usually they both 3) get some form or reward – from what I can see, power over someone else is often high on that list. Admittedly this is an over simplification to a very large question – however it’s a start.
Love is finishing each other’s sentences? For those that didn’t get the joke, that certainly looks to be true for Epstein & Maxwell. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell on 10th August, 2019 – with plenty of his jail sentence to go. With Maxwell’s arrest, she can finish it for him.
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