Sykes And Matz's Neutralization Theory

Great Essays
Case/Offender During the summer of 1978 the killing spree of Roger Dale and Veran Stafford along with Roger’s brother Harold Stafford took place in Oklahoma. This killing spree would go down as one of the most gruesome killings in the state’s history. Throughout the summer of 1978 these three individuals would kill four adults five teenagers and one boy who was younger then thirteen. Roger Safford had been charged with murder for killing a 20-year-old co-worker while working at McDonalds in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. His brother Harold is thought to have been involved he was never formally charged. Roger was only charged after his ex-wife Veran had told the police of his actions. He never stood trail for this case because of murders in Oklahoma, …show more content…
Taking a look at Veran, from Sykes and Matz’s neutralization theory (Walsh, 2012) she uses appealing to higher loyalties to justify her part in the killings. The why she does this is through seeing her loyalty lies with Roger Stafford whether or not this is due to her marriage or an unknown pasted experience with him. Also from Sykes and Matz’s neutralization theory (Walsh, 2012) she uses denial of responsibility. Through reading of her account of the killings she places most if not all of the blame on to Roger, she divorced him after they had both been caught. By doing this she tries to make her self out to be less guilty than Roger because did not pull the physically trigger other than when Roger made …show more content…
Verna Stafford would be charged and sentenced to two life terms. She would testify against her husband Roger Stafford in exchange for being charged with two counts of second-degree murder. He was convicted of all nine murders and sentenced to die by lethal injection. During his stay on death row he would be divorced twice and marry twice. Roger Dale Stafford died on July 2, 1995. Before his death he appealed the decision eight times and all eight times was denied a stay of execution. Verna would divorce Roger while he was on death row. She would also be denied parole in 1989. She is currently in

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