The Story Behind The Murder Of Stefanie Rengel Case Study

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The story behind the murder of Stefanie Rengel swept through Canadian society as astonished consumers read articles that addressed the case as a “jealousy-driven” act of murder (Chimera, 2015). 17 year old David Bagshaw was manipulated to murder Stephanie Rengel, a former crush, by his new girlfriend Melissa Todorovic. Todorovic and Bagshaw had previously discussed committing a criminal act against Rengel, Bagshaw had even “bolted” from their first attempt (DiManno, 2013). After the murder, many news outlets within the Toronto area took advantage of the violent crime committed by the 17 year old. The medias plays a large roll in the distortion of factual information regarding criminal cases, especially when reporting on the young offenders …show more content…
This can cause readers to have an instilled fear of the criminal, leading to youth crime as a whole becoming a terrifying topic for many. Youth crime is typically seen through the same lens as adult crime, proving this within the Rengel case as both Bagshaw and Todorovic were charged as adults. However Donald Black proposed the idea of “Crime as Social Control”, that discusses how finding self-help through violence when other systems have failed is one form of youth crime (Wilkinson, 2009). Therefore, in many cases when an under age offender commits their crime it is less likely that they had criminal intent. Rather, because they felt as though systems in their life were failing. For Bagshaw’s case, he was manipulated into killing Rengel by Todorovic in order to have sexual intercourse, this would have meant without a murder he would lose Todorovic. As Dr. Lisa Ramshaw claimed, the absence of Todorovic meant the murder or Rengel would likely not have occurred (Small, 2009). Many of the articles written about the Rengel murder had nothing to do with Todorovic and Bagshaw’s past. One article written about Bagshaw describing his rough past was lacking in sources. However, when consumers of the media go through articles about Bagshaw and Todorovic they get the impression both are violent criminals. What consumers do not get the impression of is what created that young offender in the first place (McCormick, 2010). Because none of the articles provide insight on the offenders themselves other than their crime, both Bagshaw and Todorovic are being misrepresented. However, the main misrepresentation in this case is regarding Bagshaw, as articles used criminalizing language when describing Bagshaw. While pointing out Todorovic as the mastermind, Bagshaw committed the act, and left Rengel out to die alone as many articles pointed out. However, not many

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