Essay Proposal 1 Essays - Crime In Toronto, LGBT History In Canada

Sociological Theories Applied to the McArthur Killings Santiago Arango ID: 0983059 University of Guelph My essay will be focusing on the 2010-2017 Toronto serial homicides committed by Bruce McArthur on the why and how he did what he did. It will look at all 8 victims collectively that had ties to Church and Wellesley, Toronto's gay village. The victims were all gay men with physical similarities which usually included facial hair or a beard, and six were from South Asia or the Middle East , some of which were leading double lives because of their sexual orientation or lack of stable housing. An article by the Guardian goes into detail explaining how McArthur's killings went unnoticed. It touches on the years of victimization of the Gay community and how the police had failed to react appropriately to the multiple disappearances. The mayor mentions how the police force had ineffectively responded to the situation, Graham, D. (2018). I also look at a timeline of the case provided by the Toronto Star and it shows they had him as a person of interest earlier on in the case showing how the police certainly could have caught him much earlier on , The Star . (2019) . The article also looked at Bruce himself, mentioning how his appearance and demeanor make him appear harmless. It mentions how he was once married with 2 children and grandchildren making it harder to believe that he is both homosexual and a murderer. A look at his early life shows just how normal he appeared to be and that he struggled to come to terms with being homosexual, Edmiston, J. Inc., P. (2018). Looking at all the information given I identified 2 sociological theories applicable to the Bruce McArthur killings. McArthur committed his crimes because of Anomie's theory of normlessness, and he was able to continue his crimes because of Left Realism theory. Anomie theory is when societies norms inadvertently put a strain on an individual. McArthur being heavily involved in his church and family life makes for an easy way to conform to their beliefs and traditions, traditions which have a clear disapproval of McArthur's sexual orientation. His normlessness surrounding his sexual preferences had put a strain on him causing him to act out. Left Realism is when the police's opposed and inefficient response to the situation creates a distrusting public, unwilling to co-operate with police investigations. McArthur might have been caught a lot sooner had the gay community been more trusting of the police and given them more information. References Graham, D. (2018). "How alleged Toronto serial killer Bruce McArthur went unnoticed." the Guardian. Retrieved 12 February 2019, from HYPERLINK "https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/23/bruce-mcarthur-toronto-gay-serial-killer" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/23/bruce-mcarthur-toronto-gay-serial-killer A timeline of the Toronto police investigation into Bruce McArthur and the Gay Village serial killings | The Star. (2019). thestar.com. Retrieved 12 February 2019, from HYPERLINK "https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/02/08/a-timeline-of-the-bruce-mcarthur-case-and-the-police-investigation-into-the-gay-village-killings.html" https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/02/08/a-timeline-of-the-bruce-mcarthur-case-and-the-police-investigation-into-the-gay-village-killings.html Warnica , R. Edmiston, J. Inc., P. (2018). "How Bruce McArthur went from small-town sock salesman to accused serial killer." National Post. Retrieved 12 February 2019, from HYPERLINK "https://nationalpost.com/feature/bruce-mcarthur-small-town-sock-salesman-to-accused-serial-killer" https://nationalpost.com/feature/bruce-mcarthur-small-town-sock-salesman-to-accused-serial-killer