Joel Rifkin; A Criminological Perspective

In the early morning hours of June 28^th 1993 New York State troopers attempted to pull over a white Mazda pickup truck for a minor traffic violation, what followed though was a high speed crash. At which point troopers arrested the driver and then moved to the bed of the truck where a smell was emanating; what they found there was a body wrapped in plastic. The body was Tiffany Bresciani, and the man driving the truck was Joel Rifkin.

Prior to being arrested Rifkin had murdered 17 prostitutes over the course of four years. His first victim, Susie was killed in March of 1989, he bludgeoned her to death, then dismembered her body and scattered it around New York and New Jersey. When her remains were found by a golfer Rifkin monitored the news to make sure they weren’t close to determining that he was the killer, Rifkin suffered a major anxiety attack when it was determined that she had HIV. Possibly because of that scare he waited until 1990, approximately fourteen months later before killing again. Like Susie his second victim Julie was bludgeoned to death and strangled. Also like his first victim, Julie was dismembered and her remains were spread across New York and New Jersey. The next few victims Rifkin decided against dismembering, since he decided not to dismember the next few victims, it elevated the risk he had of being caught. Leaving whole bodies to be found raised the risk level of being caught, which could have lead to a greater thrill; which suggests Rational Choice, since rational choice relies partly on Bentham’s Utilitarian theory of pleasure versus pain.

Although his third victims’ body was found in its entirety and he had, like the first two, bludgeoned her to death the corner ruled it as a drug overdose. She wasn’t identified until Rifkin confessed, three years later, in the interim she was buried in potter’s field. His fourth victim he took to a motel, Rifkin said in interviews that he took her to a motel because he was hoping to break the habit of killing, he stated that didn’t want to kill he just wanted sex. However when she expressed a desire to die, Rifkin claimed that he went ahead and strangled her. This left him with a predicament of having to remove the body without anyone noticing; however this might have been done purposefully, causing him a greater rush. When looking at each of his seventeen victims, including his last victim Tiffany Bresciani in June of 1993; you can see the rational reasoning behind each victim. Yun Lee, a Korean he had been with before and victim number five had been his second prostitute in an hour to be with, and his failure to perform compelled him to kill her.

In some cases the family members didn’t report or realize that the victim was missing until after their body was found. One of Rifkin’s victims, Lorraine Orvieto, who like his first victim was HIV positive, was killed on December 26^th 1991, her body was found on July 11^th 1992, and two months later her family filed a missing person’s report. Like the other victims her background made her into less than a real person, even to her family. In another documented case in England the Yorkshire Ripper, was addressed by the police when he switched from killing Prostitutes to other women, as “now you are killing innocent victims, you need help” showing that the media’s attention even in England is that Prostitutes are not the same as everyone else.

Rifkin had an IQ of 128, suggesting that he had a very superior intelligence; however he didn’t do well in school and was plagued by violent fantasies. These Fantasies became reality, when his mother left for a business trip in March of 1989, which is when he brought a prostitute to his home, and bludgeoned her to death. Based on the information in the probable cause statement at arrest, the trial notes, and later interviews Rifkin gave, suggest that the cause behind his crimes may be linked to the Rational Choice Perspective.

At his first trial Mr. Rifkin argued that he believed his birth mother to be a prostitute and that is why she gave him up for adoption at only three days old. He also claimed that is why picked prostitutes as his victims, that killing them was a fantasy he had to get back at his mother for putting him up for adoption. He argued a dissociative state was the cause of his killings. They also argued that part of the reason Rifkin was mistreated as a child, and involved in a subculture of violence had to do with being adopted. This is what made him different from other children and therefore a target for bullies.

Rational choice perspective suggests that all humans are rational in their actions, that there is an end/means calculation for determining whether or not to do something. Ronald Clarke and Derek Cornish developed the Rational Choice theory based in part on Bentham’s Utilitarian theory which suggested that when anyone does anything they weigh the pleasure versus pain aspect of what they are doing. If they will get more pleasure out of the crime then they are more likely to commit the crime.

Rational choice perspective also suggests that crime is neither extraordinary nor the products of a deranged mind. Most crime is quite ordinary and committed by reasoning individuals who decide that chances of getting caught are low and the possibilities for a relatively good payoff are high. When Rifkin talks about his crimes in television interviews, he indicates that he didn’t think he would be caught because his victims were people no one would miss; Prostitutes who worked the streets mostly for money to purchase illicit drugs. He spoke of how one victim in particular has stated that she had better get out of this lifestyle and just as soon wished she would die as to continue into it. He admitted to taking this one in particular to a motel because he didn’t want to kill her, but when she said that she wished she was dead he complied, strangling her and then having to look for a way to dispose of the body without anyone at the hotel noticing him removing it.

The Pleasure vs. Pain variable in Rifkin’s killing is that he didn’t think he would get caught. Despite several times when the bodies of his victims were found, or parts of the bodies were found, as it was in his earlier killings, when he dismembered them, Rifkin felt a rush of pleasure from not being caught. He kept an eye on the police investigations when one of the bodies showed up; monitoring it to see if he got away, each time was a slight rush.

The second basis of Rational Choice perspective suggests that people evaluate the options and choose what they believe will satisfy their needs. Accordingly, Rifkin concluded that since he couldn’t make a life of legitimacy work he would turn to acting out his violent fantasies. He carefully weighed the benefits against the risks before committing his first murder and determined that this was one thing that he could do easily enough. After the first murder, and fourteen month break between killings when he determined that he could get away with it, the pleasure of the killing, and being able to do something successfully, outweighed the risk of getting caught.

In Routine Activity theory, Felson and Cohen, suggest that through everyday activities individuals come into contact with possible victims, and while looking for Prostitutes might not be considered a normal everyday activity for most people it was considered normal for Rifkin, which could explain how he shifted suddenly from looking for prostitutes to looking for victims.

In one interview Rifkin talks about going to different Prostitutes for sex, but then randomly picking one to murder, while allowing others to live. He treats looking for Prostitutes almost the same as someone would say look for a good place to eat, picking over the ones that didn’t seem just right till he found the perfect victim. That is why it seems like a routine activity to commit these crimes, he treated it almost as part of his daily routine to look for victims, while some days he didn’t find a victim, other times when he wasn’t looking is when he would find one, like the prostitute who asked him to kill her.

Felson and Cohen, suggest that crime events occur because of a convergence in time and space of likely offenders and suitable targets in the absence of capable guardians. While the theory describes characteristics associated with certain events, no study to date has occurred to test the effect on guardianship on crime events. Also existing tests on this particular theory are limited to four factors, design, level of measurement, level of study, and failure to include measures of all theoretical constructs in the test.

It might also be appropriate to note Cloward and Ohlin’s differential opportunity theory. While Rifkin attempted legitimacy many times over before committing his first crime he had neither the means nor the educational background to make it work.

His first murder occurred during a time when his landscaping business was struggling. After failing out of college, Rifkin made another attempt at legitimacy by starting a landscaping business that he would later use as a way station for corpses in transit. Like other attempts at legitimacy the landscaping business was failing, showing once again that each time Rifkin attempted anything that would be a normal lifestyle he didn’t have the means or abilities to make it work.

Despite his high IQ, Rifkin couldn’t make it in a school setting, receiving low grades. His home life wasn’t a stable one either, born of unmarried college students who put him up for adoption; he was adopted by Bernard and Jeanne Rifkin, who gave him the name of Joel David. Indications in early childhood suggest that he was picked on by bullies a lot because of differences, which would make it harder adjusting to a life of normalcy.

He was already entangled in a subculture of violence by first grade because of bullies. Dan Olweus in his paper “Aggressors and their victims: Bully at school.” Suggested, that bullying victims instigate attacks by irritating others. Rifkin could have instigated the attacks by irritating his bullies. Not knowing what type of person he was as a child, and only being able to see his adult interactions, one can only assume that he was similar as child, to whom he is now. In interview Rifkin is quick to pass off blame on someone else.

Rifkin also suffered abuses at home from his father who was a member of the school board and not happy with Rifkin’s low grade. Between a struggling home life and violence in schools, Rifkin appears to have nowhere else to turn but to violence. Since violence breeds more violence; at least according to Marvin E. Wolfgang’s theory, of a Subculture of violence; it he suggests that violent values are uniquely widespread among African Americans. While his initial study was done just on African American’s a lot of his findings can apply to other cultures. Some examples that are cited in various studies, is being male, being lower class, gun ownership, and street youths. Since Rifkin grew up a lower class male, exposed to violence in the home, as well as through the schools, he later turned to violence in his adult life since he didn’t know any other way to express himself.

In choosing Prostitutes, Rifkin intentionally chose victims that no one would miss, which is why he was so successful in his killings for so long. In fact until his arrest no one even noticed that these women were missing. The New York state police department blamed it on an over abundance of murders, however the victims could have helped with this; Prostitutes because of their transient nature do not tend to show a pattern, if they disappear. Even if they are found murdered most of the time police can look for possible suspects among the ‘johns’, their drug dealers, or pimps.

Because of the high number of murders in the New York area, police weren’t aware that there was a serial killer until Rifkin was arrested. They didn’t notice Prostitutes were missing because of the line of work that Prostitutes get into. They are drifters, never staying in one place for very long, and when one goes missing it can be suggested that she decided to find legitimate work and that is why she isn’t working that particular area any more.

During the initial interrogation the morning that Rifkin was arrested Police immediately suspected that he had killed more than just the one victim that was found in his truck. During the interview he confessed to the other killings, more than the police had initially thought; Marvin Wolfgang, suggested in his 1950 study of homicide in Philadelphia that victims might precipitate the attacks, referring to the fact that in about approximately one quarter to one half of victims precipitate the violent attack by antagonizing the perpetrator. This might be why so many serial killers like Rifkin choose Prostitutes for their victims because by the very nature of their line of work they are involved in that lifestyle that would put them in harm’s way; picking up strange men to exchange sex for payment means of course placing oneself in a position to pick up the wrong man.

James Tedeschi and Richard Felson expanded on this theory by suggesting a coercive action, in which they stressed that the way victims and offenders interact, plays a large role in violent crime. They argue that people commit violence purposefully, people don’t just lose control, when and why they do get violent it is with a particular goal in mind.

Rifkin confirms this theory when he talks about going from one Prostitute to another for weeks without killing, until he finds the right one. In one case it was the second Prostitute in an hour that he chose as his victim. Other times he would go months without finding the right victim. Choosing to let some Prostitutes live while killing others, supports both this theory and rational choice theory in showing that each of his victims he chose for a specific reason, whether they reminded him of someone, or because he was triggered by something they said or did we will never know.

When one of Rifkin’s victims did turn up Police initially thought that she was killed by a disgruntled client, or a pimp that didn’t get his fair share. It still wasn’t assumed that they had a serial killer on their hands because Prostitutes are the perfect victims, the kind of people that no one misses.

The media handled the case, by assuming that only someone who is mentally unstable would commit such heinous acts they reacted more to the insanity defense than to the actual crime. Since crime rates are so high in New York, the initial reports of these women disappearing between 1989 and 1993 didn’t make the news, however after his arrest the situation changed only slightly. Shock and awe at the news of a serial killer being caught in New York was followed up by theories that he had to be mentally deranged in order to have committed such crimes.

New York Times, published an article during the second in trial in 1994 which suggested that he was suffering from dissociative state, and killed these prostitutes because they reminded him of his mother. Some reports suggest that she might have been a prostitute herself while others suggest that she was a college student who was simply unprepared to become a mother and so she gave her son up for adoption.

Since there weren’t any initial news reports prior to the arrest, there is no way to gage how the media handled the victims. Other than to say as it is with Prostitutes being the victims a lot of the time the public views them as less than regular people, their worth because of the line of work they are in is lower and so when a Prostitute goes missing or is killed the public doesn’t react in the same way as when a regular person goes missing or is killed.

The Toronto Sun writes that even with the conviction of Robert Pickton, the Pig Farm serial killer; over 300 prostitutes have still disappeared in Canada, or have been murdered. While Pickton only murdered 26 women, he was able to get away with that many for much of the same reasons that Rifkin got away with his killings for so long, and that is because when it comes to Prostitutes the public and the media’s perception of these women is that their lives do not matter as much as women or men who lead lives of a more savory nature.

After the conviction is when the media really started to take notice of Rifkin and since he began serving his sentence he has done interviews for a book, as well as tape recorded interviews of A&E, where he talks in depth about his killings and why he committed those crimes.

From watching the interviews given you can see the Rational Choice theory playing out. He talks about the pleasure of the killing but also the fear; or what could be equated to pain of being caught. When a couple of times he came pretty close, and the last time, joking about how it’s always a ten cent part. He shows a sadistic attitude, but at the same time, he shows that he clearly doesn’t see anything wrong with his crimes.

Rifkin views his incarceration as unfortunate, but to him the crimes are a normal part of who he is as an individual. He can rationalize the crime based on the fact that he had a violent childhood. Violence was normal, for others who didn’t grow up in that type of situation it is abnormal; for Rifkin though between a Father who was ironfisted at home and bullies at school, always being treated as the outcast, he saw himself in the roll of being different. Having nothing else to blame it on he created this fantasy in which his mother was a Prostitute who gave him up for adoption because with his superior intelligence he knew Prostitutes as opposed to College students wouldn’t be missed.

Psychologists suggest that serial killers like Rifkin who have high IQ’s are organized offender; this theory is based on the intelligence level of the killer, and the way that they kill. Serial killers who are organized show it in the way that they kill. While Rifkin’s killings seemed frantic, bludgeoning to death his victims, and overkill by strangling them, he made up for this frenzy; by choosing victims that no one would miss, and in the way that he disposed of the bodies, since for four years no one even suspected that there was a serial killer working in New York. Sociologists, however look at the crime versus the killer it equate killers like Rifkin to a rational choice perspective. One perspective is hardly enough to classify a criminal like Rifkin, if he fit into one nice neat perspective understanding and fighting these types of crimes would be easy; instead though it seems like serial killers don’t fit any particular mold, they fit bits and pieces of each perspective.

For Rifkin, his crimes could fit the perspectives of Rational Choice, Routine Activity, and Differential Opportunity. Since Differential Opportunity is a form of strain theory, we will look at strain through the perspective of the individual. Stain in the individual suggests that there is a certain amount of friction and pain that one experiences as he or she attempts to find a way to satisfy his or her needs.

Rifkin had an underlying need to feel normal. His normal and societal normal however are not the same thing. Mixed in with the abuse he suffered as a child, Rifkin sought a way to release the anger and tension he felt. He knew he was different, though he saw it as being because of being adopted rather than perhaps a problem with how he was hard wired.

In order to assuage this strain, of not feeling normal Rifkin sought out and bludgeoned to death his victims, the release of adrenaline involved in the beatings, or the power Rifkin felt when he strangled them would suggest that he gained back some of the powerlessness he felt when he wasn’t in control of his own life.

Merton’s theory of strain was expanded upon by Robert Agnew who argued that simply not being able to achieve material goals is not the only reason why someone commits crimes. Criminal behavior may also be related to the anger and frustration that result when an individual is treated in a way he or she does not want to be treated in a social relationship.

One example given is the strain caused by failure to achieve positively valued goals, suggesting that lower-class individuals are often prevented from achieving monetary success through legitimate channels. While Agnew is talking about crimes related to a monetary gain, it could also be suggested that Rifkin because of his lack or relationships, and his lack of ability to get into a stable relationship, turned to Prostitutes, further frustration by his lack of ability to get into a stable relationship drove him to kill.

Looking at other serial killers, they seem the same, all known serial killers that have been studied seem to be charming to a certain degree but not known for having successful relationships. When they do have relationships these are marked with much difficulty, usually ending in divorce. The Strain theory suggests that because they aren’t able to have successful normal relationships they would turn to something abnormal, taking out their pain, frustration and anger on their victims.

Strain theory also suggests that there is an added strain when positively valued stimuli are removed from the individual. When Rifkin’s landscaping business began to fail, his final attempt at a legitimate legal lifestyle, is when his world began to crumble, it is then that he finally gave into the violent fantasies and released the tension in the form of rage.

Studying how all these different theories can work in concert with each other, we can start to better understand violent criminals like Joel Rifkin, and violent crimes like serial murder. While no two serial killers or serial crimes are alike there are enough similarities to make an accurate analysis of crime. Once Criminologist understand and can explain how and why crimes occur we can begin to work on a plan to eliminate crimes like the one described herein.

Perhaps with enough study on the matter we can eliminate the serial crimes altogether and there won’t have to be any more victims like the women whose lives were brutally taken by the likes of Joel Rifkin.

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