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James Earl Ray Vs. Tennessee

            On April 4, 1968 James Earl Ray killed Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis, Tennessee. Then Ray evades an international manhunt for more than two months, and then he was busted by Scotland Yard. He skips having a trial because his attorney tells him to just plead guilty. .
             The theory that best fits this crime is "Labeling and Conflict theory". The reason why I selected this theory is mainly because of the examples of culture conflict. Another example is that the murder of Martin Luther King Jr causes a big group conflict. Also another theory that would have fit this crime I think would be "Psychological Abnormality theory". This would be do to Ray's already being label as a deviant before the crime, so he been known to have a deviant personality. Now, the theories that do not fit this crime case are Psychological learning and developmental theory because these consist of being Feeblemindedness which is not the cause of the crime. This is not the cause of this crime. A person in that frame of mind is not able to out run an international manhunt. One of the other theories that could work is "Social Process theory". This is do to the fact that differential association plays a big part in why this crime was committed. Just think about James Earl Ray is white and Martin Luther King Jr. is black, but to add to this the crime happen in 1968 during the civil rights movement. Therefore Ray's social learning was that of racists back ground. This was fit right in with "Subculture of Violence" because it's" including many violent acts, and involve members of definable groups." Now, as I have said before culture conflict is what I think is to blame because of a lack on Ray's part. With James Earl Ray committing this act he has been label as a racist which he is, but he's also label as lumpenproletariat. This is what makes this case a political crime. Furthermore this crime all began with the group conflict between civil rights activist and a large percentage of the white Americans.


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