Topic > Arthur Lucas – Last to Die

Arthur Lucas is a man best known for being one of the last two men to hang in Canada before the abolition of the death penalty. Lucas was an African-American man convicted of the murder of Therland Charter in Toronto, Ontario. At the time, Lucas was a known Detriot pimp, who transported girls to Chicago through prostitution. Therland Charter, himself was not an innocent man and after getting into trouble he became a police informant. This is what started the investigation into Arthur Lucas, for his murder due to Lucas's occupation and violent past. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The childhood of Arthur Lucas sheds light on how and why he became the man he became. At a very young age, both of his parents died forcing him to move around a lot, living with different aunts and uncles. At the age of 8 he lived with an aunt, but unfortunately she also died. Arthur then moved in with his cousin in the city of Detroit. At the age of 14 he was living all alone in boarding houses around the city. Thus began the downward spiral of Arthur Lucas' life. He stopped going to school and only received a grade 8 education due to the lack of stability and authority in his life. This is demonstrated by his IQ level, which classified him as almost feeble-minded. Once he stopped going to school, he started associating with criminals, such as scammers, pimps and prostitutes. From then on he learned to survive with petty criminal jobs such as burglaries and thefts. It was then, in his teenage years, that Lucas began to accumulate more and more on his criminal record, spending years in and out of prison. Due to the years he spent in prison, it was very difficult for Lucas to hold a legitimate job. With his incarceration and attitude, he didn't keep the job for very long. It was then that Lucas began making a living by exploiting girls and dealing drugs. Arthur Lucas' criminal activity became so serious that the FBI began an investigation into him, although they had a long file on him and his crimes for a long time. One of their investigations involved the Mann Act which “prohibited the interstate transportation of women and girls for “immoral purposes,” such as prostitution.” This is exactly what Arthur Lucas was doing, transporting girls from Detroit to Chicago. This led him to do a favor for a friend to go to Toronto to do some business for him, which would be his last. During the trial, Lucas was not afraid to talk about his activity in prostitution. Throughout his life as a pimp, he was known to be very violent and protective of his girls. When questioned by police, an old girlfriend of Lucas stated that he often beat her with baseball bats, chains or with his fists, which due to his size and stature were very large and usually covered with numerous rings. All of this would be used against him in the trial, as a way to prove his guilt, showing others the kind of man he was. It was Lucas' tragic childhood that pushed him into a life of crime. Growing up he spent his time with the only people he knew, criminals. In the eyes of social learning theory, it is no coincidence that he became a pimp. Spending so much time around criminals at such a young age, all he knew was a life of crime. In this theory it is said that behavior can be learned by observing and imitating others. For Arthur Lucas, he spent so much time with pimps and prostitutes that it became inevitable that he would become a criminal himself. Those were the.