J osh P hillips

1. No nickname Josh Phillips Allegra Pantoni Period 3

2. Backgroud • Born March 17, 1984 • Allentown, Pennsylvania • Very involved with his family • Half brother Dan describes him as “ a happy kid” • Mother said “ very few times that we ever did anything that josh didn’t do with us.” • Was not a problem student • Teacher said “ He wasn’t a loner, and other kids like him. He made them laugh” • Classmate “ I don’t know the monster, I knew the silly little boy in class” • Was not a loner

3. Crimes Accused of Committing • First Offense • Crime committed was Murder • First degree Murder- The killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson

4. Crime • November 3, 1998, 8 year old Maddie Clifton disappeared • A week later. She was found under her 14 year neighbor, Josh Phillips, bed dead • Josh and his family had helped with the search for Maddie during the time she was missing • Police originally thought it was another neighbor, Larry Grisham, who had been arrested twice in sexual battery cases

5. Crime • Maddie’s body was found only because Josh’s mother thought his water bed had been leaking • When she looked under the bed for a leak she found her 8year old neighbors dead body • Immediately went to police who were in her neighborhood

6. Motive • Happened when Josh and Maddie were playing baseball and Maddie was hit in the eye • Maddie screamed and Josh dragger her into his house and up to his room and proceeded to strangle her with a phone cord • Later hit her with a baseball bat and stabbed her 11 times • Josh feared what his abusive father would do if he found Maddie In their house

7. Evidence • Baseball bat • Knife • Josh’s tennis shoes that were stained with Maddie’s blood • Josh’s confession

8. Sentence • Only took two hours for the jury to decide • Came back with a guilty verdict • Sentenced with life in prison with no chance of being released

9. Not presented • A neurologist found that Josh has “ bilateral frontal lobe lesions” • Impair judgment as well as cause panic • Judge did not allow evidence to be presented • Josh had also had visited violent pornographic websites before the murder • Judge ruled inadmissible and was not presented at the trial

10. Quotes • “What I think is a little girl that didn’t deserve to die. I try to think about what the hell was going through my head. I screwed up my life. I screwed up hers.” • “She’s not gonna have the chance to do anything. It’s all because of me.”

11. Differential-Association Theory • I chose differential association theory because I felt that Josh fit best with this theory. Differential association theory is basically acting and doing what the people around you do. Josh was afraid of upsetting his father. When his father was upset, he was abusive. Josh learned violence from his father. Josh also watched violent pornography. This added to the violence that he surrounded himself with. When Josh panicked because he hit Maddie, he feared his father. He did not want to get in trouble. So he did what he had experienced and learned from his father. Also from what he had watched on the internet. He became violent and killed Maddie by hitting, strangling and stabbing her.

12. Cultural References • Featured on Too Young to Kill: 15 Shocking Crimes