James B. Clarke Jr.

Most people believe when they put their child up for adoption that they are giving their child a better life and more chances than could be offered to them if they kept the child. However, I have shown you case after case where that is not the situation and more often than we would like to admit the child has been handed a life of torture. But, what about the other side of that? What about the good and decent people who adopt a child not just to improve the child's life, but their own also? It is hard even today to make that choice and know through genetics what one may be getting themselves into but it was almost impossible back in 1957 when James Clarke Sr. and his wife Elizabeth adopted a four month old child. Do not get me wrong in thinking that I do not believe that a child deserves a chance even if there are things such as mental health issues in their genes. But, at least today people are able to have the opportunity to know this going into a situation. I can guarantee that no matter how bad things may look on paper that there are people still willing to take that chance whether they believe they can handle it or change things. All I am saying is that there is nothing wrong with going into a situation with wide open eyes. I should also add that the biological parents of James Clarke Jr. have never been revealed so whether there were genetic issues or not is unclear. And, we should note that treatment and even diagnosis' in 1957, let alone decades prior, are vastly different than they are today.

It is almost certain that when James and Elizabeth Clarke brought their baby boy, they named James Jr., to their New Castle County Delaware home they were expecting good things and a nice life, for him and themselves. It was not clear as to if this was the only child that the couple would have but it is clear that very early on the boy was a handful. Twenty years later Elizabeth would write a letter to James Jr's lawyer saying that the first year with the little boys was great but “the rest was downhill all the way.” Now, on the surface that may sound harsh coming from any mother and I would be one of the first to admit that. However, it does appear that nearly from the start James Jr was not your average child. Even at the age of two he was showing more aggressive signs than the typical toddler.

By the age of five James Jr. was placed on medication and participating in psychotherapy. I found nothing that stated anything specific at this point in his life that led to this other than the fact that he had been “expelled from two preschools.” In 1965, while in second grade he beat classmate so badly that the child required hospitalization. At that point he was put in a psychiatric treatment program in Maryland. He remained there until 1968 when he returned home. Then in December of 1969 he was once again expelled from school. For the next year and a half he was in what was only described as “residential treatment.” He returned to the Clarke home again in July of 1971 after doctors claimed that he was “moderately improved.” It appears it was during this time that he was diagnosed with passive aggressive personality disorder and and “schizoid personality disorder.” Passive aggressive personality disorder is described as having a pattern of “negative attitudes” and has a “passive resistance to demands for adequate performance in social and occupational situations.”

Then on March 5, 1973 at the age of sixteen years old James Jr. went into the backyard of a home and abducted a three year old child. He took the child to some nearby woods in which he choked and strangled the child, leaving them for dead. It is not clear exactly how he was caught but it is suffice to say that he was. He was convicted of kidnapping, assault with intent. For reasons unknown the conviction was reversed but in 1977 he pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced in September of that year to thirty years in prison.

Despite the fact that he had numerous issues while in prison he was released in April of 1994 after serving twenty-one years. He had been disciplined more than one hundred times and had several suicide attempts while incarcerated. He also pleaded guilty to 3^rd degree assault of a correctional officer in 1977. Two years was added to his sentence for that incident. It was also said that he refused to participate in any rehabilitation programs offered.

It was said that James Sr and Elizabeth, who were now in their 70's, were concerned about their son getting out of jail and having little choice but to live with them but they consented. Exactly one month after being released from prison James Jr. made a call to the police. At around 9:30 on May 22, 1994 he reported that he had come home and saw James Sr., apparently dead. He claimed that he was knocked unconscious and when he awoke he entered the home and found Elizabeth, dead in her bed in the master bedroom. Exactly where James Sr was found were a bit confusing. Some reports claim that he was simply sitting in a chair and although they did not state what room he was in you get the impression that it was likely in the front room. Yet, other reports claim that he was found in the garage of the home. Regardless of where he was found James Sr. had been shot twice in the head and twice in the chest. Elizabeth was found upstairs, in her room with a single gunshot wound to the head.

It appears that James Jr. was almost immediately arrested, although not for the murders. It was said that he was jailed for a probation violation and while it was not clear exactly what the details were of that violation it was eluded that it may have involved the consumption of alcohol. Within several days investigators were already not buying James' story about an intruder. The home, while it appeared there had been a possible burglary, it also appeared to be staged. Finally James Jr. would confess to murdering his parents and staging the home. He would say, at least at this time, that the murders were not planned and had come after an argument over his beer drinking. Prosecutors would dispute this saying that he had planned the murders for quite some time and did so in order to gain his inheritance from the couple including insurance monies. They also pointed to the fact that James Jr. had used two different guns in the commission of the murder with two different types of ammo to make it look as if two killers had committed the crime. They believed this showed premeditation.

Quickly it seems that James Jr. pleaded guilty in the crime and the judge sentenced him to death in a non-jury penalty phase held in December of 1994. The only appeal that was made was in 1996 and it was noted that the only reason that it was considered at all was because due to the death penalty there was automatic appeal. For his part James Jr. had refused to participate in the appeal and he would waive all others in the future. The state of Delaware executed James Clarke Jr. on April 19, 1996.

There was a lot of information about diagnosis' that were given to James Jr., as well as treatments that he had received over the years of nearly his entire life, but few things directly questioned mental illness. As we know mental illness is most often hereditary and it was noted that his biological parents were never found or discovered so knowing if there was a history of such will likely never be known. To add to this regardless of why he was mentally ill or how he may have become that way is less important than the steps taken to possibly treat his illness or at the very least keep him and others safe. Apparently there was controversy surrounding the fact that despite his issues while he was in prison he was still released and then committed this double murder a month later. In my opinion unless he had received treatment, that he accepted, and had truly been reformed all the release did was have things happen sooner. I do not think if he would have remained in prison every day of those thirty years that it would have made any difference other than it is possible that James Sr. and Elizabeth would have already passed away. But, that does not mean that he would not have found two other victims. There was extensive information about the issues that he had and it was documented fully at least by the time he was eight or nine years old with the apparent first hospitalization after he had beat up his classmate. I suppose if you have to give a murderer or criminal of any kind credit you have to say that James Jr. pleaded guilty to his crimes and accepted his fate.