Short Paper #1 SOC 371

Emily I Ramirez 01/26/2023

Aiden Fucci, teen accused of killing Tristyn Bailey

On May 10th, 2021 a 13-year-old named Tristyn Bailey was found dead in the

woods in St. Johns. She was brutally stabbed 114 times by a 13-year-old boy by the

name of Aiden Fucci. They both lived in the same neighborhood and attended the same

private school. Later they found Fucci and took him into custody. He is currently being

tried as an adult and facing up to life in prison for first-degree murder.

This leads up to the question of why would a 13-year-old boy do that? Where

are his parents? What made him do such action? Did he know what he was doing?

What kind of influences did this child have? And these are all good questions. This case

is an example of the rise in juvenile violent crimes within the 21st century. People's article

mentioned, “While Fucci and his parents were sitting in a room at the sheriff's office and

were told that Bailey's body had been found, Fucci allegedly replied, "How is that my

problem?" (Baker) showing no remorse on what he did and dissociating himself from the

problem. Later on in the article they said “he took a selfie in the backseat of a patrol car

flashing a peace sign and posted it on Snapchat with the caption, "Hey guys has anybody

seen Tristyn lately?”(Baker) showing the whole world what he did and “flexing”

murdering her and being in a police car. This type of comment that Fucci made after
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Emily I Ramirez 01/26/2023

committing such an inhuman crime is to impress others and influence those he has

around himself. Social learning theory is when one learns and emulates others behaviors

and applies the behaviors themselves seeking approval from others. Social Learning

theory explains this type of behavior and its connection to one's social environment.

This case exemplifies how social learning has much to do with who one is, especially

regarding their actions and behavior, especially as a child.

This case perfectly demonstrates all of the aspects that are incorporated into

social learning theory. This theory states that individuals learn from people or influences

that they are surrounded by in other words what they see and experience in their social

environment. The article described Fucci’s parents' Crystal Smith, his mother, and his

father Jason Fucci. Mainly focusing on Aiden's father Dixit mentioned “Jason's criminal

past also came to light after the Bailey murder case. It was reported that on January 1,

2003, Jason was accused of child abuse, injury, and neglect. On November 17, 2004, he

was found guilty and was sentenced to one year and two months in prison. On October

1, 2003, he was arrested for engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl at his

home. He was found guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation. With 158 days

given as credit, he violated the conditions and was jailed for 14 months. Jason was a
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Emily I Ramirez 01/26/2023

Robinson Irrigation employee in Jacksonville when he was arrested on October 1, 2003.

In 2016, Jason was booked for battery. He was accused of getting into a fight at a gas

station with a couple while his son was present.”( Dixtin) When taking this information

into the context of social learning theory, “crime is learned through social interaction.

Within any society, people vary in their exposure to behavioral and normative patterns

through their associations with others (thus the notion of differential association).

“(Travis) this was the type of influence that Aiden had around him. And was influenced

by. When it comes to his father he did not have good morals nor made good deeds

during the time that Aiden was in his life. Aiden was born in 2007 which was after child

abuse and engaging in sexual activities with a minor, which means that the father raised

Aiden and shared his values with his son and used this with his parenting skills. If Jason

was able to commit child abuse he would act that same way toward his child. “For most

of us, our internal attitudes and beliefs about the world come from the people who either

parent us or with whom we spend significant time.” (Shelton) And even though Jason

was imprisoned for some time that could also have influenced Aiden because he already

spent time with him and is an authoritative figure for him. As a child they want to

impress and associate that with inner growth and strength also known as “meaning up or

how to be a real man”.

The actions of Aiden are representing all of the factors that are incorporated with

social learning theory. Personal factors, environmental factors, and behavior factors.

When all of these factors occur and it is being reinforced or supported by any kind of

influence it allows the individual to want to do such action. An earlier study found that

“Results of multivariate statistical analyses“sustained the conclusion that variations in the

behavioral and cognitive variables specified in the social learning process ... mediate

substantial, and in some instances virtually all, of the effects of gender, socio-economic

status, age, family structure, and community size on these forms of adolescent

deviance”(Aker) As previously mentioned Fucci was at the time a 13-year-old that was

involved in different types of environments such as his household and school. All of the

components that make a person who they are affect what teenagers do.

When it comes to gender behaviors it has been established that there are two

generalized terms for women and men, which are masculinity and femininity. These

terms are emphasized in gender roles. Certain qualities present males with the title or

perspective of being a masculine man; they must contain male attributes, hegemony

being the most prominent attribute. This is especially true when using masculinity in

relation to the criminal justice system. There is a systematic impact on masculinity when
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Emily I Ramirez 01/26/2023

addressing crime. Hegemonic masculinity is a type of masculinity that establishes

“masculine norms” and male dominance within a societal view. This type of masculinity

increases the possibility for boys and men to engage in criminal activities. Fucci was

recently presented in court and new testimonies were mentioned. “Friends of Fucci told

detectives he owned several knives, and that he’d thought about killing

someone.”(Harding) these are all items that represent violence and dominance. At such a

young age Fucci possessed these objects and used this as a form to obtain that feeling of

dominance within his friend group and his school. When looking at guns and knives

through a different lens, a social and normative lens we can see that these objects are

highly associated with male norms. Males pose more than 22% of guns and knives over

women in the United States. They are used for things such as hunting and fighting, it

symbolizes strength and superiority.``Within primarily white populations, hegemonic

masculinity can be seen as the currently accepted strategy to earn the highest rank of

masculinity” (Reed, 6) this can be reflected in Fucci’s behavior because as a white

teenager in school, there is the need for wanting to fit in and to be accepted, by showing

these Masculine characteristics he enters manhood.

The attempt to achieve a certain level of masculinity can also have negative impacts on the
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Emily I Ramirez 01/26/2023

person's Choices. Innicaly Fucci plead not guilty to first-degree murder claiming that he was

innocent although there was clear evidence towards him. The reporter Ashley Harding said “ Fucci

stunned the courtroom by pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the death of his 13-year-old

schoolmate.” now he is facing the possibility of life in person due to the choice he made that night

in killing bailey.“masculine status was undermined and he responded in the only way a ‘real man’

can, through anger and violence, to prove his manhood.” (Mcfarlane,332) this alludes to the fact

that men are unable to process emotions and express it through violence. As a young teen Fucci

experienced negative moments such as having a father that was already familiar with the criminal

justice system and still trying to figure out who he was as a young teenager there are many things

that he is confused about and cannot communicate. “Because social status can be ephemeral and

threatened relatively easily, youth often perceive the need to be vigilant about protecting their status

in nearly every encounter, especially when an audience is present.” (Collins,261) this goes to show

in the case of Aiden Fucci. When Fucci posted a snap on Snapchat saying "Hey guys has anybody

seen Tristyn lately?”(Baker) Demonstrated how he wanted everyone to know that he was

involved with the murder and maintain A high social status by making such statements in the back

of a police car. once again the development of one's self. Is greatly influenced by the social norms

of masculinity.
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Emily I Ramirez 01/26/2023

Work Cited:

1) American Psychological Association. (2018, September 1). Harmful masculinity

and violence. In the Public Interest.

https://www.apa.org/pi/about/newsletter/2018/09/harmful-masculinity

2) Clark, Roland. “What Are We Talking about When We Talk about White Men?”

OpenDemocracy, 15 Oct. 2020,

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king-about-when-we-talk-about-white-men/.

3) Collins, Megan E. “Micro‐Level Processes of the Gang .” The Handbook of

Gangs, Sept. 2015,

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118726822.ch15.

4) Travis C. Pratt, Francis T. Cullen, Christine S. Sellers, L. Thomas Winfree Jr.,

Tamara D. Madensen, Leah E. Daigle, Noelle E. Fearn & Jacinta M. Gau (2010)

The Empirical Status of Social Learning Theory: A Meta‐Analysis, Justice

Quarterly, 27:6, 765-802, DOI: 10.1080/07418820903379610

5) Akers, R. (2009). Social Learning and Social Structure: A General Theory of

Crime and Deviance (1st ed.). Routledge.

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Emily I Ramirez 01/26/2023

6) Shelton, Sarah. “ THE APPLICATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY TO

THE CORRECTIONAL SETTING BY CASE EXAMPLES.” IACFP, 15 June

2021,

https://www.myiacfp.org/2021/06/15/the-application-of-social-learning-theor

y-to-the-correctional-setting-by-case-examples/.

7) Schindler, Author: Anne. “Tristyn Bailey Murder Was '100% Premeditated,'

Prompted by 'Jealousy' According to Friend.” Firstcoastnews.com, 30 June 2022,

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8) right university, criminology. “Understanding Criminology Theories sf.”

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https://www.criminology.com/understanding-criminology-theories/.

9) Baker, KC. “When Told of Tristyn Bailey's Death, Teen Suspect Allegedly

Responded, 'How Is That My Problem?'.” Peoplemag, PEOPLE, 15 July 2021,

https://people.com/crime/tristyn-bailey-killing-disturbing-new-details-reveale

d/.
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10)Dixit, Saumya. “Aiden Fucci, 14, Who Stabbed Tristyn Bailey 114 Times May

Have Had 'Traumatic Childhood' with Abusive Dad.” MEAWW, 1 June 2021,

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12)Reed, Shon Michael, "Boys to Men: Masculinity, Victimization, and Offending"

(2018). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones.

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13)Harding, Ashley. “Sentencing Date Set for Aiden Fucci in Murder of

13-Year-Old Tristyn Bailey.” WJXT, WJXT News4JAX, 23 Feb. 2023,

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/02/23/aiden-fucci-to-appear-in-

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-bailey/.

14)Rios, Victor M. “The Consequences of the Criminal Justice Pipeline on Black and

Latino Masculinity.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
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Science, vol. 623, 2009, pp. 150–62. JSTOR,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40375893. Accessed 4 Mar. 2023.

15)McFarlane, H. (2013), Masculinity and Criminology: The Social Construction of

Criminal Man. Howard J Crim Justice, 52: 321-335.

https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12011