Social Controls: The Case Of Aileen Wuornos

A. Aileen Wuornos was born to a teenage couple. Her father was arrested for child molestation and hung himself in jail. Her mother abandoned her, and the maternal grandparents assumed guardianship. Most of western culture can agree the abuse of a child is a deviant act. In the case of Aileen, what social factors and “social controls” impeded the recognition of such deviant behavior?
To understand this question one must first understand what was not in place in terms of social factors or controls to create a healthy environment for Aileen to grow up in. After being abandoned by her mother and losing her father to the criminal justice system on molestation charges Aileen was raised by her grandparents. According to Biography.com “Wuornos's

grandmother was alleged to be an alcoholic and her grandfather a terrifying, violent force”, furthermore Wuornos claimed sexual abuse by her grandfather and “sexual relations with her brother” which would later lead to pregnancy in her early teens (CITE).

In many ways, social controls failed her as a young child and the aftermath exposed her to a cruel and abusive upbringing. In most instances, when all parents are unable to take custody of their children any immediate and available family will take the child to prevent the child from becoming a ward of the state. It is clear this social control failed Aileen, because placement in her grandparents home only meant a childhood of physical and mental abuse. This instance impedes the recognition of deviant behavior on her part because from an outsider's perspective she grew up under the support of biological family. To unknowing outsiders, she did seemingly grow up in the broken system of orphanage. The control theory helps explain Aileen’s upbringing and its impact on her own mental health and deviant behavior. “Control theorists state that people conform because of the controls or restraints to which they are subject” (13). It seems as though Aileens upbringing caused her to conform to the violent mannerisms she witnessed as a child. Beyond this, the theory explains that “the control exercised by these people [institutions like family] explain why most out-of-control infants

and children eventually turn into adults who generally conform” (13). If Aileen had always witnessed negative explained of control like violent beatings, alcoholism or sexual abuse her ideals about life and sanctions reflect the sort of behaviors she grew up around. This idea will be discussed in more detail when the learning theory is applied to Aileens life and analyzed later in the paper.
One must also understand stake in conformity to understand what Aileen was lacking in her life. Emotional bonding was very much lacking in Aileens life which impeded her recognition of the negative behavior she acted out. Stake in Conformity focuses on, “the things that they [the person acting] has to lose if they are caught and sanctioned” (16). From Aileens upbringing we know she had little to loose. She lacked emotional stability, human connection, love and attention. In fact, according to Deviance Today, attachment is a huge part of stake in conformity. “Attachment involves strong emotional bonds to conventional others, such as parents… individuals who are closely attached to these others are less likely to engage in deviance”. Commitment also plays a huge role in conformity to society, “commitment refers to the individual's actual or anticipated investment in conventional society” (16). Aileen had low commitment and attachment because she lacked adequate upbringing. Children that come from abuse don’t form adequate bonds and this their commitment and attachment to institutions like family are weak. They have little to lose when they act out. Their anger toward their family and their low stake in conformity means the likelihood of acting deviantly skyrockets.
Aileen saw hate in the world because that's all she ever knew and this was confirmed in the documentary which stated, “At her trial Aileen Wuornos was medically described as a damaged and primitive child who sees the world as a place full of evil spirits and ghosts” the documentary continued, “she was described a having uncontrollable rages and temper tantrums” (CITE). This is a prime example of her lacking self control. This is again where the social controls of her upbringing impeded her sense of deviant behavior. The institution of family as mentioned earlier is a form of social control which helps to teach the importance of moral right and wrong. According to Deviance Today, “children develop high levels of social control if their parents state clear rules of behavior, carefully monitor behavior and consistently sanction rule violations” (17). Aileen lacked social control which made deviant behavior easier because she had not been brought up under the positive reinforcements of respectable and abuse free guardians.

B. It wasn't until 1989 that Wuornos' violent behavior turned her into a murderer. Her first victim was Richard Mallory, a 51-year-old convicted rapist who owned an electronics store in Clearwater, Florida. How does learning theory explain her behaviors”

A murder is not made in a day. The horrible actions of Aileen Wornous are the collective aftermath of decades of learned behavior. According to Professor Cyr-Martels Labeling Theory powerpoint, “we form a cognitive image of how to perform certain behaviors through modeling and use this image as a guide for later behaviors” (SLD 4). Most certainly, we can use Aileens upbringing and the influences or modeling of her family institution to better understand her outlook, opinions and behaviors which created her legacy. The learning theory powerpoint continues to state that people “acquire, maintain and modify behaviors that they see others perform” (SLD 15). From the learning theory perspective, it was never in question if Aileen would become a violent criminal, but rather when in her lifetimes she would become one. Why? For the pure and simple fact that people become what they learn. Due to her abusive and sexually violent upbringing Aileen found herself in prostitution at the age of 14 according to the documentary, “a prostitute from the age of 14, Lee had a long history of neglect and sexual abuse” (CITE).
The Social Learning Theory maintains that, “people learn from one another; including such concepts as modeling and observing” (SLD 3). From this theory we realize that, while such theories don’t justify Aileens behaviors, they shed light on her psychological disposition or her disposition to act out in a deviant manner. For this reason, these behaviors were almost, predictable. Under the Social Learning Theory, the powerpoint states that “moral thinking and moral behavior are influenced by observations and modeling which includes moral judgment regarding right and wrong” (SLD 5). It’s no surprise that being brought up in a sexually abusive household, Aileen would put herself into a seuxally exploitive situation so early in life. Though its no fault of her, because she was conditioned so to speak by the implications of her learning early in life. Her childhood filled with incest, neglect and abuse seems to have led her to objectify herself in such ways as prostitution. She was never raised with higher morals, morals which could have taught her to love herself, or to respect her body and hold it sacred. Her negative moral thinking and judgment meant being okay putting herself into an objectifying environment filled with potentially dangerous situations.
While in court, Aileen maintained that her first victim, Richard Mallory, had threatened to kill her and then raped her.

She claimed self defense stating in the documentary duing a court order, “first female serial killer is not what I am and I am not even near it and my confessions prove it” (CITE). From the learning theory comes a term deemed “Neutralization”. Neutralization is an attempt by the offender to buffer the severity of their actions. It’s a learned behavior and thus is categorized under the learning theory which has been adopted via observation of their surroundings. This neutralization is an attempt to redistribute blame away from the offender. While all claims of rape Aileen mentioned are valid ( we can never know for sure because her victims are dead) a pattern of blame starts to form through her dialogue. According to the FBI, “The term ‘serial killings’ means a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors.” (CITE). By definition of the word, Aileen was in fact a serial killer. However, while in the end admitting to the crimes, Aileen held strong to the idea that she was in fact not a serial killer, “Lee Wuornos insists she is not a serial killer and did not stalk her victims or plan her crimes” (DOCUMENTARY CITE). We see Aileen used neutralization in 2 main forms,

“Denial of Responsibility” and Denial of the Victim”. Denial of Responsibility refers to when “the offender will propose that they were victims of circumstances or were forced into situations beyond their control” and Denial of the victim refers to when “the offender believes that the victim deserves whatever action the offender committed” (SLD 8).

C. Many disciplines “collide” in this movie, mental health, criminal justice, media, and government just to mention a few. Using Anomie theory, please describe how the above disciplines, intertwined with Aileen’s life.

From an early age Aileen lost faith in others. She had no one to connect with on a trustworthy or loving, caring level. The effectiveness of institutions like family became “weak” and when this happens, “society is at risk of degenerating into a state or normlessness or anomie” (4). In this way, the neglect and abuse Aileen faced made her own institution of family useless. But this lack of trust and compassion from her family fueled a hate for other aspects of society. Aileen did not trust the media, who she believed painted her as a villain from the beginning. She also despised the police and felt they were out to get her as the media was. In the documentary she states in court, “Probably paid off by the cops, to veil my character and make me look like a monster and degrade me like a Jef Dahmer, which I am not. I intend to expose the crooked cops to the people all over the world, not just America, not just Florida, all over the world before I die. And also I feel that the movie Overkill was a total fictional lie, that they framed me as a 1st time female serial killer for the title for that movie...gone 200% against what my confession stated to get their bogus movie out” (DOCUMENTARY). Furthermore, according to Durkheim, “stable institutions are the backbone of social order. Society’s moral institutions, such as family… play a central role as these institutions provide guidance and direct the energies of individuals into collective pursuits that provide meaning and fulfillment” (4).