On March 17, 1942, John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago, Illinois. When he was younger, he was involved with activities such as boy scouts and odd jobs around his neighborhood. It is said that while Gacy wasn’t popular, he was well-liked by those people who knew him (Taylor, Troy). Gacy’s father was an alcoholic and would often abuse Gacy and his siblings if they were thought to have made trouble. His father would also abuse his mother. When Gacy was playing on a swing set at age 11, he was hit in the head with a swing. After this, Gacy would suffer from blackouts. However, when Gacy was 16, the doctors found that blood clots in his brain were the cause of his blackouts and, with medicine, they were able to stop the blackouts. When he was about …show more content…
The Murder Book describes three things that are required in order to commit a crime. These three things are “a motivated offender, the availability of a suitable target, and the absence of effective guardians” (page 92). First, John Wayne Gacy was obviously a motivated offender. Not only did he keep the bodies of the victims underneath his home, he killed at least 33 young men, if not more, and only stopped because he was caught. If he had not been motivated, he would not have been able to kill so many young men before being caught. Second, he had an abundance of suitable victims. As stated earlier in my paper, he became a well-known figure in his community. He held neighborhood parties and was incredibly active with those people around him; people thought that he was a caring, respectable man. There would be no reason to hide from him. Not to mention, he ran a successful construction company that of course young men would work for because it was a job they could get. He basically had an endless supply of young men that he could have taken advantage of and murdered. Third, being a respectable member of his community allowed people to let their guards down around him. Of course there was an absence of an effective guardian. He literally killed at least 33 people, in order to do that there obviously was not an effective enough guardian for these victims. He was able to kill these people for years without detection. He buried them underneath his house without anyone noticing anything suspicious. So, while it may not be exactly what the Routine Activity Theory had in mind, I think it completely fits John Wayne Gacy’s
Johnny’s life hasn’t been the easiest to get through. Raised in Kingsland, Arkansas in a small town of Dyess. In his Encyclopedia article about Cash’s life and career, Mcleod explains that his upbringing was in a bible-belt town that published Sunday School Attendance Figures in the weekly newspaper. He was born on February 26,1932 (Bill Miller). While he was a teenager he worked on his family farm and he despised it very much (Kembrew, McLeod). Being born one of seven children, he always had someone to hangout with. During the mid sixties, Johnny became very addicted to drugs, and alcohol. When he got drunk he had a tendency to like to start arguments and to try and fight people. As the author, Bill Miller states, Cash’s reason for his behavior was that he had to keep up with the “hectic world”. The life he lived was definitely was not the easiest but he tried to make the best of it.
Gary Ridgway was born in Salt Lake City on February 18, 1949. He was the second of three brothers. Ridgway’s parents were Thomas Newton Ridgway and Mary Rita Steinman. At the time, they rented a room near a local high school. Ridgway’s older brother, Gregory, was born in 1948. Ridgway’s younger brother, Thomas, was born in 1951. In 1960, Ridgway’s parents moved the family into a small three bedroom house in a neighborhood called McMicken Heights which is now the City of SeaTac. He was “Raised near Seattle’s Pacific Highway, a deprived neighborhood near SeaTac airport …” (Biography, 2013). They lived in a working class neighborhood where many other kids lived also. All the kids played together and walked to school together. Ridgway’s father was a metro bus driver whose route was the Pacific Highway South into Seattle. The route went through the infamous strip where Gary would later find so many of his victims. His father also enjoyed running garage sales. Ridgway’s mother was a ...
John Wayne Gacy was a U.S. serial killer who was found guilty of killing 33 boys and young men (McCormick, 1998). Gacy was born on March 17, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois (Sullivan, 2013). John Wayne Gacy had two sisters, Joanne and Karen and had a difficult relationship with his father. His father was an auto repair machanic and World War I veteran (Jones, 2012). Whenever his father came home from work, he would go to the basement and drink. His father was an alcoholic and used physical punishment on all of his children (Jones, 2012). He would even beat the children with a razor strap if they misbehaved (Sullivan, 2013). Gacy’s mother tried her best to protect the children, but Gacy’s father physically assaulted her as well (Jones, 2012). Additionally,
This essay will explore some of the theories commonly observed in criminology in relation to the 2005 hit movie Batman Begins. I chose a batman movie as they’re usually about lucrative criminals and batman himself is a notable criminologist. Batman and his “rogue gallery” as they are often called, also “super criminals” display similar behavior to what we see in the real worlds normal criminals.
The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire is a tool often used by professionals to assess a patient’s personality subtypes on a rating scale of 20 to 80. Under the higher order temperament factor Positive Emotionality (PEM) there are four trait scales. For the trait scale Well Being, John Wayne Gacy would score a 70. He was an upstanding member of his community, liked by his neighbors and coworkers, and would even attend children’s birthday parties and hospitals dressed as Pogo the Clown (Hickey, 2016). He had a cheerful disposition when facing the public, however, he only receives a 70 because he would, in fact, be subject to violent mood swings. For the trait scale Social Potency, Gacy receives a score of 80. He
The Achievement Habit is a book all about taking control of your life. Bernard Roth is the author and he does a brilliant job of pointing out everyday issues about society. He points out in chapter two that Reasons Are Bullshit . Everyone uses reasons for things that we can control but we only use them when the things are not top priority. If everything we did has top priority then we would get it done and not need an excuse or reason for it. Roth says “ Many reasons are simply excuses to hide the fact that we are not willing to give something high enough priority in our lives.” ( p.41) People may argue that reasons are necessary , Roth argues that Reasons Are Bullshit. He thinks “ The problem with reasons is that they’re
In the short story, "Everyday Use", author Alice Walker uses everyday objects, which are described in the story with some detail, and the reactions of the main characters to these objects, to contrast the simple and practical with the stylish and faddish. The main characters in this story, "Mama" and Maggie on one side, Dee on the other, each have opposing views on the value and worth of the various items in their lives, and the author uses this conflict to make the point that the substance of an object, and of people, is more important than style.
There are many definitions to theory. According to Akers (2009) “theories are tentative answers to the commonly asked questions about events and behavior” (Akers, (2009, p. 1). Theory is a set of interconnect statements that explain how two or more things are related in two casual fashions, based upon a confirmed hypotheses and established multiple times by disconnected groups of researchers.
My own personal philosophy of leisure has been shaped by past and present activities I do for leisure and why I do them. To me, leisure is the sense of being free from external stressors that I face in my life such as school or work. The positive outcomes from partaking in leisure are generally overlooked and often underestimated. Leisure affects our emotions, our physical and mental health, and aids in the creation of relationships. In my own personal life, I have done and still participate in leisure as a way to sooth myself or unwind from the stress of school or work. The release of pent up emotions and energy for individuals helps their relationships with others and their overall health as well. When stress is released, an individual is
John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, Henry Lee Lucas, Charles Manson, Timothy McVeigh, Ann Rule, Angel Resendez, David Berkowitz, Albert DeSalvo, Ottis Toole, Eddie Gein, and Herbert Mullin, what do all of these serial killers have in common and why did they kill? This is the question I am going to answer in my paper. I am going to examine several killers and their childhoods, mental disorders, and types of killings they performed.
Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit, acknowledges how habits control our daily lives in every decision we make. For Instance, an ambitious woman named Lisa Allen, has not always had a fruitful life. Previously, she had abused her body with harmful toxins such as tobacco and alcohol since the beginning of her teenage years. Carrying out these habits everyday resulted her into being unmotivated and unconfident. In fact, she never kept a job longer than a year and began to fall into major debt. “She needed a goal in her life, she thought. Something to work toward” (xii-xiv). It begins with the “three-step loop” a cue that triggers our brain to do the habit. Next a routine, a set of actions that are either physical or mental. Finally a reward of satisfaction that determines whether or not this habit will be continuous (19). Not all habits can be good, but this is where the golden rule applies. Duhigg explains that in order for you to change your habit “ you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine”(62). “However, simply understanding how habits work- learning the structure of the habit loop makes them easier to control”( 20). Reading The Power of Habit, helped me understand the process by which I made a positive change to fight procrastination.
John Wayne Gacy Jr. is one of America’s infamous serial killers, who is known by most people as the killer clown. From being beaten by his alcoholic father to murdering and sexually taking advantage of teenage boys, the general strain theory and social bond theory will be applied to Gacy in explaining the strengths and limitations of each theory, along with empirical evidence. This paper will discuss the background characteristics of Gacy, containing relevant information for the purpose of applying the general strain theory and social bond theory to Gacy. Each theory will describe the conceptual basis, address empirical evidence for and against the theories, and identify the limitations. Explicit connections between Gacy and the theories will
In Green River, Running Red, author Ann Rule describes a killer without remorse, who is the product of both personal and social influences, in effect forcing him to murder women and to continue to do so for over a decade as a fulfillment of his fantasies. When endeavoring to rationalize the causes of such a mind, theories of deviance, when separated into two distinct categories, positivist and constructionism. Positivist theories, such as the general theory of crime, allows for individual's to piece together events in the life of Gary Ridgway, the Green River killer which would undeniably lead him to a twisted sense of reality, combined with sexual fantasies and a tendency to justify perverted acts of murder. Constructionist theories, specifically conflict theory, are able to shed light on the lives and decisions made by the victims, who were all led to such lifestyles through outward sources. In determining the causes and motivations behind both the offender and the victims, theories of deviance leave little to be speculated on when placing blame on either psychological or social factors.
...ther names, so growing up and while killing victims in his adult hood, he called his victims names and proceeded to kill them. Gacy raped, sodomized,tortured and strangled thirty three men over ten years. Referencing his past by calling his victims what his father called him proves that his childhood left an emotional scar and is a prevalent reason as to why he’s committing these crimes.
To understand how leisure plays an important role in our daily lives today, we should have a complete understanding of how leisure has impacted our lives historically. Just as important would be the role that geo-political events and technology have played throughout history and its effects on leisure.