Aileen Wuornos: Major Female Serial Killers

His dead body was found in the woods near Daytona Beach, Florida, shot with a twenty two caliber rifle. “She ended up shooting six .22 caliber bullets into him” (McDuff 202). This is just one of the many catastrophes performed by a woman serial killer. Serial killers are a problem in the United States, murdering on average 2000 people each year (Indiana University np). “In fact, serial murder in the United States alone makes up more than three-quarters of the estimated world total” (Innes 5). Although women serial killers are not very common, they still have a huge impact on the death toll of innocent victims. In order to understand how woman serial killers operate, it is important to understand their motives, the different classifications

A basic serial killer is a murderer of two or more victims at different times. There are several types of serial killers. The wildest category would be the Thrill- seekers. Thrill-seekers are known for being fearless of danger, having no remorse for their murders, irrational attitude, and impulsive behavior. They seem to enjoy the adrenaline rush they get when they kill and gain pleasure from doing it. The victims are usually strangers who they may stalk to make it more exciting as “a hunt” (‘Thrill Seekers”). Serial Killers are portrayed all the same in Hollywood. Average serial killers are usually old, uncanny men who go after women for sex or money but, Aileen Wuornos turned

Over the course of one year, from 1989 to 1990, Aileen Wuornos murdered seven men. As one of the first female serial killers, Ms. Wuornos prompted psychologists and criminologists to investigate the reason why women kill serially, as their motives differ from men. Historically, female serial killers murder by poison, which is considered less messy, therefore preferred by women, and their motives are typically financial. Aileen Wuornos murdered her victims with a gun and her motives differ from the norm. Through the application of the ideas of the attachment theory and the life course theory, further exploration into the causes of Aileen Wuornos’ crimes is achieved.

Serial murder crime though rare, is not a a new phenomenon. This crime has been committed for centuries and will continue to be a crime that is committed throughout the world. It is unfortunate and scary that this is probably one of the most serious of crimes that cannot be prevented. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, serial murderers commit their crimes because they want to. Rehabilitation is not obtainable for serial killers due to their inability for remorse and empathy, or to see people as people and not objects(Knight 2006). This research paper will focus primarily on serial murder within the U.S. First and foremost, a legal definition provided by the U.S. Department of Justice will be presented to set forth the discussion of this research paper. As follows will be a detailed discussion explaining serial killer typologies with the use of examples of known serial killers in the U.S. Types of serial killers are: power oriented, mission oriented, visionary, and hedonistic, each typology will be clearly defined and explained. Some serial killers can have a mixture of each typology’s characteristic. Serial killers that will be discussed and used as examples to represent the content of this research paper will be, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Robert Berdella, Jeffery Dahmer, and lastly the most prolific serial killer in American history, Gary Ridgeway. Problems with studying serial killing, are that because of rarity and access. Most of what we think

This research is important because understanding what makes a juvenile delinquent is necessary to know. Parents can be educated on what is affecting their teen to contribute to delinquent behavior. The family structure has been avoided by many citizens. Educating the public on the family structure can make a different in a teen’s life.

This journal is written 3 authors: Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida and received his doctorate from the University of Cincinnati, Steven T. Holmes. Dean of the California School of Forensic Studies at Alliant International University, Eric W. Hickey, Ph.D. and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Justice Administration at the University of Louisville, Ronald M. Holmes, M.A. They constructed different types of females who are serial killers and discussed homicidal behavioral traits. It begins with differentiating

People have always been curious on what makes a serial killer; after all, it is difficult to imagine murdering multiple people and not feeling an ounce of guilt or emotion afterwards. In severe cases, this is what a person having antisocial personality disorder is capable of. Infamous serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Charles Manson were believed to have this disorder. Personality disorders in general can range from mild to severe in the afflicter’s actions, but antisocial PD is arguably one of the most dangerous seen in human behavior history.

First perspective is biological, Aileen suffered from borderline personality disorder. According to Paris the author of Borderline Personality Disorder some of the symptoms include reckless impulsive behavior, unstable relationships, and problems with regulating emotions (2005). These symptoms could have caused Aileen to have mini- psychotic episodes. She may have faced things like delusional thoughts that could have caused her to believe the men she was with were going to rape her. In her mind she was justified to commit the murder of seven men as self-defense. Next is psychodynamic, this psychological perspective caused a lot of problems for Aileen. In Aileen’s childhood she faced excessive amounts of abuse at the hands of her grandparents. As well as abandonment by her mother and father at a very young age. These events made Aileen an angry and violent person that ended in her committing murder. Behaviorally, Aileen learned that violence was okay. She learned to disconnect herself from her body in order to cope with the bad things happening to her so that she did not have to feel them. She did not have a nurturing caregiver so she never learned how to treat others decently. This made Aileen believe it was okay to be treated poorly by others and to treat others bad herself. Next is the cognitive perspective, Aileen was not a good problem solver. Her thoughts automatically turned

Serial killers is a person that kill three or more people in a short amount of time. He or she murder one after another in a similar way with an inactive period between each murder. The motivation for murdering an adult or child is based on psychological gratification. The serial killer is normally an adult white male in his late twenties, who has killed four or more individuals in separate incident with an inactive period between. It is impossible to tell just by looking at a person who will become a serial killer, the traits of some criminals or serial killers appear to be similar most of the time. The types of behaviors

“I robbed them, and I killed them as cold as ice, and I would do it again, and I know I would kill another person because I've hated humans for a long time.” (Wuornos, 1999-2010) These words came from Aileen Wuornos after she was arrested for the murders of seven men during the course of a year. She faced numerous adversities from early childhood through adulthood. She displayed many psychological warning signs, but none was attended too regardless of her outcries. The course of this paper will outline her upbringing, lifestyle choice, psychological warning signs, psychological disorders, course of treatment that could have been undertaken before the killing spree commenced.

Her mother, Diane Wuornos, was somewhere around 15 and her father, Leo Dale Pittman, was around 17. Aileen never met her father he was in jail for child molestation and he was also believed to be a schizophrenic, he ended up hanging himself in jail not long after she was born and her mother left her with her maternal grandparents when she was

Juvenile delinquency is very prevalent especially among adolescents because studies have shown that during the time of adolescence that is when delinquency tends to increase and once adolescence has passed at about 17 years of age then it tends to decrease (Adolescent Delinquency, 2002). There are many factors that can contribute to the increase of delinquency during adolescence, some of the factors can be personality, mental disorders, genetics, economic status, environment, family, and culture among others, also to understand better the causes of juvenile delinquency the social control theory is the best theory to explain juvenile delinquency as a whole (Adolescent Delinquency, 2002).

While most of the violent crimes that happens most are them are belongs to men, women have not been the wilting flowers promoted so heartily by Victorian adorers and (right or wrong) often evident in today's society. Before we get into detail about the fascinating phenomenon of the Black Widow, it is worth a brief overview of women's escalating role in the world of violent crime, particularly in the United States.

A major cause of low self-control is improperly raising a child (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). In fact, research has shown that affection, supervision, and discipline have all been absent from the homes of delinquents. In order to teach children self-control someone must at least monitor the child’s behavior, recognize deviant behavior when it occurs, and punish this kind of behavior.

The events of the past can hold a great influence on the actions and behaviors of the future. From being raised in a supportive and loving home, to one that is full of neglect and abuse, each event can potentially impact the future of an individual. In the case of serial killers, there has been some debate on whether the evil ones are made or born; does it happen because of a genetic factor, environmental factor, or is it simply they addicted to the feeling of slaughtering another individual’s life? Although, the most important key in finding the truth deals with the past and shapes the outcome of the future. Upon viewing in a psychological stance, there is no clear understanding of why one aspect that most serial killers share, namely