John Wayne Gacy Thesis

This essay aims to examine weather serial killers are born a certain way and their genetics define their psychotic tendencies or whether they're a product of a bad environment that they grew up. This essay looks at recent killings in the late 20th century as there is more information on the killers from this period and it's easier to gain details about their childhoods. Whilst I will look at various different killers to reach more rounded conclusions (see appendix for comparison table), this essay will focus on four in detail to examine the debate; Ted Bundy (1946-89), Jeffery Dahmer (1960-1994), John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) and Gary Ridgway (1949-present).

“Serial killers are human black holes; they scare us because they mirror us,” spoke Shirley Lynn Scott, known author and psychologist. This stands true throughout history, as most serial killers blend in with society. Serial killing is formally defined by the FBI as “a series of three or more killings, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors.” But what exactly drives someone to kill another human being? What plays as a more drastic motivator for their actions, nature or nurture?

On March 17, 1942, John Wayne Gacy was born into an Irish middle-class family. His parents were Marion Gacy and John Gacy Sr. Gacy Jr. had enjoyed a uninteresting childhood until he suffered a head injury at a playground when he was 11. Up until age 16, Gacy had suffered blackouts due to the injury. After all he was put through, he worshipped his father like a hero, despite the fact that his father was an abusive alcoholic with a bad temper and an intense hate for homosexuals. Gacy was often accused and beaten by his father for being sickly.

His father, whom he was named after, often beat Gacy. When Gacy was 11 years old, Gacy was knocked unconscious by a brutal swing and through out his teen years would have black outs. Gacy left school without graduating and traveled to Las Vegas in hopes of becoming somebody with money. Instead, he ended up working in a mortuary where he showed unhealthy interested in the bodies that would come through.

John Wayne Gacy was born on May 17 (St. Patrick’s Day), 1942 to Marion Elaine Robinson Gacy and John Wayne Gacy, Sr. at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago. He was the second of three children. His older sister Joanne had preceded him by two years and two years after his birth came his sister Karen. The Gacy children were raised as Catholics and attended Catholic School (Taylor 2003).

Since he died for taking the wrath of something he did not do. Gatsby is a man who struggled to get what he wants and who much reach a certain status before marrying the woman he is in love with. He was basically an outsider who comes from an uncertain past. Gatsby was able to win the hearts of many of the people around him with his tales of adventures and showing off his wealth. Yet, there is not a view that shows the success of Gatsby. He tries to convince Nick about his upbringings and his heroic exploits. Gatsby’s stories seemed extraordinary to the point where people questioned it but they still believe

Have you ever wondered why some people love art and music, and some love science and math? These individuals love math or art because they get a sense of relaxation and excitement from these activities. Serial killers are the same way they love to kill people and have lots of different motives for why they kill them. A serial killer is a person who kills repeatedly. The one motive that drove Dennis Rader, to kill his victims was to gain power and control over them.

Today in the world there are several men and women who once thought they had everything going for them. They had the money, the fame, and the fortune. Of course being caught up in the moment means no worry, no stress, and no problems. However, that doesn’t work out for everyone. One of those people are Alphonse Gabriel Capone or as you may know Al Capone.

John Wayne Gacy was born Chicago, Illinois on March 17, 1942. He is the middle child of the three, his older sister Joanne and his younger sister Karen. As a child he was known as a quiet boy who worked as a newspaper boy, bagged groceries, and did boy scout activities. He seem to be a normal boy, well-liked by his teachers, co-workers, and friends. However, his relationship with his father was very violent. His father would frequently beat him, Gacy’s friends, who would witness the beating, say that his father would hit Gacy for no reason. His father was an alcoholic with a violent temper, and was homophobic. At the age of eleven, he suffered a blow to the head from the swings. This caused to have frequent blackouts for five years. Gacy’s blackouts stopped once the doctors found a clot in his brain.

The history of the United States has in it much separation or segregation due to race. For a long time our country has seen racism as a large problem and this has caused ethnic groups to be looked down upon and forced into a lifestyle of difficulties and suppression. Due to this, races, particularly African-Americans, have been forced to deal with unequal opportunity and poverty, leading to less honorable ways of getting by and also organizations that support change. Malcolm X is one strong example of an African American man who became apart of a group acted against it, uniting people to promote the advancement of colored people and change. Malcolm's thoughts towards race and civil right in the previous years were displayed in a less

JFK was a leader whose charisma is unmatched during his presidency, while gaining popularity during a very progressive era, specifically Civil Right movement. Many Civil Right activists fought to end discrimination and segregation throughout the United State. The 1800’s is the most hellish era for African Americans, as they suffered lynching, being slaves, and brutally beaten by white people. While slavery was abolished in 1865, the hate crime and bigotry continued anyways as it wasn’t enough to stop the hatred. Many African Americans voted JFK in hopes of having someone that represent change into society for the greater good.JFK was a supporter of the Civil Right movement during his presidency, yet he never made it his top priority. JFK, who had few personal interactions with blacks in his life, was reluctant to address

On Friday, December 22, 1978, Gacy finally confessed to police that he killed at least thirty people and buried most of the remains of the victims beneath the crawl space of his house. According to the book Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders by Sullivan and Maiken, Gacy said that, "his first killing took place in January, 1972, and the second in January, 1974, about a year and a half after his marriage." He further confessed that he would lure his victims into being handcuffed and then he would sexually assault them. To muffle the screams of his victims, he would stuff a sock or underwear into their mouths and kill them by pulling a rope or board against their throats, as he raped them. Gacy admitted to sometimes keeping the dead bodies under his bed or in the attic for several hours before eventually burying them in the crawl space.

Gacy grew up in Chicago Illinois and was the middle child of three children. His relationship with his father was northing short of complicated in that his father was a raging alcoholic, abusive to his spouse and children and a constant antagonist throughout Gacy's more impressionable years. Gacy would constantly seek the approval of his father but no matter how hard he tried, he would come up short, which only added to his father's frustration. Much of this was due to the fact that as a child and teenager, Gacy was overweight, unathletic and somewhat feminine. His father would constantly administer verbal and physical abuse because in his eyes, these qualities were not that of a true man and were not up to his alpha male standards. These physical characteristics also caused Gacy to be the target of bullying at school and because of his lack of support from his father, the mental torment only dug deeper into his already fragile mental state which made him more socially awkward and insecure. The strained relationship that Gacy had with his father also caused Gacy to become closer to his mother and sisters which (in his father's eyes) only solidified the point further that John Wayne Gacy was a mentally weak “mommas boy” who could not live up to his standards. When Gacy

Serial killers tend to be white heterosexual males in their twenties and thirties, who are sexually dysfunctional and have low self-esteem. Serial killers generally murder strangers with cooling off periods in between each murder. Serial killers are twisted in nature. Some return to the place the murder happened or the gravesite to fantasize about their deeds. Serial killers have made many excuses for their killings and behavior such as: Henry Lucas blamed his upbringing, Jeffrey Dahmer claims he was born with a “part” of him missing, Ted Bundy said porno made him do it and John Wayne Gacy turned the blame around and said the victims deserved to die. Many killers blame their families for

John Wayne Gacy was a very dark and perverse man. He is one of America’s most notorious serial killers, with over 30 victims. All of his victims were young teen boys. His sexual assaults were uncovered in 1968 and in 1980 he was convicted and found guilty of his crimes, where he was then sentenced to several life and death penalty sentences and in 1994 he was finally executed.