Ted Bundy : Nature And Nurture Theory

In today’s world, murderers aren’t a surprising thing, as long as they are fictional. Plenty of TV shows and movies have plot lines around murder, but what about real life? As Scott Bonn states in his writing, of the approximate 15,000 murders in the United States, only 1 percent are serial killings, amounting to about 150 victims per year, with between 25 and 50 serial killers active at any given time. There are plenty of statistics on serial killers. 1 in 20 had the same three characteristics as a child: bedwetting, fire setting, and torturing animals. Animal torture is a common indicator that the child will be violent in the future. Also, over 30 percent of murderers use killing as a way for their sexual arousal (Stone). A murderer

Marion Michael Morrison was born on May 26, 1907, in Winterest, Iowa. His father, Clyde, worked as a pharmacist, and John Wayne thought of his father as the “kindest, most patient man I ever knew.” Later on in life, John Wayne’s father developed a critical lung disease. Wayne said that his mother, Mary was “a tiny, vivacious redheaded bundle of energy.” John Wayne was nicknamed “The Duke” after his pet as a child that was named Airedale. Early in his life,

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).

One of the bigger controversies today is the debate over nature versus nurture. With that debate going on there are many topics that are being researched under it, like serial killers, and what drives them to do what they do. Many scientists are still researching whether or not if serial killers are driven by the way they were raised or if it is a part of their genes.

Biological factors in John Wayne Gacy was that he had the ‘Criminal Gene’ which was an extra Y chromosomes even though they have no solid evidence to predict that every person that has an extra Y chromosome would become overly aggressive and lacking empathy. Growing up in the Gacy household was no typical day; Gacy father was an alcoholic and was an abuser. Gacy father beat his children with a razor strap if he thought they misbehaved or thought they where lying to him. Gacy father also abused his mother right in front of the children to prove a point that no one is better than him. John Wayne Gacy was so used to beating that he toughens up and he wouldn’t cry anymore.

Ted Bundy was one of the most vicious and notorious serial killers in United States history. His success in finding and slaughtering his prey was often due to his meticulous planning and preparation. In other moments he simply seized upon the opportunity to charm a woman he met without any prior planning and lured her to a place where he could kill her. He killed as many as 36 women, although authorities suggest that there may have been more victims than that. Was Bundy a classic case of a criminal whose activities can be linked to the "Rational Choice" theory? Do the principles of "Trait" theories explain his behaviors? This paper looks into those theories as they may or may not apply to the murderous life of Ted Bundy. This paper finds that Rational Choice theory fits the facts of Ted Bundy's serial killing more appropriately than Trait theories.

The novel The Other Wes Moore was written by Wes Moore and it speaks upon, two boys with the same name but both have different fates. The Other Wes Moore touch's base on how the environment and experience can shape an person. The book allows you to follow two young boys named Wes Moore who tend to make life changing decisions that in the long run shape and effect their future. The purpose behind this phenomenal novel is to understand the pain and struggle to overcome the streets and how the streets can raise you and change you as a person. Furthermore, allowing you to foreshadow your thoughts of how your environment and experience can shape who you become. The environment we live in does play a significant role in our growth in life. Nature and nurture can effect individual success in different aspects. In the novel The Other Wes Moore the author Wes uses narrative elements such as parallelism and characterization to describe and tell both Wes's stories.

One of the first things that come to people’s minds when they hear the word psychopath is Ted Bundy. Bundy spent most of the 1970’s killing 30 or more young woman who happened to resemble his ex-girlfriend in some way. The exact time and number of Bundy’s kills will likely never be known. Ted Bundy is what is considered a successful psychopath. Psychopathy is a form of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Not every person with ASPD is a psychopath, but every psychopath has ASPD. No one knows exactly what causes this disorder, but there has been some speculation over the decades. The two main ideas is that an genetic influence causes psychopathy or an environmental influence causes psychopathy. The neurotransmitter MAOA has been linked to several brain structural differences in the brains of a psychopath when compared to the brain of a non-psychopathic person. Multiple studies have linked childhood abuse to the psychopathy development. Both of these causes have been shown to influence psychopathy development but it is my hypothesis that genetics hold

As one studies other viewing and readings such as Silence of the Lambs, Dexter, Perfume, Natural Born Killers, True Blood, Dead until Dark, and The Walking Dead it can be found that both nature and nurture take a part in creating a serial killer. Dexter Morgan is a serial killer that developed a want to kill as a child. Growing up with a foster family he had all the love, nurture, and support of a normal child, but he had a missing part of him with the mystery of his dead mother. Harry, his foster father had recognized Dexter’s need to kill early in life and was able to teach him how to kill properly. Harry was smart in understanding there was no way to contain or stop Dexter’s desire to kill, but he

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

Hirshi and Gottfredson also say that criminals have disciplinary problems during childhood, i.e. Gary’s father. That is one distinct trait Gary possesses. Hirshi and Gottfredson also say that the traits a criminal has during adolescence and adulthood include: analogous behaviors such as drinking, doing drugs, and promiscuity, and poor social outcome such as a bad education, bad relationships, and difficulty with jobs. Gary once again possesses all of those characteristics. Despite the fact that Gary had a high IQ and an affinity for drawing, he couldn’t succeed more socially. He frequently skipped school at age 12 to go drinking and dropped out of school at age 14. Because of Gary’s impulsiveness, he spent most of his life in jail. His offenses ranged from murder to con scams. Gary killed people he didn’t know at all for what would seem like no reason. All of the offenses ended in Gary being sentenced to the death penalty.

The objective of this study is to examine whether it is nature or nurture who plays the most vital role in a human’s behavior, specifically an individual’s criminal behavior. Criminal behavior is defined as an act or failure to act in a way that violates public law. Some believe that criminal behavior can be identified as early as conception, meaning that criminal behavior is because of your genes. While others believe that one’s upbringing and social learning environment directly contributes to the individual’s criminal behavior. This paper will provide the history on the ongoing debate of nature vs. nurture and answer the question of whether it is

Described as “THE execution” (Lyons & Trei, 1989, p. Ia) serial killer and rapist Ted Bundy was put to death by the State of Florida at 7.16 A.M. January 24, 1989. During his life he had been convicted of the 1978 rape and murder of a 12 year old, Kimberly Leach in Lack City; and the death of Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, sorority sisters at Florida State University. Just two days before his execution Bundy also admitted to killing a number of other females of various ages in Washington, Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Florida although he was never tried or convicted for those (Rule, 1989, p. 479-480). In total it is estimated that he killed between 25 and 30 women (Rule, 1989).

Annotated Bibliography: In this article, the author is making an argument that sexual abuse causes brain development problems in the long run. These children gain “a less flexible state of equilibrium” (Gaskill 37). They then become poor socialized and have problems in regards to emotional and physical health. In order to these children, they need to be helped immediately,

In many cases in media, the character is portrayed as a danger to others or a psychotic killer because of their antisocial personality disorder. This is evident in the movie series “The Dark Knight Rises” in the character the Joker as well as the television series “Dexter” in the character Dexter Morgan. These characters are attributed with antisocial personality disorder, emphasizing and exaggerating their symptoms, especially their disregard of the safety of others and themselves, as well as their lack of sympathy. Due to their symptoms, the film and television serious deems that these characters are “psychotic” and are murderers. According to Smith (1996), they explain that those who do suffer from the disorder are not murderers, but rather they impose a danger to themselves more than to others. The causes depicted in the film and television series essentially explains that those who suffer with the disorder is due to an early traumatic experiences which was evident in the Joker and Dexter. Although a traumatic life experience is a cause of the disorder, but it is not the only cause. Ferguson C. J. (2010) explains that genetics is significant when examining the cause of the disorder. He continues to explain and provide evidence that the genetic material is triggered by the experiences that the person encounters. By having the Joker’s and Dexter’s disorder be explained