Theories Of John Wayne Gacy

Serial murders are not just part of the United States they also happen globally. There are many investigative tools that are used when working a serial murder case and we will discuss some of those. We will also discuss the problems with the media when it comes to serial murders. We will also talk about how the criticism of the public and media can affect serial murder cases.

In any and every society, there is a level of deviance or crime, no matter how big or small. Deviance is when the norms of a society are disregarded, while crime is when there is a defiance of laws within a society. Individuals who are deviant tend to be nonconforming to the society in which they live, challenging social expectations and deviating from what is considered the norm. Meanwhile, crime is a form of deviance that also discards norms, but in a way that breaks the laws of a certain society or community. When looking at deviance and crime in a micro-level perspective, there are three different theories often used to analyze the reasoning for both in a society. These theories include the Differential Association Theory, the Control Theory and the Labeling Theory. In further dissecting these theories, one can gain a greater insight into the workings of society.

Serial Killers have been studied by psychologists, anthropologist and sociologists for years. In the following case study I will be talking about Robert Pickton. Robert Pickton is Canada’s most notorious serial killer, he was charged with 26 murder cases in 2006. I will analyze Roberts’s case with theories from psychology, sociology and anthropology. Psychology can tell us about Robert’s individual behaviour. Sociology can tell us about how the people and society around Robert affected him and Anthropology can tell us how his culture affected him.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Department in Illinois said that the newly identified victim was James Byron Haakenson, a 16-year-old boy who ran away from his home in St. Paul in the summer of 1976. The police found his body and 26 others in the crawl space beneath Mr. Gacy’s home in December 1978. Mr. Gacy was among the most prolific serial killers in American history. From 1972 to 1978, he lured or forced 33 teenage boys and young men — some of whom he employed at his construction business — to his home in suburban Chicago, where he murdered them. He sexually assaulted most of his victims as he tortured them to death and buried all but six of them beneath his house. Neighbors in Norwood Park Township, Ill., knew Mr. Gacy for his appearances at children’s parties where he performed as Pogo the Clown, a character he later painted or sketched numerous times while in

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, by day was a hard working individual for his job and his community, but by nightfall he was a violent sadistic murderer. As the 70’s came to an end, John Gacy killed over 30 young adults’ utilizing his choice of murder by torture and strangulation. By the time the 80’s began Gacy was convicted of 33 deaths and was given 12 deaths and 21 natural life sentences. Finally by the mid 90’s J.W. Gacy was condemned to lethal injection for his crimes that he committed.

John Wayne Gacy was convicted on the murder of 33 teenage boys between 1972 and 1978. These murders took place in Cook County, Illinois; all inside of John Gacy’s home. The city of Chicago, Illinois, during this time was very violent, with crimes happening regularly; this played out well for Gacy. Twenty victims have been identified, while thirteen victims still remain unidentified. All of John Gacy’s victims were teenage boys, all dying due to strangulation, except for his first victim who was stabbed to death.

John Wayne Gacy was a very manipulative person. He lured his victims with the promise of construction work and good pay, and then captured,assaulted them, then eventually strangled them with rope (Lohr 4). In 1974, Gacy started a contracting business, He hired teen boys to work for him. Explaining to his friends, that hiring young men would keep payroll cost down (Lohr 4). In fact on December 11, 1978, Gacy visited Des Plaines pharmacy to discuss a remodeling deal. He mentioned that his firm hired “teen boys” at a starting salary of five dollars an hour (Egger 2). Mr. Gacy abducted Robert Piest from the pharmacy after Robert looked into Mr. Gacy offer for the construction job. Following this, On October 24, 1976 Gacy abducted and killed two

.Gacy was caught because of trace evidence found on college rings in his house. After tracing missing 15 year old Robert Piest to John Gacy, the Des Plaine place were able to receive a search warrant because of Gacys previous sodomy conviction. When they searched the house, they collected driver's license and college rings. The detectives also noticed a strong, strange odor coming from beneath his house. Forensic evidence on the ring traced it to missing teenager John Slye. After getting a second search warrant they did a more meticulous search on the craw space under his house. They found 27 bodies of young boys and men. There wasn't a profile of Gacy, it was a lucky break. The Des Plaines Police Department had no knowledge of Gacys crimes.

In the attached posts, I discuss why people are so fascinated with serial killers (week four) and also which weapon is used for murder and why (week one). The first post gives insight on one specific person named John Schwenk. Schwenk collects items and objects from serial killers themselves. The objects are often sent to him from prison along with notes and cards. Schwenk believes that these serial killers are his friends and is a prime example of why people finds serial killers fascinating. As discussed in the text, serial killers are found fascinating by many groups of people young and old, but everyone connects wth the information about them in different ways. Schwenk knows that serial killers are dangerous but still wants to know why and how they think during their killings or day to day life. The fascination of serial killers I nothing new as people have been studying the antics of serial killers for many decades now. For instance, the museum of crime admissions has drastically increased due to the fascination of the public. I

The media not only portrays serial killers as mentally ill people or geniuses with very high IQ, but also as white males with abnormal looks or personalities who had a problematic childhood and dealt with isolation. However, approximately twenty percent of serial murders in America were committed by women and although sixty two perfect of serial killers were white, at least thirty eight percent of them were from another ethnicity. “Database of nearly four hundred serial killers in which he found that eighty four percent of killers were male, twenty percent

My research question that I intend to explore is: How do the following strains listed in Robert Agnew’s strain theories affect people who are already mentally disabled or incapacitated to react in a way that society considers deviant? The strains I am going to focus on are: Abusive peer relations, work in secondary labor markets, unemployment, criminal victimization, parental rejection and homelessness – Agnew (2012) (p.655). Hart, Keith, Peterson, Skeem & Vidal (2010) It is estimated that 14%-31% of offenders have mental illnesses (p. 1217), which is up to a third of people who are incarcerated, being able to correlate factors that attribute to their motivations could possibly be helpful in preventing them to occur early on with

Through music, Sufjan Stevens closes the gap between the listener and the mass murder, John Wayne Gacy Jr. In his song, “John Wayne Gacy, Jr”, Stevens performs a change of narratives form the third person narrative in the beginning, to second person narrative, to first person narrative by the end. This changing of perspectives provides the listener a way to understand and even connect with the murders. After the first stanza, Stevens asks the listener, “Are you one of them?” (Steven), as if the listener is one of the victims murdered by John Wayne Gacy.

In over 64 percent of the cases, the reason of the serial killers being caught is not the police finds the killers after a series of investigation of the murders, but by accidently catch someone with minor offence such as stealing little things or drunk driving and then find that he or she is the one they have been looking for for years. Why is that? Because there are lots of rumors and misunderstanding about the serial killers. Persistent misinformation, stereotypes and hyperbole presented in the media have combined with the relative rarity of serial murder cases to foster a number of popular myths about serial murder. The most common myths about serial killers encompass such factors as their race, gender, intelligence, living conditions and

Still, John Wayne Gacy didn’t just kill people, he also enjoyed in raping and torturing his victims before performing the murder. He was a violent murderer, who preferred young boys as his victims. It all started in 1972, on the 2nd of January, when he picked up a young 16-year-old boy, called Timothy McCoy, from a bus terminal, and took him on a tour around Chicago. He took the boy to his house, with the promise to take him back the next day to the bus station. According to Gacy’s statements, the killing of this boy may have been accidental. McCoy came from the kitchen, to wake Gacy up, but had a knife in his hand, which made Gacy think he wants to hurt him. Thus, he decided to hurt him instead and ended up killing McCoy. Gacy admitted that he