John Wayne Gacy and the offense that he committed
John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 17, 1942. Though he was not on good terms with his father, his childhood seemed normal. However, his father was inhospitable, violent, and could even assault his children physically. These deprived Gacy of the fatherly love he wished. Although Gacy really loved his father and wanted to establish a cordial relationship with him, his unsociable manners made it virtually impossible; hence leaving him frustrated throughout his early life (Hickey, 2002).
Gacy failed to get successful graduation because he dropped out of high school about four times and this was a result of him moving from Chicago to Las Vegas. He worked for Palm Mortuary as a janitor when he was in Vegas. He finally went back to Chicago a few months later afterlife in Vegas appeared to be unbearable for him. Thereafter, Gacy joined a business institution and gained knowledge and skills in salesmanship in the 1960s. Having excellent sales skills, he managed to comfortably hold up difficulties of life (Hickey, 2002).
After he finally graduated successfully, he was employed at Nunn Bush Shoe Co in downtown Chicago as a management trainee. Due to his good performance in his workplace, he was quickly granted a transfer to Springfield, III. During the subsequent year, he was given the responsibility of overseeing the clothing section of the business. Following his promotion, Gacy shifted to Waterloo, Iowa, after marrying a rich. He speedily became famous and an affiliate of society (Hickey, 2002).
Nevertheless, things never worked well for him. The very first time that Gacy was caught up by the arm of the law was in 1968. The offense was that he attempted to pressurize a male employee into a homosexual act. This incident left many surprised, including his wife whom he had been married to for two years, and who had born him two siblings. Consequently, Gacy was jailed for ten years after he pleaded guilty to committing sodomy. When he was sentenced and went to prison, his wife could not bear it, which is why she decided to divorce him. Annoyed, Gacy told her that he did not want to see the children they had raised up again and would consider them dead.
After Gacy was paroled in 1971, he shifted back to Chicago after serving one and half years in jail. Gacy was very enterprising, and no wonder he resigned from a construction job to start up his own business. Later, he was to remarry a divorced woman whom he had met due to some friends. Thereafter, he relocated into a new house with the support of his mother. Once more, Gacy went against the law in February 1972 when he was accused of making attempts to rape a young man. Finally, the charges against Gacy were withdrawn because the complainant did not stand trial to testify against the criminal suspect. Local merchants knew Gacy as a sharp entrepreneur. He hired young employees who helped decrease his expenditure giving him a better chance to win over his competitors. This nurtured his business. Just a few years later, Gacy separated from his second wife. According to Mendenhall (1996), they did not have children by the time they separated. She claimed incapable of managing the marriage further as his husband was obsessed with homosexual magazines and that his moods were not predictable.
John Wayne Gacy was in trouble yet again in 1978 after a boy was reported missing, and he was suspected to be responsible because he was the last person to be seen with him. Previously, Gacy had been charged for sodomizing a small boy, something that shocked the investigators. During those charges, it was found that he pleaded guilty and hence convicted. Indeed, the information that was revealed during the hearing was used to find Gacy’s house where he had buried the other victims. While affecting the warrant, the investigators entered a crawl hole sited below the home where a rancid was quickly noticed. Lacking any discernible incriminating proof, the investigators immediately returned to the control center to investigate the scenario (Wilson & Wilson, 1995).
While reviewing the evidence collected from Gacy’s home, investigators concluded that they had unknowingly seized vital substantiation because a ring belonging to a teenager who had disappeared a previous year was found there. The information was brought to investigators’ attention that the offense was of high importance, and hence, they had to put more effort to make sure that the offender was brought to book. Fearing that he would finally be convicted because his secret had been brought to the light, Gacy voluntarily decided to hand himself over to the police and confessed all the murderous acts he had committed in the past. Moreover, he sketched for them a detailed atlas to trace twenty-eight graves under his garage and home. He also confessed that he had thrown the rest of the victims into a river (Wilson & Wilson, 1995).
Following his confession that he committed unimaginable murderous acts, his murder trial commenced in Cook County Criminal Courts on 6th February 1980. The defense intended to prove that Gacy’s murderous acts were because of his mental incapacity and unconsciousness. Gacy was later found responsible for the murder of thirty-three people shortly after the conclusion of the difference of opinion. Gacy’s death sentence was declared on 13th March 1980. He was injected by lethal on 10th May 1994. However, before he died, he snarled “kiss my ass” as his last words.
Gacy’s brain was taken out after his execution for examination. The brain is now with Dr. Helen Morrison. Helen had interviewed Gacy to establish the personality traits of serial killers. Investigations had, however, found that Gacy was mentally upright. They disclosed that Gacy could not be classified under any psychological profile related to serial killers and that it is not easy to establish the reasons behind his weird behaviors. Some of the witnesses who appeared in Gacy’s trial told the court that Gacy possessed an infant’s emotional character (Sullivan, 1983).
Theories related to the causes of the offenders’ violence
For many decades, the study of crime has held a forefront position in society. It is the role of the criminologists to carry out restraining assessments, and comprehensions to help the lawmakers prevent crime and other deviant behaviors. Criminology does not include all deviant behaviors. The nature of the crime committed by serial killers falls under the two categories depending on the related violence, deviant nature of the serial killer, and the crimes’ recidivism. Nonetheless, the specific deviance differs per offender. It can take into account sadism, necrophilia, dismemberment, and cannibalism among others. To assess different crimes, criminology theories have been developed, applied, and tested since the 1800s. Advancements in technology have greatly made testing and understanding of the theories much easier. This section of the paper examines John Wayne Gacy’s criminal activities, including personality traits, childhood behaviors, adult experiences, and family environment to point out possible indicators of his serial killing acts.
Researchers have continuously attempted to elucidate violence through the adoption of psychological, biological, and sociological theories of criminal behavior. These theories explain the reason behind violent behaviors, together with how they come about. For instance, contemporary trait theory observes that criminality results from the interaction between biological, psychological, and environmental factors, in addition to the offenders’ traits. On the other hand, social process theories observe that criminality is a product of inadequate socialization.
Social construction theories are used by the present criminal justice system to devise ways of barring serial killers from engaging in crime. Regarding Gacy, some sources associated his unbecoming behavior with his inhospitable and alcoholic father. Others have based it on his head trauma and consequent pass out in his childhood. Rumors also went out that his penchant for murdering boys and men was a result of his subconscious homosexual self-hatred. He personally confessed that he hated homosexuals and their behavior and that he was bisexual. Apparently, the majority of his victims were heterosexual males with good looks (Hickey, 2002).
John’s life was full of traumatic events which must have had a substantial impact on his behavior. Some of the most traumatic incidences could be the death of his father while he was imprisoned in another state. His murderous tendencies could also have been exacerbated by the separation of his parents and eventual isolation. However, the question that comes up is whether it is sufficient to conclude that serial killing behavior results from dramatizations and ill fantasies combined. The trauma control model provides that there is a potential impact from pre-dispositional factors. In regard to the contemporary trait theories, the Buller-McGinnis Model attributes serial killing behavior to a class of pre-dispositional factors (Hickey, 2002).
Social structure theory argues that those who are underprivileged economically are forced to engage in crime as a result of pressure from social-economic forces. Under social structure theory, there are three subcategories. Social disorganization is one of them, which focuses on environmental conditions. Dropping out of school and subsequent lack of stable employment were potential causes of the problems which indeed happed to Gacy. The Strain Theory points out that because of a person’s inability to achieve his/her aims, a reason to commit a crime to attain the desirable appears. John Wayne Gacy can suitably be associated with this argument because his behavior can be attributed to numerous troubles that he underwent due to social-economic hardships. He had especially experienced economic hardship because his education was almost not successful, and due to the fact that he engaged in menial jobs to sustain himself, such as working in a mortuary. Thereafter, he committed crimes as a result of which he took 32 more lives (Blumer, 1969).
Cultural Deviance Theory attributes that criminal activities are a burden that leads to societal separation which results in the development of different special subcultures that go against the society’s norms and rules. For a case in a point, if a person’s dad is a habitual drunkard and used to hang on in the company of fellow drunkards who belong to a low social class and see nothing wrong in battering their wives. As a matter of fact, such people may take crime as normal. The strain theory is sometimes associated with serial killers but this is not the case for social structure theories
The social class theory provides that lack of equity creates awareness which stimulates criminal acts. People of a lower economic class feel unprivileged because they are not able to afford what they need in life. Though the intentions of Gacy’s serial killing are not clearly connected with getting money, they result in illegal activities that could help him attain equity in society. Theories under this category include institutional Anomie theory which provides that the United States is full of Anomie because people have never-ending motives to hold to their status quo. Relative deprivation theory is the following one under this category, which provides that great disparity between economic classes results in jealousy and suspicion, which cause the criminal to harbor a grudge against people in the upper social class; hence making them feel like disgracing upon them (Wilson & Wilson, 1995).
General strain theory which also comes under this category shows that there are a lot of difficulties that unite to incite a person to the crime. Serial killing can be duly explained by this theory because most serial killers have plentiful of problems that occur at once (Wilson & Wilson, 1995). John Wayne Gacy is a good example of this kind because, during his childhood, he underwent a bad relationship with his father who was abusive in spite of wanting some approval from him. In addition, he was mentally destabilized following a severe head injury that he experienced being a young boy. This left him with a blood clot in the brain. Because of this, he suffered from headaches and unnoticed blackouts till 16. His health complications persisted even after the doctors had removed the blood clot from his body. A year later, he was diagnosed with an unidentified heart condition. John also suffered social disconnection because of his homosexual inclination. As a matter of fact, John’s life was full of predicaments (Hickey, 2002).
Elsewhere, social process theory argues that all people are potential criminals, not considering their ethnicity, social class, or gender. This theory adds that assuming that the societal bonds upon which individuals are held are productive; the law could have been followed. However, if such bonds are not productive, people will not abide by the law (Wilson & Wilson, 1995). Theories under this group include social learning theory which maintains that criminals have a tendency to copy each other, and that criminal character is rather acquired than inborn. Serial killers who operate together can suitably be linked to this argument because they have high chances of learning from each other (Wilson & Wilson, 1995).
In addition, neutralization falls under this group. It states that criminals are not always identifiable by their criminal behaviors – sometimes they behave differently. While criminals are not committing a crime, they take on socially tolerable tasks such as place of worship attendance, attendance to social congregations and holidays, as well as productive community functions. In particular, John acted in this manner; no wonder it was reported that his first charge, surprised his friends and those who knew him. Many considered him a likable father and husband (Davis, 2002).
Although the social control theory points out that all individuals are born with the capability of committing a crime; society could as well be a contributing factor. Avenues of committing a crime are found all over. There are several reasons why law-abiding citizens can do such an awful thing. For example, they wanted to maintain their position and name in society. People have the potential of committing a crime if they lack something (Siegel, 2007). John’s serial killing behavior is a perfect demonstration of social control theory as he never cared about his name and did not have any believes or principles to bar his criminal and inhumane acts. His example proves that negative family background and bad relationships between its members influence a person, revealing all the bad hidden inside him. Thus, he became one of the most dangerous serial killers in the United States (Wilson & Wilson, 1995).
Labeling Theory further argues that criminal acts are a product of humiliating social encounters, pained public relations, and biased nature of law. A biased explanation of behavior is crucial in spite of whether the actions are constructive or unconstructive. However, this theory does not give a person the right to make a mistake because once an individual does something bad, he is labeled as a criminal forever. For example, in the case of marijuana smoking, policymakers can alter the unlawful act to secure their own interest (Siegel, 2007).
It should be noted that the excitement brought about by the murderer could have contributed to John’s interest in killing. The high number of killings further proved that he enjoyed killing. Nonetheless, dead bodies meant nothing to him as he actually kept them under his home (Wilson & Wilson, 1995).
It turns out that a labeling theory describes the nature of crimes the best and thus suits the cases with serial killers like John. Apart from German serial killers who kill for material benefits, a large percentage of criminals do not intend to benefit materially. The theory provides that once labeled, individuals retain this title forever (Siegel, 2007). The development of serial killer activity is significantly influenced by an individual’s childhood social environment, fantasy, life, and personality characteristics. Due to an unfriendly social environment, one develops loneliness leading to problems when interacting with others and eventually leading to fantasies, which are sexual and aggressive in nature. Essentially, character and growth of fantasies need to be the next issues for studying. The development of serial killer behavior will, perhaps, call for the determination of the etiology of violent fantasy (Wilson & Wilson, 1995).
The causes of crime committed by John Gacy could be a result of multiple factors discussed in this paper. Ideally, most of the theories describe such criminal activities as learned during individuals’ lifetime rather than being inborn. Many difficulties that Gacy experienced throughout his life are thought to contribute greatly to his unbecoming behavior. Nonetheless, the specific deviance differs per offender. Factors that caused his serial killing offense include personality traits, childhood background, adult experiences, and family environment, among the others (Wilson & Wilson, 1995).
References
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic Interaction: Perspective and Method. Englewood Cliffs, CA: Sage.
Davis, M. S. (2002). The Concise Dictionary of Criminal Justice. Thousand Oaks, River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Hickey, E. W. (2002). Serial Murderers and Their Victims. Australia: Wadsworth.
Mendenhall, H. (1996). Fall of the house of Gacy. New York: New Authors Publishers.
Siegel, L. J. (2007). Criminology: The Core. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Sullivan, T. (1983). Killer Clown. New York: Warner Books.
Wilson, C., & Wilson, D. (1995). The Killers Among Us: Motives Behind Their Madness Book 1. New York: Warner Books.