Criminal Behavior: John Wayne Gacy - Term Paper Example

John Wayne Gacy More than twenty-five years after his conviction for multiple murders, John Wayne Gacy remains a controversial and polarizing figure. Infamous for a murderous rampage which led to the brutal rapes, deaths and ceremonial burials in his home in a suburb of Chicago, is perhaps one of the most well-known serial killers of the twentieth century. A convicted child abuser and closeted homosexual, John Wayne Gacy kidnapped and killed thirty-three young boys over a six year period. His case drew sensational media attention due to the fact that John Wayne Gacy frequently dressed up as a clown at community gatherings. Accordingly, Mr. Gacy was dubbed the “Clown Killer” by the American media and his unsavory celebrity grew as his trial for multiple murders gripped the nation. Seeking to understand the particularly heinous crimes of Mr. John Wayne Gacy, this brief research paper will discuss the life and times of this violent murderer, the crimes he was charged with and the various impacts of his crime on our society. Following this complete overview of the crimes of John Wayne Gacy, this paper will discuss how two different criminological theorists would have viewed the crime as well as the causes of the crime. In sum, we will conclude with a discussion of where the perpetrator is now and the controversies surrounding his punishment (Bell and Bardsley 2009). Introduction John Wayne Gacy was born during the height of the Second World War during the relative tranquility of suburban Chicago and was the second of three children. It was reported that his father was both physically and mentally abusive as the young Gacy grew up in a strict Polish-Danish household. Teased about being overweight and supposedly demonstrating feminine characteristics as a young boy, John Wayne Gacy faced a series of challenges growing up. His scholastic record was shoddy and although he became a somewhat successful businessman, his previous academic record gave no indication that Mr. Gacy would achieve much financial success in life. As a young man who had dropped out of school and ventured to Las Vegas to win a livelihood, John Wayne Gacy married the first woman who paid him any attention, the unsuspecting Marlynn Myers. A daughter of wealthy parents and franchise owners of multiple KFC outlets in Chicago and the mid-west, the Myers entrusted John Wayne Gacy with the management of their fast-food outlets following his marriage to their daughter in 1964. Moving to Waterloo, Iowa to manage one of the family KFC restaurants, Gacy and his wife settled into life in a quiet Iowan community. Despite appearances, however, Waterloo had a seedy element and a Gacy was immediately drawn to the unsavory aspects of this mid-western community. As Gacy chronicler and criminologist Charles Patrick Ewing argues, Although Gacy had lied about his education, falsely claiming degrees in accounting and management, he not only managed to run the businesses but soon became a bit pf a local celebrity. Ingratiating himself with the leadership of the local chapter of the "Jaycees" (Junior Chamber of Commerce), Gacy quickly became a leader of the civic group. Elected chaplain, he led ecumenical prayer breakfasts and was widely regarded as the likely next president of the organization (Ewing 2008, 51). Despite appearances of normality John Wayne Gacy had a severe attraction to young boys and although reports of his alleged homosexuality surfaced while a member of the Jaycees, he managed to hide this aspect of his life while beginning life in Waterloo. On one side John Wayne Gacy was a successful businessman, married with a wife and children while behind closed doors he was heavily involved in drugs, pornography and male prostitution. In March of 1968, Gacy was accused of sexually assaulting two boys in Waterloo and by the end of the year was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to a decade in the infamous Iowa State Penitentiary. By the age of 26, John Wayne Gacy was facing ten years in prison and an uncertain future. As we shall see, the behavior of Mr. John Wayne Gacy while married and seemingly living a “normal” life paved the way for one of the most serious and sustained serial killing sprees in American history (Bell and Bardsley 2009). Crime and Punishment Seeking to explain the mental situation of the accused pedophile before the courts in Iowa, the state physiatrist had the following to say about the accused, “Mr. Gacy is an antisocial personality, a diagnostic term for individuals who are basically unsocial zed and whose behavior brings them frequently into conflict with society.” (Ewing 2008, 52-53). Erroneously believing that his homosexuality was largely experimental, the account of this physiatrist precluded one of the infamous serial killing sprees in American history. Paroled after 21 months for the sexual deviant act of sodomizing two underage boys in Iowa, John Wayne Gacy was released from prison a single man after having been divorced by his wife. Moving back to Illinois to live with his mother – his father had recently passed away while Gacy was incarcerated – Gacy’s deviant behavior continued in earnest, eventually leading to a six-year long killing spree which captivated the nation. Criminal charges in 1971 and 1972 set the stage for Gacy’s interaction with the Illinois criminal authorities (Powell 2007, 76-78). By 1975, John Wayne Gacy began one of the most infamous killing sprees in American history, leading to the deaths of thirty-three boys and young men. By time he was complete, Gacy had buried twenty-nine of his victims in the crawl apace underneath his home and when there was no more space he threw the remaining four bodies in the local river. While in Illinois, Gacy reestablished himself as a successful businessman and entrepreneur starting a construction company and eventually remarried. He was again involved with civic groups and local community organizations including the Democratic Party. Once Gacy was even once photographed with US First Lady Rosalyn Carter in Illinois, bringing shame to the American authorities following his capture. John Wayne Gacy’s sexual proclivities for young boys however were brought to the fore with his first victim, Timothy McCoy, aged 18. Following his first killing, he killed his own employee John Butkovich. Beginning in early January 1972 and continuing essentially uninterrupted until December 1978, John Wayne Gacy’s victims ranged in age from 14 (such as Michael Marino in 1976) to 21 (James Mazzara in 1978). During this killing spree a man named Jeffrey Rignall successfully escaped from Gacy and alerted police that Gacy had kidnapped him through the barrel of a gun and forced him to have oral sex. Importantly, at the time of his arrest, Gacy was facing criminal battery charges for his violent interaction with Mr. Rignall. Finally, after a six year killing sprees culminating in nearly three dozen deaths, Illinois police were investigating the disappearance of 15 year old Robert Piest when they discovered an unusual smell coming from the basement of Mr. Gacy’s home. Human remnants were found in Gacy’s home and he confessed to upwards of thirty murders telling police investigators that he would drug, rape and have sex with victims while killing them. Facing trial in early 1980, Gacy pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but was found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection (Bell and Bardsley 2009). What were the impacts of John Wayne Gacy’s crimes on American society? First and foremost the ghoulish image of the criminal clown who entertained children on the one hand and drugged, raped and slaughtered them on the other was an incredibly powerful image which was appropriated and played up by the American media. While John Wayne Gacy had many skeletons in his closet, including past transgressions and a conviction in Iowa, based upon outward appearances one would think that Mr. Gacy was an upstanding citizen. As a member of the Jaycees in Iowa and am important businessman with strong ties to the community, the true face of John Wayne Gacy came to the fore with his arrest and forced many in Illinois and abroad to reevaluate conceptions of safety in their community. The chilling images of Gacy dressed up as a clown to attract children was brought to the television sets of million of Americans and people around the world. Finally, the perverse and heinous acts of John Wayne Gacy forced many to reconsider the consequences of closeted homosexuality and what can happen when a person refuses to acknowledge his or her sexual identity. While it is undeniable that John Wayne Gacy was a perverse man with unusual sexual practices, he lived a closeted life and his sexuality manifested itself in a violent and murderous manner. Without taking away from the fact that he was a likely a psychopathic killer, his inability to come to grips with his sexuality could be conceived of as a contributing factor to his killing spree. Fourteen years after his conviction, John Wayne Gacy was put to death by lethal injection and died at the hands of the state of Illinois. Now that we have complete a thorough overview of the mass murderer John Wayne Gacy and the antecedents to one of the most prominent serial killing sprees in modern American history, how would criminological theorists have viewed the causes and crimes of Mr. Gacy? From a criminal theory perspective, Robert Merton was an early proponent of social strain theory, an important theoretical paradigm for the analysis of criminal behavior. This theory argues that our mainstream culture is imbued with dreams of opportunity and freedom. From a cultural and psychological perspective, the inability to live up to the dreams and expectations in American society can drive people to commit crimes and engage in anti-social behavior. From this perspective then, John Wayne Gacy was a man with definite homosexual feelings and tendencies lived a dual life: in one life he was a heterosexual man with a wife and children while in the other he engaged in violent sexual acts with teenage boys and young men. While it should be noted that all of his homosexual encounters resulted in violence, many also resulted in death. Since John Wayne Gacy remained closeted about his sexuality and tried to suppress it, could that be a contributing factor to his extremely deviant and violent sexual behavior? Perhaps but one must look at the individual in order to understand the crimes that he or she has committed. Thus, Lonnie Athens’ Trait Theory explores the ways in which a violent upbringing and physical as well as emotional factors early on contribute to the criminal behavior of an individual later in life. As has been discussed earlier, John Wayne Gacy had a difficult upbringing and was subject to both emotional as well as physical abuse as a young boy. Could these experiences have shaped the mind of a serial killer? It is difficult to say but criminological theories of what drives serial killers remain mired in contention and subject to different interpretations (Merton 1957, 3-27; see Rhodes 2000). Concluding Remarks John Wayne Gacy was one of the most violent mass murderers in recent American history. Mr. Gacy was executed fourteen years after his conviction for murder and remains one of the most despised yet under-analyzed serial killers in recent memory. After killing more than thirty boys and young men we still know very little about why John Wayne Gacy committed the crimes that he did. Was an inability to resolve issues surrounding his sexuality a factor or did a violent upbringing set the stage for Gacy’s murderous rampage in the 1970s? Unfortunately it may be too late to find out. It has now been fifteen years since his execution and we are now just as far away from an answer to these questions as we were before. Nonetheless, the case of John Wayne Gacy remains a fascinating one to study from a criminological perspective. References Bell, Rachael and Marilyn Bardsley. John Wayne Gacy Jr. True Crime Library. Last Accessed September 29, 2009 http://www.webcitation.org/5c7uOqa6k Ewing, Charles Patrick. Insanity: Murder, Madness, and the Law. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press US, 2008 Merton, Robert. Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press, 1957. Powell, Michael. 101 People You Wont Meet in Heaven. New York, NY: Globe Pequot, 2007. Rhodes, Richard. Why They Kill: The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist. London, UK: Vintage, 2000. Read More