How Has John Wayne Gacy Become the Killer Clown - Case Study Example

Case Study on John Wayne Gacy Introduction If one takes a close look at the society, one can not help noticing that it should be seen as an irreplaceable prerequisite for the development of the inner potential of a human being. Indeed, if it had not been for the presence of other people, a considerable number of features which are seen as characteristic to our kind could not have developed. However, it must be noticed that the social environment is formed on certain fundamental rules, one of which focuses on restriction actions that the majority finds unacceptable. All this resulted in the development of legal system which defines the boundaries of freedom of citizens. That is why it may be particularly important to analyze experiences of those who crossed the conventional line in order to gain a better understanding of those individuals in particular and the society in general. This paper will examine the case of John Wayne Gacy by providing an account of his life, the crimes that he committed as well as apply several theories that could explain his behavior. John Wayne Gacy – the Killer Clown When it comes to American serial killers the figure of Gacy really stands out: on the one hand, because of the scope of his killings; on the other hand, because of the fact that he matches stereotypical depiction of a serial killer. Thus, it was proven that he is responsible for killing at least 33 young men aged 14 to 21 with many of whom he had sexual intercourse. His nickname, the Killer Clown, comes from the fact that he often appeared as a clown on fundraising events. Brief account of life of John Wayne Gacy prior to murders John Wayne Gacy was born in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in a family that had many problems, including an alcoholic father who beat his son rather often. His mother used to protect the child, but no success. Gacy experienced bullying at school, several serious health conditions. Though he did not graduate from high school, he enrolled in a business college. While working as a salesperson he was engaged with a co-worker. The father of the latter owned three KFC restaurants and wanted Gacy to manage them. Despite having an almost perfect marriage, John often cheated on his wife. After he was convinced of sodomy, she divorced him. Gacy served a 10 year long sentence for sodomy. Upon release he was briefly engaged with a girl he dated in high school. He confessed to her his bisexuality and they divorced. The way John Wayne Gacy killed the victims It must be noted that John Wayne Gacy followed a particular pattern. Thus, the first his victim was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife. However, all the further victims were killed in a completely different way: they died because of asphyxiation or strangulation. In order to induce this state, Gacy primarily used a tourniquet. Being a person of big weight, he would often wrestle his victims to the ground so that they could not move. In addition to that on several occasions he used handcuffs to immobilize the person he wanted to kill. There also sever some episodes of sexual behavior: he would perform oral sex on the victim or rape one while the person was handcuffed. Sometimes he would torture the people he captured. The method of seizing the victims At first John Wayne Gacy did not have a particular plan in his mind: he would capture, rape and kill teen occasionally, particularly when his family was away or when there was a good chance. However, when he divorced, he entered what he called “the cruising years”. He would often follow the teens from school, giving them a ride, providing young men at a bus station with a lift. Being a manager of a construction company he would invite the teen he hired for a sleepover or living with him for a while. In the majority of the cases the victims did not show any resistance. However, the latter murders were performed with the help of chloroform so that they would not scream. The bodies of the first 28 victims were buried in his crawl space and cemented. When there was no space in the house he buried some in his property and later disposed of them into the river. Rational choice theory Now, it may be rather advantageous to apply some of the theories so that they could explain the behavior of John Wayne Gacy. The first one that will be engaged is called rational choice theory and it stipulates that every citizen in the society is entitled to an independent decision whether one will or will not follow the legal rules and regulations (Siegel, 2003, p. 104). It is quite understandable that such actions as murder or torture are prohibited in the social environment. However, some people might decide that they do not want to obey these restrictions and deliberately break the law. Strain theory According to strain theory, there might be a conflict between the desired state that a person is encouraged to achieve as well as the means that are available for a person (Vito, 1994, p. 152). Thus, as it has been shown, from the early childhood, Gacy was not able to live up to the expectations of his father. It is beyond doubt that he wanted to make him proud, but due to various reasons he could not. In spite of the fact that there was a period of time when his father openly confessed that he was wrong about his son, the psychological inertia was strong that Gacy could not help performing deviant behavior. That is why strain theory would argue that all the murders can be explained by the inability of John to achieve the success that the opted for. Labeling theory This theory argues that criminal behavior can often be induced by the social environment itself when it places a label on a person (Farrington, 2013, p. 1). For example, being the only boy in the family and not being able to defend himself, Gacy has often been insulted by his father who suggested that the former would grow up to be a homosexual. The later events proved that John appeared to be a bisexual. So, from the point of view of this theory, the negative kind of treatment that he received in the early childhood conditioned his behavior as well as sexual orientation in the future. Biosocial theory There is another approach to the issue which states that criminal behavior can be explained by genes that were inherited from the parents (Beaver, 2008, p. 200). Indeed, the father of John Wayne Gacy is known to be an alcoholic. In addition to that, he used to batter his son and wife. It is quite understandable that this aggression could have been passed further to John. It would be a mistake to suggest that the latter is innocent and all the horrible actions that he committed can be exampled by biological factors. Nevertheless, from the point of view of biosocial theory, John Wayne Gacy was more predisposed to committing a violent crime than other people who did not have a drinking father who would often indulge himself in aggression to the relatives. That is why there is no wonder that such inclinations appeared in his character later in life. Social control theory The last theory that will be analyzed argues that the society exercises a certain amount of control over the citizens with the help of different institutions. The latter shaped the behavior of the people, not allowing them to perform actions that are deeply incompatible with the conventional morality (Hagan, 2008, p. 156). If one takes a close look at the case of John Wayne Gacy one can not help noticing that he did his best to avoid any suspicion from the law enforcing agencies and the local community. In other words, he found an effective way to do what he really wanted and not break the rules that were designed by the society. This means that having the option of indulging his dark desires and not being caught, the criminal in question did not hesitate to use it. Conclusion Having examined all the points which were brought up in the paragraph above, one is able to come to the following conclusion: John Wayne Gacy was a serial killer who revealed some of the most horrible aspects of human life. Indeed, he raped and killed many young men and was very close to getting away with it. Gacy found an effective way to perform his horrible actions so that the people around, including the police would not learn about them. He had a successful carrier, but his horrible nature did not allow him to become a normal citizen. There are several theories that are able to explain his behavior, each of which places a specific emphasis on a certain aspect of his personality, his childhood, environment or heredity. References Beaver, K. (2008). The nature and nurture of antisocial outcomes. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Pub. LLC. Farrington, D. (2013). Labeling theory: Empirical tests. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction. Hagan, F. (2008). Introduction to criminology: Theories, methods, and criminal behavior (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Siegel, L. (2003). Criminology (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Vito, G., & Holmes, R. (1994). Criminology: Theory, research, and policy. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub. Read More