Theories Explaining the Behavior of Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy Free Essay Example, 1500 words

At first the Killer Clown 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 theoryNow, it may be rather advantageous to apply some of the theories so that they could explain the behavior of John Wayne Gacy. We will write a custom essay sample on Theories Explaining the Behavior of Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now 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. 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 theoryAccording 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. 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.