Introduction
The individual discussed in the case is Aileen Wuornos, born in Michigan on February 29, 1956. She is the youngest of two Wuornos children, with her late brother Keith being the eldest. Her family members severely abused and traumatized Aileen during her childhood and formative years. Her father, convicted of child molestation, committed suicide in prison, and her mother has abandoned her and Keith, leaving the children to be raised by grandparents. Her grandparents’ family was also somewhat dysfunctional: her grandfather was abusive and violent, and her grandmother was an alcoholic.
Moreover, Aileen states that her grandfather has had sexual contact with her and Keith since early childhood. At the age of 14, Aileen got pregnant, claiming that her brother was the child’s father. After becoming an adult, Aileen consistently engaged in harmful behaviors, including sex work, criminal acts, violence, and vandalism. From 1989 to 1990, Aileen murdered seven men in Florida by shooting them. She was finally arrested and convicted of first-degree murder in 1991.
Aileen’s destructive tendencies have likely stemmed from her abusive upbringing: she was continuously molested and assaulted by her own family and kicked out of her home at the age of 14. It is possible that she acquired a deep hatred of men after her experiences with her grandfather and brother. Lack of proper family care and an abusive household since early childhood drove her towards resentment toward men, which resulted in a series of murders. The fact that Aileen specifically targeted men points towards that theory being true.
Crime Assessment
Aileen committed murder while prostituting. She robbed and killed her victims, who were all middle-aged, between 50 and 60 years old. There is evidence that she even tried to hide the traces of the crime so as not to be caught. A similar case is that of Mexican woman serial killer Juana Barraza. Only her victims were not men but older women. Like Aileen, Juana was abused at a young age and rejected by her mother (Smith et al., 2021). Both committed their first murder at a mature age – 34 and 42 years old.
The personality of serial killers is central to understanding their motivations and intentions for committing serial murders. In many cases, serial killers are driven to satisfy a particular psychological need. Disorganized and asocial serial killers such as Aileen Wuornos tend to kill spontaneously, reacting to specific external stimuli paired with unhealthy coping mechanisms acquired during childhood. Other serial killers plan their crimes more carefully and try to avert suspicion.
John Wayne Gacy and Edmund Kemper not only killed their victims but also raped them and enjoyed torture and abuse. Aileen’s main interest seems to have been in profits from robberies. There are also significant differences in the way of life of serial killers. Aileen did not kill until age 34, but from a young age, she was prone to antisocial behavior and fights. However, the typical pattern of these Syrian killers is the harrowing experience and abuse from the mother or father in childhood.
Childhood trauma becomes a central pattern that connects nearly all serial killer stories. Marono et al. (2020) state that, according to several studies, childhood abuse heightened the risk for criminal behavior in adulthood. While the intentions and methods of killing vary significantly among these serial killers, the hidden motive of enduring psychosocial trauma from an early age is present in every case.
During the investigation of Wuornos’ case, the question of the motive for the crimes remained open. The police believed that the cause of the murders was self-interest and financial gain. Later there were theories that Aileen associated victims with her grandfather. However, research has never found a sexual or sadistic motive for her crimes. It remains an open question whether she received pleasure from the killings. Several theories can explain Wuornos’ behavior: psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive dissonance, and differential association theory (Marono et al., 2020). Her horrific upbringing and the physical and sexual abuse she endured, which can impair normal human development, are believed to be the likely causes of these illnesses, according to the psychiatrists who looked at her case.
Profile
Aileen was 34 at the time of the first murder. The white woman did not finish school, had no steady income, and had a history of crimes, including drunk driving, disorderly conduct, fighting, and prostitution. She is known for cases of drug use and lives with his girlfriend. Among the biological factors influencing Aileen’s behavior are psychological illnesses her parents likely suffered. Evidence shows that her father, who hanged himself in prison, had schizophrenia (Smith et al., 2021). The risk of developing mental illness increases if the father or mother suffers from such illnesses.
Despite the risk of heredity, it is clear that Aileen did not suffer from severe mental disorders during her adolescence and youth. She may have had emotional problems caused in childhood that developed over many years. Developing factors include antisocial behavior, a tendency to violence, and loss of control. The development of these patterns occurred mainly under the influence of the environment. Due to the abuse she endured from various men throughout her life, Wuornos encountered violence in many facets and did not have a favorable opinion of male authority figures.
Wuornos had impulsive and violent behavior, which may have resulted from the prolonged abuse and neglect she endured. She might never have learned to express rage, anger, and resentment. According to the Social Conflict Theory, external variables like the environment in which we grow up might raise our propensity to engage in abnormal conduct (Nickerson, 2021). Wuornos’ exposure to violence as a child and her acceptance of it as the norm increased her propensity to engage in criminal activity, which resulted in the life of crime she led.
Conclusion
Aileen was not born a killer; her family and environment made her that way. Knowledge about serial killers’ psychology is essential to understanding their motives and goals for committing crimes. The overriding reason for doing so in every instance is experiencing psychosocial trauma as a young child. Although the reason for the atrocities was still unknown, the psychiatrists concluded that Wuornos had dissociative and borderline personality disorder due to a traumatic experience, she had as a youngster. Wuornos was severely abused and neglected for years by several persons, contributing to her irrational and volatile temperament. She was probably never taught how to manage and express strong emotions like fury, and growing up among violence made her more likely to kill. Therefore, based on the facts and observations, her future behavior would stay the same and hardly change, and she would continue killing people without remorse.
References
Marono, A. J., Reid, S., Yaksic, E., & Keatley, D. A. (2020). A behaviour sequence analysis of serial killers’ lives: From childhood abuse to methods of murder. Psychiatry, psychology and law, 27(1), 126-137. Web.
Nickerson, C. (2021). Conflict theory. Simply Psychology. Web.
Smith, J. M., Gacono, C. B., & Cunliffe, T. B. (2021). Understanding female offenders: Psychopathy, criminal behavior, assessment, and treatment. Academic Press.