Criminal Biography John Wayne Gacy Jr., Application Essay Example

John Wayne Gacy was born on 17^th of March, 1942 to John Stanley Gacy and Marion Elaine Robinson. His early life was spent in the town of Norridge, Illinois which is regarded as a suburban area of the city of Chicago. He studied at a local Catholic School till the age of eleven after which he was moved to a public school. Although John Wayne Gacy was considered as a bright student, still he could not finish his high school studies (Amerante, 2011). He had been facing a very difficult childhood with an abusive, strict and an alcoholic father, who was mostly self-reliant and autonomous along with having a habit being quick tempered and exploding on smallest of issues. John Wayne Gacy’s father was of the view that to spare the rod was to pamper the adolescent. John always made great efforts to please his father in any way possible, but every action of his in doing so was made fun of my his family. John’s father would call him by various discouraging ridiculous names such as stupid, sissy and mama’s boy. John’s father was would never let go of any situation to make him aware of the fact that how much of a disappointment he was to Stanley. Marion, mother of John Wayne Gacy, was a hard working woman who was a pharmacist by profession. John was much more close to his mother and spent the majority of time with her. While, his father always made fun of and ridiculed him by saying that he was going to be queer in the future. John’s mother would often defend John and keep secrets from her husband Staley, so that he would not punish him. (FBI, 2001)

When John Wayne Gacy was at the age of nine, some friends of his father started giving visiting to John, often taking him on rides in their vehicles ending up sexually harassing the young boy. John was completely aware of the fact that he was being victimized if sexual harassment but feared to tell his father about it, as he was afraid that his father would again taunt him about becoming a queer. When John reached the age of eighteen, an age when he physical looks become quite an important factor in one’s life, he was still insecure. John would often lie to his peers about having a sexual intercourse, when in reality he was still a virgin. Most if the time he would fantasize about the feeling of being close to and in the arms of another boy, but he did not had the guts to speak out his feeling as his father, Stanley, often showed hatred towards homosexuals. John had to face mental as well as physical abuse throughout his childhood and teenage that led to him being an introvert and self-contained boy.

John Wayne Gacy turned out to become a serial killer in his later life, mostly because of the situation that was created and manipulated in order to suppress his feelings that led to discouragement and underdevelopment of necessary confidence to deal with in normal life. In my opinion, all the crimes ever committed by John Wayne Gacy could have easily been avoided if his father had not been suppressing and taunting the young John Wayne Gacy, from the moment he started to think. Moreover, the frequent sexual harassment by the friends of his father, Stanley, also accumulated more and more frustration in him and later made him take out that frustration on other people that he killed.

The social forces that play a triggering role in changing a person’s personality and turning them into something horrible are mainly determined by the environment in which that person has passed his/her most of the years of life. For example, when people are frustrated by the treatment of the society or some people towards them, they take out their frustration on other people, as in case of John Wayne Gacy, who took his possession out by taking lives. A person is much more prone to commit crimes when he or she is no brought up under proper guidance or morals. Some people are of the view that main trigger of people commiting crimes is their financial status or poverty. But it is not the case every time, for instance, in the 1940s and 1950s. the inner city black families were quite poor, but they were not responsilble for the crime as much as other people living in the city. According to me, the only difference that has led to such increase in the number of criminals is the absence of a father as a strong role model for his children, which in case of John Wayne Gacy was also missing. And that is what really made him to change into a person who not only destroyed his life, but also of several other families.

References:

Amirante, S. L., & Broderick, D. (2011).John Wayne Gacy: Defending a monster. New York: Skyhorse Pub.

United States. (2001).John Wayne Gacy. Washington, D.C.: Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Gacy, J. W., & McClelland, C. I. (1989).They call him Mr. Gacy: Selected correspondence of John Wayne Gacy. Brighton, CO: McClelland Associates.