Juggling Theories Of John Wayne Gacy: The Clown Killer

Juggling Theories News headlines have sprung up around the nation this fall with reports of people dressed as clowns scaring and attacking civilians. No matter the crude intent of these actions, the real killer clown has already honked his horn to the world; John Wayne Gacy, also known as, “The Clown Killer”, murdered 33 teenage boys in his Cook County, Illinois home from 1972 to 1978. Luring them into his home with the promise of job opportunities or pornographic pictures, Gacy raped and strangled his victims with nylon rope or their own underwear and then buried their dead bodies in the garage or the crawl space underneath his home. Eventually, he ran out of space, so he began throwing the corpses into the Illinois River. For many, Gacy was a friend, a colleague, a volunteer, and a neighbor; how could he commit these crimes? Civilizations throughout history have put their best scientists to work in effort to explain what poisons criminals’ minds into mistaking horror for pleasure. Amongst the different causes of crime they discovered, three theories--the psychological, social process, and …show more content…
At the age of 11, Gacy hit his head on a swing which caused a blood clot in his brain that resulted in numerous blackouts; head trauma can cause criminal behavior based on phenology--a biological sub-theory. Also, when Gacy was 17, he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect that forced him to be hospitalized occasionally throughout his life. Avatism, another biological sub-theory, focuses on abnormal physical traits most criminals exhibit; for example, Gacy has large lips and lots of body hair. These biological abnormalities point to a possibility that Gacy was not as evolved as other humans in the evolutionary ladder and that his morals were also not as strong, allowing him to murder others easily without