Aileen Wuornos Research Paper
Killing for Safety
Contrary to what people believe, killers have emotions, memories, and compassion, too. They are people like everyone else. However, the difference is that for everyone else, their innocence was not robbed from them. Whether this was due to a bad childhood or an unfortunate experience, there is always a reason behind every criminal’s malicious act; for Aileen Wuornos, this happens to be the case. Because of her hapless childhood, Aileen’s crimes were mainly caused by nurture.
Born on February 29, 1956, Aileen Wuornos did not live an ordinary life. At a young age, “her father killed himself while serving prison time for child molestation, while her mother abandoned Aileen and older brother, Keith, leaving them to be raised …show more content…
It is understandable she was predisposed to behave this way. She had a father who was a pedophile for a living and a grandfather who raped her. Even with the “adult role models” in her life, they were criminals themselves. Therefore, Wuornos was mainly affected by nurture because the only life she experienced from her family members was crime. Never having actual parental figures growing up, the “ineffective parenting has been linked to behavioral problems such as delinquency, criminality, and academic problems for children” (Mokeyane 1). It can even be inferred Aileen’s father and grandfather could not cope with their situations properly, leading to the main problem: “when parents are lacking in skills such as anger management and conflict resolution, they will likely have difficulties modeling this behavior for their children. This, in turn, leaves children with poor coping skills for common occurrences, such as anger, disappointment, and frustration” (Makeyane 1). Through sexually abusing others, Aileen’s grandfather experienced negative ways in coping with his frustrations, and Aileen was a victim of his crime. After experiencing how her grandfather alleviates his conflicts, Aileen modeled after his behavior through murder. Even though Wuornos was the one killing the six men, her environment with her father and her grandfather was the reason for the
Contrary to what people believe, killers have emotions, memories, and compassion, too. They are people like everyone else. However, the difference is that for everyone else, their innocence was not robbed from them. Whether this was due to a bad childhood or an unfortunate experience, there is always a reason behind every criminal’s malicious act; for Aileen Wuornos, this happens to be the case. Because of her hapless childhood, Aileen’s crimes were mainly caused by nurture.
Born on February 29, 1956, Aileen Wuornos did not live an ordinary life. At a young age, “her father killed himself while serving prison time for child molestation, while her mother abandoned Aileen and older brother, Keith, leaving them to be raised …show more content…
It is understandable she was predisposed to behave this way. She had a father who was a pedophile for a living and a grandfather who raped her. Even with the “adult role models” in her life, they were criminals themselves. Therefore, Wuornos was mainly affected by nurture because the only life she experienced from her family members was crime. Never having actual parental figures growing up, the “ineffective parenting has been linked to behavioral problems such as delinquency, criminality, and academic problems for children” (Mokeyane 1). It can even be inferred Aileen’s father and grandfather could not cope with their situations properly, leading to the main problem: “when parents are lacking in skills such as anger management and conflict resolution, they will likely have difficulties modeling this behavior for their children. This, in turn, leaves children with poor coping skills for common occurrences, such as anger, disappointment, and frustration” (Makeyane 1). Through sexually abusing others, Aileen’s grandfather experienced negative ways in coping with his frustrations, and Aileen was a victim of his crime. After experiencing how her grandfather alleviates his conflicts, Aileen modeled after his behavior through murder. Even though Wuornos was the one killing the six men, her environment with her father and her grandfather was the reason for the