The case of Aileen Wuornos, reportedly America’s first female serial killer, has been a subject of news media since the early 1990s when the bodies of several men were found murdered along the highways of north and central Florida (Pike and Linning, 2018)

The first of which, 51-year-old convicted rapist and electronics store owner Richard Mallory, was found in December 1989 in a wooded area after being shot twice in the left lung (Myall, 2018). Construction worker David Spears, 43’s naked body was then found by a Floridian highway on 1 June 1990 having been shot six times (Baker, 2018). Five days later, the body of 40-year-old rodeo worker Charles Carskaddon, was discovered with nine small caliber bullets to the chest and abdomen.

Peter …show more content…
Air Force Major, Charles "Dick" Humphreys, 56; and Walter Antonio a 62-year-old trucker, were found later that year in August, September and November, respectively. The twice shot body of Burress was located in a wooded area along a Marion County road while Humphreys, also found in Marion County, was shot six times in the head and torso. Finally, the partially naked body of Antonio, shot 4 times was discovered near a remote logging road in Dixie …show more content…
However, more modern biological and psychological theory acknowledges that, while genetically influenced traits, like the aggression, difficulty learning, and psychopathy displayed by Wuornos, do affect the development of a criminal, so too does larger society (Akers and Sellars)(Delsanta).

By this account, Wuornos’ troubled upbringing seemingly allowed any predisposition to violence to manifest. Crucially, she was raised in an environment which failed to provide effective elements of social control.

In exploring control theory, Reckless proposed that internal control or "inner containment" acts as means for an individual to moderate behaviour, thus mitigating the propensity for deviance (Encyclopedia ).

For instance, during trial Wuornos underwent psychiatric assessment and was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder which, by nature, entails a lack of inner containment.

While Wuornos displayed behaviour symptomatic of the condition in early childhood, namely unrestrained aggression, and volatile temperament, she received no psychological treatment/support (del