The stories of John Wayne Gacey and Bobby Thompson are two murder stories that are shocking in their own rights. While the crimes are horrifying, there are theories of criminality that can help to explain the murderer. These theories draw from the backgrounds of the criminals, which have similarities and differences. John Wayne Gacey was a well-liked business man, who killed thirty-three men over an eight-year span before he was caught by the police (Gacy). The man had a troubled, abusive childhood in which his father beat his mother and belittled him, which causes noticeable, strange behaviors and a grandiose sense of self in adulthood; he was 36 years old when he was apprehended for the murders (Gacy). On the other hand, Bobby Thompson was only 10 years old when he murdered a two-year-old boy (Beyond All Reason). Bobby also had a troubled childhood, which had been a cycle of abuse that his maternal grandfather passed to his mother, whom continued the cycle to Bobby and his brothers (Beyond all Reason). These backgrounds can be used to assign theories of criminality to the murderers, to help explain the heinous crimes committed. First, Gacy’s crimes can be explained through several theories of criminality. The theories that best explain Gacy’s murders would be psychopathy, stimulation seeking theory, and containment theory. Gacy clearly …show more content…
At first glance, the murderers, details of the crimes, and victims seem to have little in common. While Gacy was a middle-aged, serial killer who murdered thirty-three men, Thompson was a young boy who murdered a child. Yet, the two have the containment theory in common as a possible explanation for their crimes, because of the troubled childhood that each of them experienced. The lack of containment, and lack of internal constraints and conscience, played a part in each of the