Aileen Wuornos: Crime Theories and Female Serial Killers

Introduction: Female Serial Killers and Aileen Wuornos

Criminal theories based on biological, psychological, sociological, and socio-psychological factors have been constructed in an attempt to better identify the causes of crime and what drives an individual to behave in a deviant manner. While data on male serial killers is prevalent, the data and statistics available regarding female serial killers are extremely limited. One of the most well-known female serial killers in recent years is Aileen Wuornos, whose criminal career was thrust into the spotlight with the 2003 film Monster. Wuornos is the first convicted female serial killer in the United States; she was subsequently executed in 2002 for her crimes.

Background and Early Life

Aileen Wuornos is considered to be the first predatory female serial killer in the United States, and many factors may have led her to develop criminal behaviors. Wuornos was born on February 29, 1956, to Diane Wuornos and Leo Pittman (Arrigo & Griffin, 2004, p. 383). At the age of six months, and again when Wuornos was two years old, she and her brother Keith — eleven months her senior — were abandoned by their mother and subsequently taken in by their abusive grandparents, Lauri and Britta Wuornos. Wuornos never met her biological father, Pittman, as he and her mother Diane had divorced before Wuornos was born. Furthermore, Pittman was incarcerated on charges stemming from the sexual abuse of a seven-year-old child at the time of Wuornos's birth, and he would later commit "suicide while serving a life sentence for his crime" (Arrigo & Griffin, 2004, p. 384).

Wuornos and her brother lived with their grandparents under the assumption that their grandparents were their biological parents and that their mother, Diane, was their sister. It was at the age of 11 that Wuornos learned the true familial hierarchy and the circumstances that had led her and her brother to live with their grandparents (Arrigo & Griffin, 2004, p. 384). While Wuornos and her brother were raised alongside her aunt and uncle, Lori and Barry — whom she believed to be her brother and sister — only Wuornos and her brother were subjected to the cruelty of their grandfather. Wuornos alleged that she was subjected to "numerous beatings with a leather strap on her bare buttocks. On several occasions she was required to lay face down, naked, spread eagle on the bed for her whippings" (Ahern, 2001; Arrigo & Griffin, 2004, p. 383).

It is possible that Wuornos's abuse stemmed from frustrations and displaced anger directed at her absent mother — and possibly also at her father — by her grandparents. Moreover, Wuornos claimed that she was often beaten on consecutive days and not given a chance to recover between beatings. She also claimed to have been sexually assaulted by her grandfather, among others. Wuornos fell into a similar pattern of deviance and promiscuity exhibited by her mother soon after her fifteenth birthday. It was during this period that she learned to trade sex or sexual acts for cigarettes or loose change. It was also during this time that Wuornos's juvenile delinquency began; delinquent behaviors included shoplifting, vulgarity, underage drinking, and instigating fights.

At the age of 20, Wuornos married a man fifty years her senior; the marriage lasted only one month, during which her husband accused her of assault and had a restraining order issued against her (Arrigo & Griffin, 2004, p. 385). Wuornos was repeatedly arrested following her divorce on charges that included assault and battery, disorderly conduct, driving under the influence, robbery with a deadly weapon, and multiple weapons offenses. Several additional criminal charges were pressed against her under various pseudonyms she had previously used. It was when Wuornos was in her thirties that she began to "seduce" men and murder them in cold blood.

Criminal History and Homicidal Pattern

Wuornos's first victim was Richard Mallory, a 51-year-old divorced man from Clearwater, Florida, who often frequented gentlemen's clubs and procured the services of prostitutes in his free time. While Mallory had no documented history of attacking women in the twenty years before his murder, Wuornos claimed that he had raped her. She would go on to allege that her other six victims had also attempted to rape her.

In the majority of serial homicides, a primary motivating factor is the sexual gratification derived from the act of killing. Wuornos, however, would often murder the men she targeted before any sexual activity occurred. Her typical method was to loiter along Florida's highways until someone stopped and offered her a ride; it was only after entering the vehicle that Wuornos would admit she was a prostitute and that she needed money. If things proceeded according to her plan, the victim would then pull off into a secluded area, where Wuornos would begin to undress and discuss prices. After some physical contact commenced, she would coax her victim to undress as well; while the victim was undressing, Wuornos would exit the car with her belongings. She would then shoot her victims — sometimes multiple times — once they perceived they were in danger, often screaming at them, "I knew you were going to rape me!" (Russell, 1992, p. 149; Arrigo & Griffin, 2004, p. 386). Afterwards, Wuornos would dress, search through her victims' personal effects for money and valuables, and return to her lover, Tyria Moore, with whom she was in a homosexual relationship. Despite her claims of self-defense, Wuornos was convicted of predatory and serial homicide.

The General Theory of Crime Applied to Wuornos

Several theories may be analyzed to determine what motivated Wuornos to act as she did. One such theory is the general theory of crime. This theory contends that self-control and opportunity are essential factors in determining the probability that a crime will occur (Schulz, 2004). In Gottfredson and Hirschi's formulation, they argue that "people pursue self-interest by avoiding pain and seeking pleasure, and that in this conception, crimes are also events that satisfy self-interest" (Schulz, 2004, p. 64). Moreover, Gottfredson and Hirschi hold that self-control is a personality trait and that the lack of self-control is one of the primary bases for criminal behavior. They contend that "a tenuous bond to society, accompanied by ineffective child-rearing practices, will favor the maintenance of low self-control, which in turn will support offending" (Schulz, 2004, p. 64).

As previously noted, Wuornos was abandoned by her mother at a young age and was treated differently from her grandparents' biological children. Furthermore, the emotional distance maintained by her grandmother, Britta, prevented the formation of any meaningful mother-daughter bond. It can also be argued that the lack of consistent discipline and a stable family structure contributed to the low self-control that Wuornos exhibited throughout her life. The general theory of crime argues that "offenders, or people with low self-control… have a tendency to respond to tangible stimuli in the immediate environment, to have a 'concrete here and now' orientation… tend to be adventuresome, active, and physical… and eventually tend to be self-centered, indifferent, or insensitive to the suffering and needs of others."

Conclusion

While the general theory of crime may be used to explain one facet of what allowed Wuornos to behave as she did, it does not take into account the full range of contributing factors. Although low self-control and opportunity allow for criminal behavior to occur, one must also consider the sociological, psychological, and biological forces that may have influenced Wuornos. There are forces beyond one's control that may have a greater impact on the formation of an individual's consciousness and the behaviors that ultimately emerge from it — and any complete account of Wuornos's criminality must grapple with all of these dimensions.

References

Arrigo, B. (2006). Criminal Behavior: A Systems Approach. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.

Arrigo, B., & Griffin, A. (2004). Serial murder and the case of Aileen Wuornos: Attachment theory, psychopathy, and predatory aggression. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 22, 375–393.

Schulz, S. (2004). Problems with the versatility construct of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime. European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 12(1), 61–82.