Aileen wuornos childhood abuse survivors

1. Introduction

Aileen Wuornos is often called America's first female serial killer, but that is not who she really was. Aileen is known to have murdered seven men but is only convicted of six of them. The fact that Aileen was female and killed more than three people fits the FBI's definition of a serial killer, but that is where the similarity ends. Aileen's early home life was full of emotional and physical abuse. The conduct of Aileen's mother and grandparents could be a textbook example of what not to do when raising a child. Aileen's father and mother did not live together after Aileen was conceived, and she did not meet her father until she was married and pregnant. At that time, the governor, his wife, and the rest of her menagerie moved in with her father. Aileen was not handed over to her grandparents out of love or concern; it was to keep the Florida state welfare department from finding out she had a child and cutting her bene

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The role of psychopathy and sexuality in a female serial killer

The case of Aileen Wuornos, executed in Florida for the serial killing of seven men, is studied to determine her degree of psychopathy and the presence or absence of sexuality or sexual sadism as a motivation or gratification for her crimes. The authors, one of whom evaluated the subject shortly before her death, determined that she evidenced a psychopathic personality (PCL-R score 32). She also met DSM-IV-TR criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. While her killings ostensibly were carried out during routine acts of prostitution, there was ambiguous evidence that her crimes were sexually motivated or gratifying. Her articulated motivation was robbery and elimination of the witness/victim. After carefully considering all available data, the authors concluded there was no convincing evidence of sexual sadism in either her personal history or her method of committing serial mu

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The Role of Childhood Trauma in Aileen Wuornos' Crimes

1. Introduction

The serial killer Aileen Wuornos murdered sju men in Florida between and Executed by lethal injection in , she was the 10th woman to be put to death in the United States since the reinstatement of the death penalty in A combination of biological and psychological factors leads some people to become serial murderers. Stark differences in life histories, social backgrounds, and types of victims occur among this group of criminals, so that they are as varied as any other offenders. However, it was noted by Hickey that male serial killers are more similar to each other in motivation than female ones; they seek power and control over women. Among the few interesting similarities that do occur among these male and hona monsters is a history of childhood maltreatment. After so elaborately describing the abuse and trauma in the childhoods of some of these homicidal criminals, it is impossible to attribute thei