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How does the society shape the behavior of an individual
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A. Aileen Wuornos was born to a teenage couple. Her father was arrested for child molestation and hung himself in jail. Her mother abandoned her, and the maternal grandparents assumed guardianship. Most of western culture can agree the abuse of a child is a deviant act. In the case of Aileen, what social factors and “social controls” impeded the recognition of such deviant behavior? To understand this question one must first understand what was not in place in terms of social factors or controls to create a healthy environment for Aileen to grow up in. After being abandoned by her mother and losing her father to the criminal justice system on molestation charges Aileen was raised by her grandparents. According to Biography.com “Wuornos's …show more content…
In many ways, social controls failed her as a young child and the aftermath exposed her to a cruel and abusive upbringing. In most instances, when all parents are unable to take custody of their children any immediate and available family will take the child to prevent the child from becoming a ward of the state. It is clear this social control failed Aileen, because placement in her grandparents home only meant a childhood of physical and mental abuse. This instance impedes the recognition of deviant behavior on her part because from an outsider's perspective she grew up under the support of biological family. To unknowing outsiders, she did seemingly grow up in the broken system of orphanage. The control theory helps explain Aileen’s upbringing and its impact on her own mental health and deviant behavior. “Control theorists state that people conform because of the controls or restraints to which they are subject” (13). It seems as though Aileens upbringing caused her to conform to the violent mannerisms she witnessed as a child. Beyond this, the theory explains that “the control exercised by these people [institutions like family] explain why most out-of-control infants …show more content…
She claimed self defense stating in the documentary duing a court order, “first female serial killer is not what I am and I am not even near it and my confessions prove it” (CITE). From the learning theory comes a term deemed “Neutralization”. Neutralization is an attempt by the offender to buffer the severity of their actions. It’s a learned behavior and thus is categorized under the learning theory which has been adopted via observation of their surroundings. This neutralization is an attempt to redistribute blame away from the offender. While all claims of rape Aileen mentioned are valid ( we can never know for sure because her victims are dead) a pattern of blame starts to form through her dialogue. According to the FBI, “The term ‘serial killings’ means a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors.” (CITE). By definition of the word, Aileen was in fact a serial killer. However, while in the end admitting to the crimes, Aileen held strong to the idea that she was in fact not a serial killer, “Lee Wuornos insists she is not a serial killer and did not stalk her victims or plan her crimes” (DOCUMENTARY CITE). We see Aileen used neutralization in 2 main forms,
On the night of August 31st 1986, Angelique Lavallee a battered 21 year-old woman in an unstable common law relationship was charged with murder. She shot her spouse, Kevin Rust in the back of the head while he was leaving the bedroom. Angelique was in fear for her life after being taunted with the gun and was threaten to be killed. Hence, she felt that she had to kill him or be killed by him. The psychiatrist Dr. Shane, did an assessment and concluded that she was being terrorized by her partner. Dr. Shane concluded that Angelique was physically, sexually, emotionally and verbally abused. As a result, in the psychiatrist’s opinion, the killing was a final desperate act by a woman who seriously believed she would be killed that night. This in turn identify her as a
The job of a child welfare worker appears to be a demanding profession that promotes the child’s safety, but also strengthens the family organization around them in order to successfully raise the children. This child welfare workers work in the system known as the Child Protective Services whose initiative is to protect the overall welfare of the child. The short novel From the Eye of the Storm: the Experiences of a Child Welfare Worker by Cynthia Crosson-Tower demonstrates the skills necessary to deal with the practice of social work along with both its challenges and its happy moments. The novel consists of some of the cases involving Tower’s actual career in social work. In reading the book, I was able to experience some of the actual cases in which children dealt with physical and mental abuse from their families that caused them to end up within the system. Also, some of these children had issues in adapting to foster and adoptive families based on the issues they faced earlier in life. As we have learned earlier in the course, the violence that a child experiences early in life has an overall affect on the person they become as they grow into adulthood. When children deal with adverse childhood experiences, they are at a higher risk for abusing drugs and/or alcohol, increased likelihood of abusing their own child or spouse, higher rates of violent and nonviolent criminal behavior, along with several other issues throughout their lifespan.
Susan Leigh Vaughan Smith was born September 26, 1971 in Union, South Carolina to Linda and Harry Vaughan. She was born the third child in the Vaughan family, with two older brothers. Linda Vaughan divorced Harry when Susan turned 7, and five weeks later Harry committed suicide at 37 (Montaldo). Within weeks of Linda and Harry’s divorce, Linda got remarried to Beverly (Bev) Russell, a local successful businessman. Linda and the children moved from their home into Bev’s, a larger house located in an exclusive subdivision in Union, South Carolina. Susan grew to be a well-liked teenager, and even became president of her Junior Civitan Club and Friendliest Female in her senior year (Montaldo). Everyone liked her, and she put on a great show at school. But after the last bell rang, she had to look forward to seeing Bev at home, something she feared above anything else. Bev had taken to molesting Susan when she turned sixteen, and it was not long afterward that she sought help with the local Department of Social Services (Wiki). The Department of Social services did little to help Susan, only making Bev attend a few counseling sessions (Wiki). When he returned home, he chastised Susan heavily for “airing their dirty laundry in public” and continued with the molestation (Montaldo). I believe thi...
On November 4th, 1970, Los Angeles child welfare authorities became aware of the abuse, neglect, and social isolation of Susan “Genie” Wiley. It was when social workers noticed the odd behavior of Susan after her and her mother, who was seeking financial support, walked into welfare offices. Upon further investigation, they discovered that Susan was thirteen years old and had been severely maltreated by her father her entire life. Susan’s father came to the conclusion early in her life that she was socially unfit, or “retarded’ and was ashamed of her. He hid her in the back bedroom of the Wiley home and kept her from neighbors, family, and friends. This left Susan unable to develop language skills learned from
...ced to life in prison on March 14, 2001, for killing her five children. I agree that Andrea was sane, but the right punishment should have been the death penalty.
From a very young age, Bone was sexually abused by her step-father, Glen Waddell. Like Bone, Dorothy Allison also suffered abuse from her step-father, starting at the young age of five years-old. During the time of the novel, and until recent years, it was unthinkable to speak of any sort of abuse outside the household. Throughout history, children have been victims of abuse by their parents or other adults, and fo...
Adler, Patricia A., and Adler Peter. Constructions of Deviance: Social Power, Context, and Interaction. 6th ed. Belmont: Thomas/Wadsworth, 2009.
David suffered physical, mental, and emotional abuse from the age of four to 12-years-old. As his teachers and principal, neighbors, and even his maternal grandmother and father stand by and let the abuse happen, it makes me wonder what they could have done differently. For example, David’s father saw the abuse firsthand and he would try to intervene to help him out initially. David’s father was caught by the madness of his wife in calling him, ‘the boy’ and ‘It’. As much as his father tried to comfort David, he did not have the will to stand up against his wife. Another example, the maternal grandmother commented on bruises visible on David’s body and she did not take action to report her daughter for abusing her grandchild, David. Instead, David’s grandmother stated that she should stay out of it and let David’s mother raise her children as she saw fit. I believed the unreported instances observed by the public to be just as substantial a crime as the child abusers themselves. Also, the Department of Children and Social Services were contacted because of the alleged child abuse events that occurred previously; however, he was not taken from the home because the social worker of the agency sided with David’s mother. The social worker did not complete a thoroughly
When she was falsely accused in her case, the FBI thought she was the one who started it all. The FBI didn’t look at all of the evidence that was found at the crime or what she had said. They falsely accused her of the crime because they thought she was the one that robbed the bank and did extortion. There were gaps in her statement, and she couldn’t think straight. She was saying random words because she was so terrified of what happened to her. The SLA brainwashed her, and she didn’t know anything after they were done with her. She didn’t even know what day it was, so she does not know what happened in her case.
In the essay "Overcoming Abuse - My Story", Shawna Platt talks about her childhood with her alcoholic parents and her struggles. She has experienced neglect, domestic, emotional and sexual abuse. She also talks about how she overcame all the abuse, the way the abuse effected her mental health, and how she broke the cycle with her children. While reading this essay, the one incident stood out the most was that her parents left Shawna alone with her newborn sister. At the time, Shawna was only ten years old.
Jasmine Beckford’s case is the oldest out of the three; in 1984 Jasmine died as a result of long-term abuse aged 4. In 1981 her and her younger sister suffered serious injuries and were paced with foster carers for six months. After this they were allowed back home with their mother on a trial basis as social services were meant to support them. During the last ten months of Jasmine’s life she was only seen once by social workers (Corby, 2006).
A moral panic can be defined as a phenomenon, frequently initiated by disquieting media and reinforced by responsive laws and public policies, of embellished public concern, angst or anger over a perceived danger to societal order (Krinsky, 2013). The media plays a crucial role in emphasizing a current moral panic. In Jock Young’s chapter Images of Deviance (1971), he comments on the phenomenon of deviance magnification, he deems dramatic media coverage of deviant behaviours to be ironic, owing to the fact that it unintentionally increases rather than restrains the apparent deviance. In hind sight the media create social problems, owing to the fact that they can present them dramatically and are able to do it swiftly (Young & Cohen, 1971: 37).
...t the parents as well with their issues, families remained torn and scorned by the effects of child abuse.
Hayes, T. A. 2010. Labelling and the Adoption of a Deviant Status. Deviant Behaviour, 31 (3), pp. 282-297.