III. Profile PSY-310-J2716 Criminal Psychology 23EW2 Rebecca Porter-Miller Brionna Millhollin
A. Develop a demographic summary of the individual based on analysis of data from the case. Aileen Wuornos was a female, born February 29th, 1956 in Rochester, Michigan. Wuornos's death date was October 9th, 2002, in Starke, Florida. Wuornos had a horrendous childhood, from being abandoned by her mother, sexually abused by her grandfather, and sexual relations with her brother. Wuornos ended up pregnant and gave the baby up for adoption. As an adult, Wuornos got around through hitchhiking and engaged in sex work to survive. Wuornos got married to 69 year old Lewis Fell in 1976, but Fell had it annulled in just a few months. B. Explain the impact that biological factors of the case had on the individual's behavior In this case there could have been quite a few biological factors that played a role in Wuornos's behavior. One great example is a genetic risk, being related to someone with serious cognitive, psychological, or emotional disorders (Bartol & Bartol, 2020). Wuornos's mother was obviously struggling with something for her to abandon her own children, her father committed suicide while in prison for child molestation, her grandmother was an alcoholic, and her grandfather sexually abusive. C. Explain the impact that developmental factors of the case had on the individual's behavior.
Developmental factors that played a role for Aileen Wuornos were abusive/neglectful parents, poor self regulation/impulse control, and exposure to alcohol. D. Explain the impact that environmental factors of the case had on the individual's behavior. The environmental factors had the biggest role in this case. Wuornos was abandoned by her mother at the age of only 4 years old. Wuornos and her older brother were then adopted by their biological grandparents but did not know they were their biological grandparents until she was 12 years old. Wuornos endured a lot of physical and sexual abuse. The grandfather would often kick her out of the home to live in the woods. "Contemporary researchers stress the value of a nurturing environment to protect children against the onslaught of potential risk factors in their lives" (Bartol & Bartol, 2020). E. Apply theories to the emerging hypothesis of the motivation of your chosen subject. In your response, consider the biological, psychological, social, and criminal violence theories. Through the General Theory of Crime or the Self-Control Theory it suggests that a deficit of self-control or self-regulation is the key factor in explaining crime and delinquency (Bartol & Bartol, 2020). This hypothetically could have been a motivating factor in Wuornos's behavior because she never had good role models to set good examples for her. The Developmental Approach "examines the