The Rise of Serial Killers in the 1980’s

The 1980's was a time of surprising and fearful events. A lot of these events really scared humanity. One of these events was the rise in serial killers in the U.S.

The 1980s, a time of shoulder pads, leg warmers and jazzercise. In American politics, it was a decade of Ronald Reagan and his vision to change the nation. Reagan and his administration had the profound influence for the way on how the Americans thought about what was going on in the country. Him and his administration realized to be able to destroy all communism in the U.S. they had to build up the military. At this time communism was a very big subject. Even though communism has been around for many years it has made its way from Europe to the U.S. For years communism in Russia and in other countries has ruled and struck fear in its people living there. Even though communism is a type of government, religion and different types of culture also take on a huge part as to what or who people believe in. The main religions people believe in are mainly Catholic, Baptist, Methodist and many more. Some of those religions that people do know of are the types that they find weird or creepy, such as people who have joined cults or groups that all live together and worship their leader. Many people are fixated on one person who they believe in the most or aspire to be like. One religion that is probably the weirdest of them all are probably Satanism. Yes, people to this day even think that is weird. But people back then thought of it as some sort of fad or false that some teens and adults went through. Although some of them never stopped believing that the devil was their all mighty and powerful ruler. Just like people believed that god and jesus was their savior.

What is a Serial Killer? Many people do not know they are or what they do. Well if you can infer by the term killer, means that one, of female or male genders kill one more people. These type of people are power driven. The high and the power surge that the killings give off to these people gives them these power driven highs. Many serial killers also kill because they have gone through trauma with parents, siblings or other relatives. Many people who have gone through these traumas notice certain things their community or in other places. They start to notice things such as children cowering in fear because their parents beat them. They believe that they are doing the right thing and or adults suffering from PTSD because their father or mother were drunks and beat them. These people are susceptible to becoming mass murders or serial killers thinking that they are saving the people who are getting hurt but really what's happening is that they are the ones causing all of the damage on these people's lives. Religion and culture also plays a big part in how people becoming or develop into serial killers. Some people who follow certain religions believe that they are Purifying the Earth such as the puritans did when they first came to the New World. The puritans wanted to purify the Catholic church with new ideas and new ways of spreading its religion. Many serial killers in the 1980's had many of these characteristics of becoming serial killers in their adult lives, such as Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and Aileen Wuornos a few of the most famous serial killers during the 1980's.

The Milwaukee Cannibal, The Milwaukee Monster, those are just a few of the names that the infamous Jeffrey Dahmer was called. Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, was born on May 21, 1960 to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a young child Jeffrey began to feel these urges of something called Necrophilia. Necrophilia is a sexual attraction toward corpses and other dead things. Throughout the rest of his life he tortured many animals and soon escalated to young males. As his certain way of killing progressed he soon moved to cannibalism. Cannibalism is when someone or something eats its own kind. Such as humans eating humans, like Jeffrey Dahmer.

John Wayne Gacy on the other hand was a cold killer. John Wayne Gacy was born on March 17, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. He was an American serial killer and rapist who took the lives of at least 33 young males in Cook County, Illinois, burying most under his home. Gacy had a abusive childhood which took a toll on his emotional factors in the future. He also struggled with his sexual identity as a young male, in 1968 he was arrested for sexual assault and his murders were uncovered and he was immediately arrested for the murder of 33 men. He was then found guilty in 1980 then executed by lethal injection. Gacy was known as the Serial Killer Clown, he attended children's birthday parties dressed up as clown. He had an alternative ego as Pogo the Clown. He would lure his victims in hope of construction work and later sexually assault them and later kill them by strangulation by a rope. As a child his drunk father would beat him and his siblings with a razor strap if they were perceived to have misbehaved; his father physically assaulted Gacy's mother as well. He grew up with a heart condition as well as troubles with his sexuality.

Aileen Wuornos one of the most notorious female serial killers. Born on February 29, 1956, in Rochester, Michigan, Aileen Wuornos was sexually abused and thrown out of her home as a teen. She made a little as a sex worker along highways and at truck stops. In 1989 she killed her first victim at a truck stop who had picked her up. She later went on the kill another five men. She was then caught and convicted. Even though her sanity was questioned she was still put on death row and executed by lethal injection in 2002. Wuornos had a very traumatizing childhood. Her father killed himself while serving prison time for child molestation, while her mother abandoned Aileen and older brother Keith, leaving them to be raised by their grandparents. Her grandmother was allegedly a very heavy alcohol drinker and her grandfather was a terrifying man who beat her. In her later year she would go on to state that she was sexually assaulted by her grandfather and had sexual relations with her brother. In her early she became pregnant and carried to baby to full term, she later gave the infant up for adoption and soon began her work as a prostitute. After she was kicked out of her house she began to live in the woods, she would hitchhike and engage in sex work to make a living.

There are many statistics for serial killers. Many male, female, and many in groups or pairs. For male serial killers a majority of these people kill because they are power-driven or they believe that they are getting rid of the evil. how many male serial killers kill because they have men in trauma as a young child or suffer from PTSD. Male serial killers are more likely to get caught rather than female serial killers. female serial killers on the other hand aren't power driven or have suffered from a trauma,. They kill for revenge or a a vendetta for a child or a family member. female serial killers are less likely to get caught rather than male serial killers. Male serial killers tend to get attached to what or who they're killing female serial killers become detached because they are only fixated on that revenge or that vendetta. Now if we're talking about pair or group serial killers such as Fred and Rosemary West. Rosemary and Fred West we're one of the most notorious couple serial killers in the 1980s. They killed over ten women in almost 30 years. They came from homes that had very traumatizing events. Fred claims that he came from a home with incest and that his father had taught him beastiality. In 1971, Fred was arrested and sent jail for theft. He later found out that Rosemary had killed his stepdaughter because she wouldn't cry while she was beating her. Once Fred was released, he convinced Rosemary to become prostitute and began to rape their daughters. They were both caught and convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Fred later committed suicide while he was custody pending trial.

These people and events in the 1980s impacted the United States and its federal government agencies. The FBI, CIA, NSA and many other federal agencies were impacted after these people killed. They knew how they need to track them down. They knew how to create profiles for them and see what they saw and understand them. These agencies were able to use the information that was given to them in medical records, social media pages, and many other websites and records to understand where that person came from. What trauma they experience and what they went through as a child. They impacted the government so that can act fast in catching them before it causes mad hysteria.

Yes during the 1980s it was a fearful time of communism and war but us as Americans pushed through. The Rise in Serial Killers was one of those events but it helped us in the long run. Serial Killers helped impact America because they helped the government agencies solves the murders and catch the killers. During the 1980s fearful and surprising events occurred. Many of these event was the rise in Serial Killers. And these events really scared humanity. All of the victims of these killers will forever be remembered and honored. The family can now rest easy knowing that their child, sibling, mother, father or, friends is no longer suffering.

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