Factors from a person's past can influence how they will succeed or fail in the future. For example, John Wayne Gacy had a horrible childhood and through these experiences became one of the deadliest serial killers. The terrible childhood he experienced influenced the outcome of his subsequent years. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Early childhood trauma can have detrimental effects on the human brain. John Wayne Gacy grew up watching his alcoholic father beat his mother and siblings, while being beaten himself. This obviously caused Gacy to become a different person than he would have been without having observed and suffered this abuse. The psychological effects on a child witnessing domestic violence linked to Gacy are poor judgment, lying and assault). This childhood trauma contributed to the decisions Gacy would make in the future. Gacy grew up in a blue-collar family and had a pretty horrible youth. Not only was Gacy a stranger at home, but he was also at school. He could barely play with other children because of a heart problem. Gacy later discovered he was attracted to men, which caused even more confusion and pain. Eventually, he grew out of some of these circumstances, and as an adult, he was well-liked in his community. He often dressed up as a clown at children's parties, which made him even more popular with his community. Even though the people around him loved him, he clearly had some issues. A quick guess as to why Gacy became a killer was because of his past. Another reason could be that he was obviously closeted in his sexuality. He married, divorced, remarried and had a few children. While being closeted with his sexuality, one could assume he tried to hide it through marriage and children. This is probably the main reason why he targeted his sexual assaults on young men. John Wayne Gacy, also known as the "Killer Clown", murdered around 30 men, young and old. He used his construction work to lure the boys with the promise of work, but ultimately captured, sexually assaulted and killed the hopeful youth. In some of his murders, he dressed up in his clown costume to sexually abuse and strangle his victims. Police would eventually discover that Gacy hid most of the bodies in a crawl space and a few under his house. Evidently, he was arrested by suspicious police officers who obtained a search warrant for his house and found the bodies of the young boys. Gacy was quickly tried, found guilty, and in 1994 he was executed by lethal injection. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay A person's life can be changed by the experiences they had as a child. The psychological damage suffered by a child ensures that pain will follow them into adulthood. Thus, this causes the adolescent to flourish or wither away. John Wayne Gacy's story proves you can move on from your past, as his terrible childhood transformed him into the monster we all know today as "The Killer Clown." ».”.