The Twisted Path of the DC Sniper: Wayne Williams Struggle for Control

Abstract

DC Sniper: Wayne Williams [Name] One can argue situational factors as external forces that influence a person's behavior, and in most cases, one has no control over them. Williams’ life can be described as one full of failure, thus alleviating a sense of desperation as the failures proved that he had no control over his own life. While trying to maintain a balance in his life, Williams’ desperations pushed him to embrace a sense of murder to give him back his sense of control hypothetically. Looking back to the base of his tempting life, it is clear that being a son of teachers meant that they completely controlled his life as most teachers tend to exercise authoritative parenting to their children. His schoolmates at Douglas High School defined Williams as a genius, but such a title does not justify his urge to study but instead would have been a result of trying to please his teacher's parents. Williams could have endured harsh education experiences against his will to preserve his parents’ glory, thus creating the urge to get out of such controls when he grows up. He quarreled with his college-educated school teacher's parents, which indicates a search for control over his life. Though he expressed defined passion for journalism, his failures starting with his inability to complete graduation from Georgia State University pursuing psychology, failed business set up with loans secured by his parents leading to their bankruptcy, and failures in his journalism career, highlight Williams loss of control over his own life (Picart, 2012). Williams was very spoilt by his parents being their only child, a privilege that impacted his life positively or negatively, as expressed by his failures and engagements with murdering innocent children assuming that his parents would come through for him. He often rode with local ambulance drivers, roamed the city at night, and even used unauthorized police equipment attributed to the spoilt life that parents exposed him to, turning him into a very daring character. Biological Factors Biological factors can be described as biological aspects that influence or define a person’s behavior. Social networks, relationships, gender, and personal interaction serves as potential forces determined by genes and the world around us that foster biological behavior in an excellent manner. Williams’ gender has little influence on his biological behavior compared to his color and culture. Born of an African-American parent allowed Williams to relate and mingle with the black population, who turned out to be his murder target in the long run. He offered young blacks auditions as singers for bands when he operated media-related operations in his rented studio (Picart, 2012). The aspect of being black gave him the urge to revive his control powers by killing black children without creating any suspicion as he behaved as a close friend of his targets. William lived as the only child to his parents. Being a male, he wanted to prove to his parents that he had the power to rule thus engaged in various businesses and open opportunities though he failed miserably. His status as a spoilt person allowed him to mingle with characters like the local ambulance drivers, whose appearance to the public comes with a helping notion. His social ties allowed him to roam the city in the night without any authority questioning his appearances leading him to embrace the thought of behaving like a law enforcer. To exercise his control, he took advantage of the black children he spoke to and acted to them as a cop to instill fear in them any time they would come across him. His color and social ties allowed him to access police equipment, blue flashing lights, siren, emergency lights, a police scanner, and a CB radio that enhanced his control over his target population in an excellent manner (Thorsson, 2020). Developmental Factors These factors influence one's social, physical, intellectual, and emotional development from childhood through adulthood, defining the characters' behavior greatly. A potential force that determines a characters developmental behavior is the parental attitude and stimulation. Paying close attention on Williams’ life, it is clear that his parents’ attitude towards him as their only child played a significant role in defining his character from childhood through adulthood. Williams enjoyed a lot of privileges as the only child to the teacher parents from going to good schools, owning a radio station at a tender age of 12 years, parents setting him a business venture through a loan, among other privileges like the authority to roam the city at night and enjoying social connections with people above his status quo (Thorsson, 2020). If Williams’ parents had other children, then the parents would have diverted their attention to the other children to change Williams’ attitude towards life. He became out of control because he believed in the love and concern that his parent had over him thus engaged in any act with...