Lived in an Extremely Violent Household

Albert DeSalvo

Background:

· Born on September 3, 1931

· Had five siblings

· Lived in an extremely violent household

· His father was an alcoholic, wife beater, and verbally abused his family

· Spent eight years in the army

· He has two children with his wife, Irmgard Beck

Crimes:

Between the dates of January 14, 1962 and January 4, 1964, DeSalvo kidnapped thirteen single women in Boston. They were assaulted and strangled to death with items of clothing. DeSalvo was not charged for these murders though because the police did not have enough information to prove him to be guilty. When investigations were going on, there were no signs of forced entry into the women’s homes when they were all murdered. So, this means that the women just simply let DeSalvo into their homes.

DeSalvo confessed to many different sexual assaults, him pretending to be a model agency scout then entering the women’s homes. Due to this confession, DeSalvo was sent to Westborough State Psychiatric Hospital where he was diagnosed as a sociopath.

On May 3, 1961, DeSalvo was sentenced to two years for assault, breaking and entering, and battery. But, he was released about a year later. On June 14, 1962, DeSalvo committed his first crime as the Boston Strangler. In September 1965, he confessed to those murders plus two additional ones. He was never put on trial for those murders though.

After Albert DeSalvo being released from jail for about three years, he was arrested again for entering into a woman’s home and touching her inappropriately. Along with that, he threatened to kill her. DeSalvo then apologized and left the apartment. He was then arrested, but eventually released on bail.

As the Green Man, DeSalvo admitted to breaking into four hundred apartments and a couple rapes. Towards the end of his life, he had assaulted three hundred women in a four-state-area. In 1967, DeSalvo was convicted of the “Green Man” rapes and sentenced to a life in prison.

In a prison infirmary in 1973, DeSalvo was found stabbed through the heart. He had left a poem which he had written a few years before his death:

“Here is the story of the Strangler, yet untold,

The man who claims he murdered thirteen women,

young and old.

The elusive Strangler, there he goes,

Where his wanderlust sends him, no one knows

He struck within the light of day,

Leaving not one clue astray.

Young and old, their lips are sealed,

Their secret of death never revealed.

Even though he is sick in mind,

He’s much too clever for the police to find.

To reveal his secret will bring him fame,

But burden his family with unwanted shame.

Today he sits in a prison cell,

Deep inside only a secret he can tell.

People everywhere are still in doubt,

Is the Strangler in prison or roaming about?”

Nicknames:

· “Green Man”

· “The Boston Strangler”

Sociological Theory of Deviance:

The best Sociological Theory of Deviance that best describes Albert DeSalvo’s crimes would be the Differential-Association Theory. DeSalvo was raised in a violent home where his father was an alcoholic, verbally abusive, and beat his wife. DeSalvo confessed that his father broke his mother’s fingers right in front of him along with other abusive acts. Being that DeSalvo grew up seeing these acts which were all that he knew so he reenacted them once he grew up. DeSalvo was a disturbed child due to his father and he later became a disturbed adult as well.

Once DeSalvo started to grow up, he started committing his crimes and then confessing to some of them. He knew he was doing wrong, but he kept on committing the crimes and started coming up with nicknames for himself. He dedicated a lot of his life to physically and sexually abusing women. These acts were just like what he had witnessed his father doing to his mother during his younger years. DeSalvo spent most of his life committing these crimes and then later being sent to prison then being released and starting the cycle all over again. But, the last time he was sent to prison and he knew he was not going to be able to get out, he took his life. Maybe DeSalvo realized that he had started portraying his father’s acts.