Donald Gaskins Substance Abuse

Throughout his childhood he was abused and neglected, and because of his small stature, he was given the nickname Pee Wee. “On March 13, 1933, Donald Gaskins was born in Florence County, South Carolina” (Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins). He grew up living with his mother and without any knowledge of his father. He was 11 when he began to involve himself into trouble with two other children in the neighborhood. Together they ran amuck in the town by burglarizing “homes, picked up prostitutes, and even sometimes raped little boys” (Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins). In order to keep the victims quiet, they would threaten them. After raping the sister of one of the three boys they were discovered by the parents, and as punishment they were beat. In 1946,

When he was but a small child, months old, Molly, Gaskins mother, and Mr. Gaskin, his father, would have intercourse in front of him and laugh when he would try to stop them. Several of the many boyfriends Molly had would abuse and sexually assault Gaskin while his mother watched and allowed it. At school Gaskin was teased for his stature and punished by the teachers when problems with others students would arise. He never knew his father or had any recollection of him. The name “Pee Wee” was given to him because of his small frame and stature, his appearance was also the cause of endless ridicule and mistreatment. At the age of eight, Pee Wee decided to drop out of school, and at 11, began to associate himself with two other boys; Danny and Marsh. They called themselves “The Trouble Trio” and together they terrorized the neighborhood but raping small boys and threatening them not to say anything. Eventually, the trio was broken up after they were discovered gang-raping one of the member’s sister. “For punishment, the parents beat the boys until they bled” (Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins). This encounter was described by Gaskin as being a very fulfilling part of his life. After the end of the small gang, Gaskin continued to commit burglaries and petty crimes, during one of them he was discovered, and in an attempt to escape he attacked the girl and was convicted of assault. “During

As shown in the book, Dick and Pee Wee seem to act on instinct, he planned things in the instant. In one instance in the book “In Cold Blood”, Dick was in the suit shop winging a plan to cash a bad check and managed to acquire it. Pee acted on instinct when choosing his next victim, towards the beginning it seemed it was more at the moment, like with the hitchhiker lady. The amount of similarities are minuscule, but they also share some differences. For example, Dick experienced a much calmer childhood compared to Donald Henry Gaskin. “Dick has loving parents, no poorer than anyone else in the neighborhood. By his parents' and his own account (Dick Hickock in In Cold Blood), he was a good kid, did well in school, lettered in nine