How do Criminal Minds Think: The Relationship
Between Psychopathy and Crime
Kübra Fidanboylu
Sevcan Üreyil
Senior Seminar-497
Gül Çörüş
25/May/2012
Nigar Gümrükçüoğlu
PSYCHOPATHY AND CRIME
How Criminal Minds Think: The Relationship Between
Psychopathy and Crime
Kübra Fidanboylu*
Sevcan Üreyil**
Nigar Gümrükçüoğlu***
Alfred University
Abstract
This paper reviews research from different aspects of psychopathy. The different aspects reviewed are; facts and fictions about psychopathy, classifications and DSM criteria of antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy, etiology of psychopathy, measurement of criminal psychopathy, differences among psychopaths and nonpsychopaths, …show more content…
characteristics of psychopaths, psychobiology and biochemical theories on psychopaths, psychopathic behaviors, differences among psychopaths, lifestyles of psychopaths, male psychopaths versus female psychopaths and finally white collar psychopaths. Based on these various aspects this paper attempts to understand how criminal minds think, and tries to investigate the relationships between psychopathy and crime.
Psychopaths: Fact and Fiction
On the night of March the 9th, 2009 Münevver Karabulut’s body was found in a trash container, cut in to pieces in Istanbul, Turkey. According to the autopsy report she had been cut in 29 different places (Anonymous, 2009). The reports showed the brutal truth, her head had been severed slowly with a saw when she was alive. Her murder suspect was her boyfriend Cem
Garipoğlu who was about to turn eighteen. Garipoğlu was found after six months and he was sentenced for first degree murder, of twenty four years in prison (Karakuş, 2009). According to the psychiatric reports he showed narcissistic and psychopathic features (Demir, 2010). The
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This paper was submitted on May 25, 2012, Kübra Fidanboylu*, Sevcan Üreyil**, Nigar Gğmrükçüoğlu***, Department of Psychology, Alfred
University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nigar Gğmrükçüoğlu, Sevcan Üreyil and Kübra Fidanboylu, Alfred
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University, Department of Psychology, Istanbul-Turkey 34140. Email*: qbra1991@gmail.com, E-mail**:sewa_can@hotmail.de, E-mail***: nigargumrukcuoglu@hotmail.com horror and fascination of this incident focused great media attention on the homicide process and the capture of Garipoğlu. The Turkish public had met a horrifying crime and now had increased their focus on murder and psychopathy. In the past, most citizens simply assumed serial killers must be insane, however, for example in the reports of the Garipoğlu case he was found to be totally sane with an IQ of 119 (Demir, 2010). Such crimes catch great attention from the public and stay on screen for a very long time.
The pure sensationalism and horror of murder has been the great interest of the media.
Different agencies the media is using to exhibit murders are; books, television shows, series, movies and documentaries. Such as the prime-time programs “Cinayet Dosyası” (Homicide
Files) and “Suç Dosyası (Crime files) and books like “Seri Katiller” (Serial Murders) which is a collection of serial murders and murderers around the world written by Fikret Topallı.
Hollywood, the world’s largest film industry features a great number of movies related to homicides. Such as the movies that have turned into a world phenomenon and have been watched by many; Silence of the Lambs and the Saw series. Both movies portray ferocious serial murders where they use sophisticated technologies and different equipments to further draw the audience in, trapping us in their imagination. With the explosion of murder themes in media viewers are bombarded with graphic killings, mutilations and sexual torture, where one can reach in the privacy of their home. Because of media’s attention and wide publicity on murderers, different types of stereotypes can form in the minds (Hickey, 2010). The psychopaths portrayed in movies are more stereotypical rather than the ultimate truth, fancied to excite and sadly to entertain the viewers. An example of a common stereotype can be that all psychopaths are men, to show that is not the case in reality different television channels made programs and documentary films such
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as “The Black Widow(s)”. These films and programs showed that there are also women murderers and serial killers, in an attempt to break down the stereotype.
Another factor of media is exploiting the public’s fascination with the murders without yielding much information about the offender. The other side of the picture is observed by researchers from different fields such as; forensic psychologists, law, police forces and rarely, victims who escaped. From their narratives one can understand in depth the different dimensions of psychopaths in an insightful manner. Case study analysis is one of the ways researchers use to examine the phenomenon of murder, in order to promote greater understanding. However the accounts of murder often tend to surpass the horror described in nonfictional accounts of murder
(Hickey, 2010). Now murder began to be explored as not only the action, but also as a process.
Currently, researchers do not only ask the question “how”; but also ask the question “why”.
Classification of Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy
The DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criterion for antisocial personality disorder (APD) includes two components; these two components are as follows. The first component is that there should be a pervasive pattern of disregard for the rights of others since the age of 15 as shown by at least three of the following (American Psychiatric Association, 2000),
1) Repeated law breaking
2) Deceitfulness, lying
3) Impulsivity
4) Irritability and aggressiveness
5) Reckless disregard for own safety and that of others
6) Irresponsibility as seen in unreliable employment or financial history
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7) Lack of remorse
The second component is the presence of a conduct disorder before the age of 15 (Hare, Hart &
Harpur, 1991). Running away from home, frequent lying, theft, and destruction of property are major symptoms of conduct disorder (Kring, Johnson, Davison & Neale, 2010).The person must be at a minimum age of 18 to be diagnosed with APD. According to Newman and his friends
(1998) about three-quarters of people with APD meet the diagnostic criteria for another disorder and the most common comorbid disorder is found to be substance abuse (Newman, Moffitt,
Caspi & Silva, 1998).
The clinical description of psychopathy predates the DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of antisocial behavior. Psychopathy is a personality disorder where the person lacks respect for others and social rules (Woodworth & Porter, 2002). Cleckley’s (1976) criterion of psychopathy focuses on the person’s thoughts and feelings, unlike the diagnostic criteria of APD which focuses on observable symptoms such as behavior (Kring, Johnson, Davison & Neale, 2010). Cleckley claims that one of the most important characteristics of psychopathy is their poverty of both positive and negative emotions. Other features of psychopathy are egocentricity, deceptiveness, callousness, impulsivity, irresponsibility, shallow emotions, poor behavioral controls and antisocial behaviors (Cleckley, 1976; Hare, 1991 as cited in Bolt, Hare, Vitale & Newman,
2004). Psychopaths are also found to be superficially charming and that they use this charm to manipulate others for their personal gain. Their lack of anxiety makes it impossible for them to learn from their mistakes, and their lack of remorse leads them to behave irresponsibly and cruelly to others (Kring, Johnson, Davison & Neale, 2010). Many psychopaths are found to be con-artists some even become cult leaders, politicians or successful corporate leaders using others in order to gain their personal satisfactions such as sex and power (Babiak, 2000 as cited in Porter
& Woodworth, 2007). Lowe (1969, p.56, as cited in Widom, 1976) suggests that “their personal
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relationships lack ‘common humanity’; that is, they have learned only the ritual and not the meaning of personal relationships”. Gough (1948, as cited in Widom, 1976) suggests that they are also unable to identify themselves with the viewpoint of other people.
Hence the similarity between the criteria of APD and psychopathy they also differ in certain ways, such as; psychopathy does not require the onset symptoms before age 15. Another difference can be the fact that the criterion for psychopathy covers a broader range of problems than the criteria of APD. For example people diagnosed with APD might not meet the criteria of psychopathy (Kring, Johnson, Davison & Neale, 2010). Not excluding the fact that 20 percent of the people diagnosed with APD obtain high scores on the psychopathy checklist (Rutherford,
Cacciola, & Alterman 1999).
The etiology of many disorders are debatable, researchers are not exactly sure about the causes. Researchers perpetually face the issue of nature versus nurture in psychology. The same is viable for the etiology of psychopathy. Some studies suggest that criminality (Gottesman&
Goldsmith, 1994), psychopathy (Taylor et al., 2003) and APD (Eley, Lichtenstein, & Moffitt,
2003) were moderately heritable and the heritability estimates were of 40 to 50 percent. Genetic risk factors of APD, psychopathy, conduct disorder, and substance abuse appear to be related
(Kring, Johnson, Davison & Neale, 2010). Research shows that psychopathic behavior violates social norms, therefore to find the causes researchers also focus on factors such as; social and family environments, and poverty. Consequently a person can inherit a general vulnerability to the symptoms of psychopathy, and then the environmental factors can shape which of the symptoms will evolve (Kendler, Prescott, et al., 2003; Larsson et al., 2007 as cited in Kring,
Johnson, Davison & Neale, 2010).
Moreover, another important factor is that psychopathy and antisocial behavior is associated with crime and violence in general (see Hart and Hare, 1997; Porter & Porter, in press,
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as cited in Porter & Woodworth, 2007) making them potentially dangerous. Results of different researches suggest that psychopaths are more willing than others to commit crimes (Williamson,
Hare & Wong, 1987). Williamson and his friends (1987) further assert that, “psychopaths have relatively little contact with their families, change their residence often, exhibit little intensity in their interpersonal relationships, and often engage in criminal activities that lack purpose and long-range planning”. Therefore it can be said that the dominant clinical conception of a psychopath is a dangerous person who preys on others across their life span and that the relationship between psychopathy and some forms of homicide seem likely (e.g. Hare 1998;
Simourd & Hodge, 2000 as cited in Woodworth & Porter, 2002).
Measuring Criminal Psychopathy
The most commonly used scale to assess psychopathy is the Psychopathy ChecklistRevised (PCL-R) (Hare, 2003). Researchers use the scale in cooperation with extensive interviews, and gather information from other resources such as criminal records, in order to rate the 20 items. Each item is scored as 0 (not present), 1 (possibly present), or 2 (definitely present), resulting in the total PCL-R scores that range from 0 to 40 (Bolt, Hare, Vitale & Newman, 2004).
According to the manual of the checklist, the cut of score of classifying psychopathy is ≥30
(Porter & Woodworth, 2007). Some of the items of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised overlap with the criteria of APD including criminality, delinquency, impulsivity and irresponsibility
(Kring, Johnson, Davison & Neale, 2010). The scale also includes “interpersonal items such as
(superficial charm, pathological lying and manipulativeness) and affective symptoms (such as lack of remorse, shallow effect and lack of empathy)” (Hare & Neumann, 2006). Therefore it can be said that the PCL-R has two main factors; factor 1, including interpersonal and affective traits
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and factor 2, including impulsive, antisocial and chronically unstable lifestyle (Hicks,
Vaidyanathan & Patrick, 2010). Hicks (2010) and his friends suggest that factor 1 includes the primary features of psychopathy whereas factor 2 includes the secondary characteristics. Hart and
Hare found that PCL-R total scores were positively correlated with narcissistic personality disorder and APD (Hare, Hart & Harpur, 1991). According to different researches the PCL-R has demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability across diverse populations (see,
e.g., Alterman, Cacciola, & Rutherford, 1993; Hare et al., 1990; Vitale, Smith, Brinkley &
Newman, 2002, as cited in Bolt, Hare, Vitale & Newman, 2004).
Psychopaths and Nonpsychopaths
Researchers conduct various types of research where they compare psychopaths with nonpsychopaths. By doing such a comparison researchers try to identify different characteristics and mechanisms underlying psychopathy1. Cleckly (1976 as cited in Woodworth & Porter, 2007) observed that psychopaths violence was motivated by external goals, and that it was not characterized by powerful emotions associated with “crimes of passion”, which is the case nonpsychopaths. Researchers tend to categorize violence in two main groups; instrumental violence and reactive violence. Instrumental violence is associated with strangers and tends to have material goals whereas reactive violence is associated with high emotional arousal and a close relationship with the victim. An additional fact is that victims of nonpsychopaths were likely to be women who are known to them; however the victims of the psychopaths were likely to be men and unknown to them, and they are more likely to use a weapon during an offense
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1
It should be taken into consideration that this section of this paper is only considering the comparisons between
psychopaths and nonpsychopath criminals.
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(Hare, Hart & Harpur, 1991). Previous research done on aggression in general show that (e.g.
Cornell et al., 1996; Serin, 1991) psychopaths engage in more instrumental goal driven homicidal violence, for example to obtain money or drugs, on the other hand nonpsychopaths engage in reactive spontaneous violence, for example that may result from a heated argument. Woodworth and Porter (2007) argue that almost all psychopaths had primarily committed instrumental murder; they further suggest that nonpsychopathic offenders are capable of committing instrumental offences however they do not show the same clear preferences as the psychopathic offenders do. In addition they recommend a possible reason for this finding; that psychopathic offenders show a distinctive lack of empathy toward others therefore this extends to their crime victims. In 2002, Kosson, Suchy, Mayer and Libby conducted a study which showed that unlike nonpsychopaths, psychopaths failed to startle while viewing affective slides that depicted potentiation, and psychopaths appeared to be less accurate than nonpsychopaths on facial affect recognition. On the other hand Blair, Jones, Clark and Smith (1997) found that, psychopaths exhibited less automatic responding than nonpsychopaths when presented with fearful and sad human expressions, proving their lack of empathy. Thus, psychopaths appear to be capable of engaging in and carrying out far more relentless, cold-blooded homicides that many potentially violent nonpsychopaths are less likely to consider perpetrating. Brown and Forth (1997) found that psychopaths commit almost twice as many offences than nonpsychopaths. Woodworth and
Porter (2007) states that Serin and Amos (1995) found that psychopaths were about five times more likely than nonpsychopaths to engage in violent recidivism within five years of release.
Accordingly Hare (1966) found that “psychopaths lack the normal capacity to acquire conditioned fear responses and that the emotional significance of future punishment is of relatively little immediate concern to them”. Woodworth and Porter (2007) also cited Porter, Birt and Boer (2001) as finding that psychopathic offenders consistently committed more violent and
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nonviolent crimes than their nonpsychopathic counterparts from late adolescence to their late 40s.
Harpur and Hare (1994) indicate that psychopaths commit more crimes, receive more convictions and spend more time in prison than do nonpsychopathic criminals. It was reported that criminal psychopaths were four times more likely than nonpsychopaths to fail release (Hare, McPherson
& Forth, 1988), therefore psychopaths had lengthier criminal histories than nonpsychopaths
(Serin, Peters & Barbaree, 1990). It was found that psychopaths committed more varied crimes than nonpsychopaths (Williamson, Hare, and Wong, 1987), and they demonstrated poor passive avoidance to learning (Howland, Kosson, Patterson & Newman, 1993). Moreover psychopaths differ from nonpsychopaths in their nonverbal behavior during interpersonal situations, they tend to be more intrusive towards their partner, they display more hand gestures, lean forward more
(reducing the distance between the other person), and look at the persons eye for longer periods of time and smile less than nonpsychopaths (Rimé, Bouvy, Leborgne & Rouillon, 1978).
Consequently, ranging from dominance, aggressiveness, impulsivity, sensation seeking, and harm avoidance; individuals high in overall psychopathy are likely to differ from nonpsychopaths on a variety of traits (Levenston, Patrick, Bradley & Lang, 2000).
Characteristics of Psychopaths
Psychopathy is defined by the features of emotional detachment and antisocial traits. In addition, it is strongly associated with criminal behaviors and recidivism. “Psychopaths exhibit particular symptoms and behaviors, including; impulsivity, shallow affect, seemingly illogical antisocial behavior, and chronic disturbances in interpersonal functioning’’ (Bolt, Robert, and
Hare, 2004). Psychopaths can be compared to silent guns, which can fire any time. Nevertheless, they are known in the society as harmless, inoffensive, shy and even polite people. However,
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psychopaths are callous, remorseless, manipulative, impulsive and irresponsible individuals
(Porter and Woodworth, 2007). A unique characteristic of psychopathy is defined as their willingness to commit moral transgressions despite being able to indicate their faults and mistakes. Deficiency of affect is defined as another characteristic of psychopaths. Although this characteristic has been investigated in numerous clinical studies, considerable controversy surrounds the possible physiological concomitants of this emotional defect. “Psychopaths may actually be more sensitive to emotional stimuli than normal people, but because of habituation to their higher autonomic arousal state, their threshold for emitting an emotional response is greater than normal” (House & Miligan,1976).
Yet another characteristic of psychopaths noted in
literature includes egocentricity (Heilbrun, 1982). They have no emotion in interpersonal behavior and they lack empathy and inhibition against physical aggression. In this sense, as a result; those maladaptive attributes increases the risk of violent behavior. Further, a very important aspect is that psychopath’s behaviors and characteristics are relatively permanent. This is very well portrayed in the movie “The Clockwork Orange” (1971). Psychopath Alex DeLarge commits various violent crimes until he is caught and jailed. In jail he volunteers for an experimental aversion therapy developed by the government in an effort to solve issues related to psychopathy and crime. At the beginning, the experiments go very well and Alex positively responds to the treatment, by showing observable differences. However the movie ends’ showing
Alex exhibiting his previous psychopathic and violent behaviors, indicating that no matter what happens he will not change.
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Psychobiology and Biochemistry of Psychopaths
According to investigators, what makes psychopaths so astounding and potentially dangerous is a disorder which includes psychosocial and biological factors (Brennan & Raine,
1997). In order to explain the effect of psychosocial factors researchers examined some children, who had behavioral disorders. The children who had these disorders were diagnosed because of their aggressive and antisocial behaviors like disobedience to parents, escaping from school, theft, extreme cases of lying and feeling of no remorse for their behaviors. With regards to these behaviors, investigators found that children who are controlled harshly by their parents have a high risk of developing aggressive and antisocial personalities. Another psychosocial factor for an antisocial personality development and maybe the most powerful reason is that psychopaths experience physical and/or sexual incidents in their childhood. On the other hand, all of these children do not develop into becoming a psychopath, but its affect on antisocial behaviors is seemingly clear. According to some cases, parents have reported that from an early age their children have anger tantrums, get anger very easily and quickly when they are in a disappointing situation, and generally they cannot be controlled. Researchers think that serious behavioral disorders start in early years of age, becoming one of the risks of antisocial personality development; other risks are found to be genetic and neurological factors. It was found that there are differing neurological factors, such as; the relationship between brain damage and antisocial personality disorder (Plotnik, 2009). Other research done on twins and adopted children, show that genetic factors play a 30-50 percent role on the development of antisocial personalities.
In a recent investigation it was found that the psychopaths’s brain structure is biologically different from other people. It is suggested that there is a failure in connections between the emotional areas of the brain (amygdale) and the region responsible for stimulation and decision
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making (orbitofrontal cortex). It was previously known that these regions functioned differently in psychopaths, however it was primarily found that the connections between the regions are defective (Craig, 2009). Furthermore, prefrontal cortex damages can cause serious problems for normally functioning people. ‘’The enlargement of the frontal cortex was one of the distinctive morphological developments in the evolution of the human brain. Accordingly, the psychological functions attributed to the frontal area are often considered to be distinguishing features of human adaptation: the capacity for foresight, planning, and, in general, the regulation of impulses. But such functions are also important components of behavioral adaptation in animals. Lesions of the prefrontal cortex of primates and lower mammals result in deficient regulation of responding and reduced ability to organize complex motor programs. Highly similar effects are observed following lesions of the septum and hippocampus, leading to speculation that the septum, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex constitute an integral system that functions to regulate goaldirected activity and modulate impulsive responding in both humans and animals.” (Gorenstein,
1998). Additionally, brain damage has also a significant role on maladaptive behaviors.
Researchers think that the prefrontal lobe is important in task functioning and for that reason, brain damage during development or after an accident increases the risk of the development of antisocial personality disorder (Plotnik, 2009).
Psychopathic Behavior
Psychopaths have been described as individuals who have no other abnormality from others. They also have attractive physical appearance. In almost every situation, they are cold blooded and they do not have feelings of remorse. Psychopaths only demonstrate emotions when they consider it to be intellectually appropriate. This means that they have learned to use it as a
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ritual; therefore their personal relationships do not make sense to them emotionally (Widom,
1976). In America, 20 years ago Jeffrey Dahmer was known as a normal individual by the local people. Later on it was found that he had raped 17 people and killed them. It was also found that in some situations, he practiced cannibalism with his victims. He usually preferred young homosexual males, brought them to his home, gave them drugs, then strangled them and had sexual intercourse with their dead bodies. In one conversation Dahmer himself said: “I was able to control somebody completely, especially someone who I found attractive. Also I was able to keep them with me for a long time. Even significant pieces of them…” (Plotnik, 2009). This example exhibits a typical psychopath. Dahmer had absolutely no remorse saying those words and he even seemed to feel proud of his actions. According to some researches, the influence of psychopathy on emotion is moderated by general levels of anxiety, distress, and related constructs and general levels of anxiety. Related constructs also have been shown to moderate the modulation of startle reflexes in response to unpleasant stimuli (Sutton, Vitale & Newman,
2002). Another research, mentions “semantic dementia” (Patrick, Cuthbert & Lang, 1994), which describes the failure of associating emotional meaning to language. One of our brains function is to animate unpleasant incidents, when normal individuals face such incidents they tend to block and avoid these images. This function of the brain prevents the individual from portraying antisocial or maladaptive behaviors. On the other hand this function in psychopaths is out of order, it does not function. Additionally, in psychopaths, understanding the emotional components are diminished when compared with normal individuals. “The psychopaths know the
"words" of emotion, but cannot differentiate emotional components in "music"” (Patrick,
Cuthbert, & Lang, 1994).
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Differences among Psychopaths Themselves
In order to understand the violent acts, it is necessary to consider the external goals of the perpetrator, namely to understand their motivations. How can they commit such massive murders? What is the motivation behind that? Why did not some children become psychopaths, even they had a potential? According to research, answers for these questions come from the exploration of the origins of serial killing behavior which can be actually clarified from multimodal perspectives of neuropsychiatry, evolutionary psychology, and developmental psychology
(Silva, Ferrari & Leong, 2002).
Many investigators assert that part of the genesis of serial killing behavior is related to early life cycles based on both the psychological and social nature. For example the life of Jeffrey
Dahmer was full of massive sexual homicides, indicating typical cues of psychopaths. But what makes Jeffrey different or an extreme crime machine is related to his parental background. His parents also had abnormal behaviors; Jeffrey’s father suffered from intense shyness, he found everything threatening and feared social environments, even buildings. His mother appeared to have suffered not only from anxiety and mood liability but also from intermittent episodes of depression. When he was a child, he was interested in animal body parts and in his later years he became interested in human objects and developed an impressive collection of body parts and he finalized his collection with the bodies of the people he murdered. However, a decisive difference between his childhood and early adolescence and his later life is the fact that he sexualized his fixated activity on bodies and bodily parts, thereby endowing them with not only existential meaning but sexual satisfaction. “Scholar Brian Masters conceptualizes Jeffrey’s necrophilia as a fusion of two cognitions, one that involved interests in the internal anatomy of the human body and one that viewed the ideal sexual object as a function of an intimate relationship with an
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admirable and beautiful thing, a situation which in our opinion represented for Jeffrey a love object devoid of freedom and therefore totally compliant’’ (Silva, Ferrari & Leong, 2002).
Life Styles of Psychopaths
According to a serial killer a psychopath will behave in various ways until he gets arrested or killed. Psychopath’s instinctive behaviors can be violent or not, containing one the main goals of serial killers; to search for saturation, to take pleasure and to enjoy. Furthermore according to psychologists William and Joan McCord; “Psychopaths do not think about anything other than their own needs as an infant, fed vigorously by their demands.” Parents can post pone the needs of their children but psychopaths do not change their attitude about their demands and because they do not care about other people’s desires, they tend to do whatever they like. Psychopaths astonish their families and colleagues by leaving them, therefore they can easily break up their relations, turn their homes upside-down, and they can easily hurt other people for their own pleasure. For instance a person who got a high rate from the psychopathy checklist, wants to buy some beer but realizes that he has forgotten his wallet at home, instead of returning back home the psychopath takes a bat than robs the nearby petrol station and hurts the clerk.
Psychopaths do not make plans that are long lasting if they did they could change the way they attended to daily life. More over they have no worries for the future, and do not do anything regarding the future, for example a psychopath says; “I am a wanderer, I ride backwards and forwards”. Even more if psychopaths think that they are being insulted or neglected they tend to respond by overreacting. Nonpsychopathic individuals can control their reaction but psychopaths have difficulty controlling their impulses, and they are provoked easily. When they are disappointed they tend to react by threatening or verbally abusing others. Additionally when they
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are unsuccessful or receive criticism, with rage they start behaving in unacceptable ways and act as though nothing happened. An example to this situation can be; a psychopath named Carl asks his wife to come to the prison he is staying in, and he learns that his wife cannot come to bring his needs such as cigarettes and clothing because she could not find a person to look after her
children.
When Carl hears this he claims he will kill his wife without thinking about the consequences, then acts as though nothing happened.
Psychopaths lose their control easily but they are aware of what they have done. When compared with other people who feel regular emotions; psychopaths do not feel emotional stimulus’s, they are cold- blooded during their act. When asked to one of the psychopaths what he does when he loses his control he answered; “I question myself, and see how much damage I want to give that person”. Psychopaths always need a stimulus to get them excited; for example; they can claim that they like their job only because it makes them feel excited. They also cannot stand a life that is monotone. They are not interested in long term jobs, they get bored easily, and they do not have a sense of responsibility. Moreover, they do not care about their debts, and even children. Psychopaths remain bloodless to the attention of the welfare of their own children or other children who are under their responsibility. Besides, most psychopaths show behavioral problems at an early age such as; lying, deceiving, theft, running away from
school, disorientation in classroom, substance abuse, vandalism, violence, bullying, sexual abuse and they may also run away from their homes. The common problem seen in children who have a psychopathic tendency is the fact that the children come from homes where molestation and violence is regularly practiced. However psychopathic tendency can also be seen in children that come from normal families, it has been found that robbery and substance abuse starts at the ages between 10 and 12 with these children. Cruelty to animals is an indication of emotional and behavioral problems in childhood. For instance serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer swiped a dog 's head
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on a pile, nailed frogs and cats, and he had a collection of animal skeletons.” (Robert & Hare,
2006). Based on these findings of previous research on Psychopathy, investigating the roots of genetic codes and early age
juvenile delinquencies is an important tool that can provide
estimations of psychopathic tendencies in the world. According to Burt juvenile delinquency, is defined as the situation that would require the intervention of a child 's anti-social tendencies into law. The destruction of the social structure caused by the World Wars resulted in the explosion of juvenile delinquency in the world. According to an investigation which was done by Alison
Hatch and Curt Griffiths in Canada (1992) found that juvenile delinquency is increasing in an expeditious manner since 1956 and the children who committed violent crimes are also increasing dramatically; double and two-thirds of all the children who committed other types of crimes. The case of Canada is also viable for Germany. The 20% of the young people in
Germany were found to be participating in violent crimes and crimes against property, to the extent that one-third of the criminals are comprised of juveniles. According to the reports of Paul
Friday (1992) social support programs are practiced the most in Switzerland, despite this fact the rate of child delinquency is increasing. America is also one of countries where juvenile delinquency is increasing. On the other hand in Turkey there is an inconsistent pattern through the course of time, according to statistics of justice there has been an increase in the number of children convicted in the 80’s followed by a decrease in the 90’s, and it was found that the juvenile crime rate increased again in the 95’s (Polat, 2001).
Psychopathy: Males vs. Females
According to Skeem, Poythress, Edens, Lilienfeld, and Cale (2003, as cited in Hicks,
Vaidyanathan & Patrick, 2010), psychopathy is an ill-affected personality disorder which is
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described by a permanent pattern of antisocial and criminal behavior and relentless, senseless, remorseless, and narcissistic personality characteristics. Though psychopathy has generally been considered as a whole construct, certain clinical conceptualizations have suggested psychopathic subtypes. According to Hicks, Markon, Patrick, Krueger, and Newman (2007), recent empirical research yielded important evidence that male prisoner samples have supported psychopathic subtypes, which were broadly consistent with the conceptualizations. Hicks, Vaidyanathan and
Patricks (2010); in one of their study expressed that; “Recent empirical investigations utilizing male prisoners have begun to validate clinical conceptualizations of primary and secondary psychopathy subtypes. We extended this literature by identifying similar psychopathic subtypes in female prisoners on the basis of personality structure using model-based cluster analysis.
Secondary psychopaths were characterized by personality traits of negative emotionality and low behavioral constraint, an early onset of antisocial and criminal behavior, greater substance use and abuse, more violent behavior and institutional misconduct, and more mental health problems, including symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and suicide attempts. Primary psychopaths exhibited few distinguishing personality features but were prolific criminals especially in regards to nonviolent crimes, and exhibited relatively few mental health problems despite substantial exposure to traumatic events. The results support alternative etiological pathways to antisocial and criminal behavior that are evident in personality structure as well as gender similarities and differences in the manifestation of psychopathic personalities.” Psychopathy subtypes are also viable to differentiate subtypes of female psychopaths. When considering gender differences, it was found that two types of group effects evaluated the average level differences and differences in structure, average level differences referred to group differences in the extensity or average levels of a variable (Hicks et al., 2007; Kramer et al., 2008; Krueger, Caspi, & Moffitt, 1994;
Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter, & Silva, 2001 as cited in Hicks, Vaidyanathan, & Patrick, 2010). It was
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found that “men exhibit higher mean levels of psychopathy, antisocial behavior, and criminality than women.” (Bolt, Hare, Vitale, & Newman, 2004; Krueger et al., 1994; Moffitt et all., 2001)
Relatively few structural differences have been found between men and women and moderate mean-level differences were found to be relatively common. Gender differences are also evident in the criminal justice system, especially; women who are incarcerated exhibit greater levels of psychopathology, environmental deprivation, and victimization, and lower levels of global functioning in comparison to incarcerated men (Hicks, Vaidyanathan, & Patrick, 2010). Gender differences are also observed in personality trait variables. Particularly, women score higher on measures of stress reaction, social closeness, and behavioral constraints whereas men score higher on measures of aggression, social dominance, and agency (Hicks, Vaidyanathan &
Patrick, 2010).
People think women are harmless compared with men however women just behave differently and prefer different tools while committing their murders such as; drugs and poisons whereas men tend to use guns and knives. According to the author of “Serial Murderer’s and
Their Victim’s”, criminologist Eric Hickey discovered that there were 62 American female serial killers. These women had killed up to 400-600 people in total. They usually act alone, start their homicides at an old age and they are usually widows or nurses. Besides they do not have any sort of crime record before they start to murder and as mentioned above they prefer drugs and poisons. According to Michael Kellerher female serial killers kill for money and status, they continue their murders for at least ten years and they are organized and patient (Atasoy,
2010).The author of the book “The New Predator: Women Who Kill”, Deborah Schurman
Kauflin examines female serial killer’s life styles and she found that most of them behaved in a harmful manner towards animals. A common feature of these psychopathic women is that they have a history of sexual abuse, abandonment and extreme discipline. They usually use men as
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tools while committing their murders, mainly because this prevents them from being caught.
Women who kill their spouses and their relatives are referred to as black widows, because these women are compared to a spider called the black widow. The black widow is a female spider that eats her male partner after mating. An example of the black widow can be Romanian serial killer
Vera Renczi. She was a woman known for being jealous and afraid of her husband’s and lovers abandoning her. Therefore she murdered every man whom she was in a relationship, with arsenic poison. The police later on found zinc-coated coffins in her wine cellar; there were corpses of 35 men including her husband’s and son. Another example is British Mary Ann Cotton who murdered her mother, 12 of her children (most of them were adopted), two lovers and 4 husbands with arsenic poison. Yet another famous “black widow” is Margie Velma Barfield, she took pleasure from the suffering of her victims with poison. She killed two of her husbands, her mother, and a neighbor. Her choice of poison was arsenic because she was a drug addict herself.
She was also the first woman in America to be executed by lethal injection (Atasoy, 2010).
White-collar Psychopaths
Some people can be distinguished from others because of their peculiar behaviors, manners and life styles, these people have a tendency to be considered as having problems and being abnormal. Some people seem completely normal; they are well educated; have a god job, good position in their work place and a high salary; these people are referred to as having whitecollars, however they are psychopaths; psychopaths with white collars. George Bernard Shaw received a letter that was related to the robber of John Grambling Jr. form New York district attorney. This man had cheated many banks by gaining their trust and causing them to lose millions. Grambling used his charming and mysterious characteristics to manipulate others.
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Although Grambling’s behaviors and actions meet the criteria of psychopathy, it was obvious that he does did commit brutal and violent crimes like others, these types of crimes are called whitecollar crimes. These individuals have a smile on their faces, they are very attractive, their voice tone has great confidence the only thing missing is the warning bells around their necks. They use their education, their social relationships, and the most common thing they do is to take people’s money without using violence. They do not use their manipulating characteristics with only money but also with their families, relatives, friends and the justice system. White-collar criminals have a tendency to stay out of criminal penalties and prisons, and just to continue doing their work (Robert & Hare, 2006). Prosecuting attorney Brian Rosner comments on Grambling’s criminal situation and says; “He desired to use power over the lives and fortunes of others. He has destroyed careers and dreams causing great harm to the society. He caused immeasurable suffering and psychological damage. Even if his tools are polite his instincts are wild as much as an animal.” (Robert & Hare, 2006) Psychopaths can become investment advisors, doctors, lawyers, and psychologists. They are everywhere, some in prison and some among us…
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