Transcript Psychopaths

Psychopath (Turvey, 2008)
• A social predator who often charms and
manipulates his or her way through life.
Psychopaths are completely lacking in
conscience and in feelings for others,
taking what they want and doing as they
please without the slightest sense of
guilt or regret.
Primary (true) psychopaths
• Primary psychopaths are usually not
volcanically explosive, violent, or
extremely destructive. They are more apt
to be outgoing, charming, and verbally
proficient. They may be criminals but
many are not. (non-violent)
Criminal Psychopaths
• Criminal psychopath => to identify those
primary psychopaths who engage in
repetitive antisocial or criminal behavior.
• Our interest area
More terms on psychopaths
• Secondary psychopaths commit
antisocial or violent acts because of
severe emotional problems or inner
conflicts. (violent)
• Media often refers to these persons as
“psychopathic killers”.
Examples of psychopaths
• The late Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr.
=> forged documents and tried dozens of
occupations
no high school graduation
Derma
• U.S. navy with forged documents => in
danger of exposure via security check
• He obtained the credentials of a Dr. French,
who held a Harvard Ph D in psychology.
• Fake suicide => leaving his clothes near a
pier and a note “this is the only way out”
• Became Dr. French => obtained a dean of
philosophy in a Canadian college,
successfully taught psychology courses.
Derma
• Friendship with a physician, Joseph Cyr,
learned the basics of medicine from their
conversation.
• Borrowed and duplicated his documents.
• Participated in a navy as Dr. Cyr.
• During the Korean War, he was dispatched
to the place. He had no experience, but he
saved three emergency patients and other
16 patients in a night.
Derma
• Successful, so his story was broadcasted.
Dr. Cyr watched it.
• Exposed. => discharged from the navy.
• An example of a psychopath who did
not engage in serious or lifelong crime.
Behavioral descriptions
• Charming and verbally fluent
• Higher on intelligence tests
• Psychopaths are not mentally disordered
by traditional standards.
• Other traits
Offending Patterns
of Criminal Psychopaths
• Responsible for more than ½ of deaths
of law enforcement officers.
• Likely to be more violent, brutal,
unconventional, and sadistic.
• More likely than other offenders to
derive pleasure from both the nonsexual
and sexual suffering of others.
Murders and Assaults
nonpsychopaths
• During domestic dispute
• Extreme emotional
arousal
• Toward women they
know well
• Rapists – sexual
motivation
psychopaths
• Revenge or retribution,
or during drinking
• Toward men who are
strangers
• Rapists – “nonsexual
motivation” such as
anger, and sadism. They
rapes as an expression
of hate and anger.
Sadism in children rapes
• The sadistic offender finds pleasure in
hurting the child. Sexuality becomes an
expression of domination and anger. The
victim’s fear, torment, distress, and
suffering are important and exciting to
the sadistic pedophile…… His intention is
to hurt, degrade, defile, or destroy the
child. Sexuality and power are in the
service of anger. (Grandiose sense of self)
A sexual psychopath – Ted Bundy
• Within his arm in a cast – attract women.
• Attack the women.
• While the women were unconscious or
semiconscious, he would then commit gross sexual
acts, including anal assault. Bundy bit various body
parts, sometimes biting off a victim’s nipples. He
killed the victims by strangulation. He mutilated and
decapitated their bodies. He would leave the bodies
in secluded spots and return to them after several
days to commit necrophilic acts such as ejaculating
into the mouth of a disembodied head.
• He could exercise complete control over their
corpses.
Use of the PCL-R
• Gacono contends that the PCL-R is an
essential tool in studying, treating, and
managing offender populations.
Uses and Benefits of the PCL-R
• Prescreening
• Identify high-risk offenders for
treatment and management purposes
• Protection of staff
• In maintaining security protection of
non-psychopathic inmates
• Assessment of community risk upon
release and public safety.
Criminal Justice Implications
• It has been proposed that the PCL-R be
used to increase public safety:
- In sentencing violent offenders
- In parole decision-making
- to preventively detain
- to screen for treatment
- to enhance supervision levels
Psychopathy in Criminal Law
• What have the courts decided regarding
how psychopathy can be used in these
different matters of criminal law?
- witness credibility
- Competency to stand trial
- Habitual offender laws
- Sexual psychopathy/ Sexual predator laws
- Death penalty
- Juvenile transfer to adult courts
Psychopathy in Civil Law
- Child custody
- Civil commitment
- Civil suits
discussion
• Do you agree that the PCL-R is a
promising tool to enhance public safety?
• What are the ethical issues in the
application of psychopathy to legal and
correctional realms?
• The relevance between psychopathy
policy and the influencing factors in
making policies we learned still now.