I can pinpoint almost the exact moment my interest in the workings of the criminal mind - murderers, to be exact; of the singular, serial, spree and mass varieties - began: I was ten years old and, up in Bootle near Liverpool, a two year old boy had been abducted from his mother inside a shopping centre. When his battered, mutilated body was found two days later lying on a railway line, it sent a collective shock wave and shudder of horror through the country; when, six days later, it was announced that two ten year old boys were being charged with murder, it felt as though the whole country was once more paralysed with shock. The two boys were, given the severity of the crime, to be tried as adults; during the trial, prosecutors had to make sure both defendants understood the differences between right and wrong; that what they had done was wrong. Bewildered, I turned to my mother and said: "but I'm ten and I know that killing someone is wrong!" Voila - the seed of my fascination was sown.
Fast forward almost twenty years and my interest in the workings of the minds of murderers has, if anything, only deepened. As a child I didn't really understand what it was that so bewitched me about it but, even though my fascination with criminal psychology has often made people look at me as if I'm the one who should be locked up somewhere, it remains an enduring mystery to me: I like knowing what makes people tick, and I want to know why some people feel the need to take the life of another human being; what thought processes they go through to come to the conclusion that this is an okay thing to do. I fully appreciate the fact this makes me weird in the eyes of most people, especially when I've caught myself on occasion shouting at newsreaders because they called someone a serial killer when it's blatantly obvious that, technically, they were a spree killer (and I still can't believe I got quite so pedantic over it, but it's the principle of the thing), but it is what it is, and it's as much a part of me as my blue eyes or my belly button. And the one thing that really, really gets me about the whole serial/spree/mass murderer thing is the fact that most of them are so gosh-darn-nice and normal. I know it's something of a cliche that whenever someone somewhere is arrested for such terrible deeds there's always an interview with a friend or neighbour expressing their shock and amazement at such a revelation because, "he was such a lovely man/we used to talk over the fence all the time/he'd wash his car every Sunday/we used to walk the kids to school together" etc etc, but the fact is the majority of these men (and it is usually men) are so adept at appearing "normal". Christ, how else do you think the likes of Ted Bundy were able to go on being so 'successful' for so long; as a young woman would you rather get into a car with someone who looks like a total maniac or with a guy who looks like Mr All-Round American Golden Boy? It's not exactly a contest, and it's exactly why these so-called 'organised' killers are often so difficult to catch (at least until they get cocky about their success and then do something patently obvious and stupid, thus making it easy for the authorities to track them down. The 'disorganised' offenders are the ones who are most likely to bludgeon you over the head from behind and drag you half into the bushes, usually leaving something obvious like their DNA all over you before running off down the road covered in blood, so the police can quickly apprehend them and put them away before anyone else gets hurt; the 'organised' offenders, however, are the ones you see walking their kids to school, holding down a steady job and generally being the type of person who makes you go "really?!!" when the police kick their door in at 3am and haul them away before digging up the six bodies he'd buried under the children's sandpit. These are also the ones most likely to be psychopaths or, to a lesser extent, sociopaths (more of the difference anon...)
The reason for this blog post is that today, whilst braving the wilds of Tesco in search of something edible for dinner, I made a detour to the book section and picked up a brilliant book called "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson, the man responsible for the bizarre book "The Men Who Stare At Goats". By turns hysterically funny and utterly terrifying, I am completely and utterly fascinated with this book because it takes the concept of the psychopath and draws the startling conclusion that not all of these individuals are going around killing people in a general display of indifference to basic humanitarian values but are, in fact, the leaders of huge multinational corporations and earning millions of dollars for doing so. Now this idea isn't new, not by a long shot, but this is the first book I've read on the subject that puts the concept of psychopathy into 'laymans terms'. The mind is a complex and fascinating place which we, as humans, understand relatively little about; even the greatest neuro-scientists the world has to offer admit there is much more about the brain and its inner workings they don't understand than things that they do, but what goes on 'up there' - especially in cases which are perceived as 'abnormal' - holds unending fascination for many people. The fact that many people in positions of power seem to share similar traits to psychopathic murderers is, then, quite a sobering one...
Psychopaths and sociopaths share several traits which often make it difficult for people to distinguish between the two. Both psychopaths and sociopaths have some form of Antisocial Personality Disorder which makes it difficult for them to show empathy towards others (although sociopaths can form attachments to people and will feel some form of remorse if they do anything to hurt that person, whereas a psychopath may form a relationship because it's the 'normal' thing to do but show no remorse or concern whatsoever if they do anything to hurt that person). Psychopaths are organised to the point of obsession and are often highly successful individuals with steady jobs and and family; sociopaths, on the other hand, find it hard to hold down a job or relationship and is less capable of thinking things through - where the psychopath understands human emotions and uses that knowledge to manipulate people to his/her own advantage, the sociopath lashes out wildly if angered and doesn't consider the consequences. Psychopaths are keenly aware that what they are doing is wrong but just don't care, even going so far as to marry and have children to appear 'normal' to the rest of society; sociopaths struggle in social situations and are more fretful, anxious and easily agitated. A psychopath is more likely to be an 'organised' offender, plotting and planning their crimes and how to avoid detection for years in some cases, whereas the less stable sociopath is often classed as 'disorganised' and is more easily caught. Criminologists, law enforcement agencies and psychologists have been discussing and debating the differences and similarities between the two groups for many years without reaching definitive conclusions, so nothing is cut and dried in these matters; however its far more likely that the millionaire CEO of that bank or multinational corporation is going to be a psychopath - a sociopath just wouldn't have the skills to attain such status.
In the early 1990's Robert Hare, a Canadian psychologist and researcher, devised the Psychopathy Checklist; a series of 20 items which are scored either 0 (if they don't apply to an individual), 1 (if they partially apply) or 2 (if they apply fully). There are two factors; those which relate to personality and those which relate to lifestyle, as well as four traits which don't apply to either. The higher you score, the more likely it is that you're a psychopath, but as this could obviously have negative consequences on a persons life the test is only to be administered by a trained psychologist. It's also the reason I'm not going to list the items and the scoring here. I don't for one second think that anyone I know is a psychopath, but you can;t be too careful these days...as Nighwish once said, "it's not the monsters under your bed, it is the man next door that makes you fear..."
Sleep well, everybody! :P And I heartily recommend you check out Jon Ronson's book - it's definitely food for thought...
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