Psychopathy in Serial Killers and Political Crime
- 1 PsychClinic P/L, London, UK
Abstract
Serial killers or mass-murders had always been subject of interest for the science (criminology, sociology, psychiatry, psychology, etc.), as well as those individuals in power responsible for the crimes against humanity. Such psychopaths usually receive enormous attention by the media, but also by a public in general. Relation between psychopathy and crime is a quite controversial—not every psychopath is a criminal; neither every criminal is a psychopath. This may sound a discouraging preamble in the study of psychopathy and crimes. Even more discouraging to the forensic psychiatrists and psychologists is the fact that the most courts view psychopathy with a profound suspicion, regarding it often as a piece of the psychiatric flummery designed to frustrate their prerogative of sentencing confirmed offenders.
- American Psychiatric Association APA (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Washington DC: APA. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
- Appelbaum, P. S. (2013). Imposed Insanity Defences and Political Crimes. Psychiatric Services, 1, 4-6. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.640102
- Babiak, P., & Hare, R. D. (2006). Snakes in Suit: When Psychopath Goes to Work. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
- Babiak, P., Newman, C., & Hare, R. D. (2010). Corporate Psychopathy: Talking the Walk. Behavioural Science and Law, 28, 174-193. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.925
- Blair, R. J. R. (2006). Psychopathy: Emotion and the Brain. New York, NY: Willey-Blackwell.
- Cleckley, H. C. (1982). The Mask of Sanity (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Medical Library.
- DeLisi, M. (2009). Psychopathy Is the United Theory of Crime. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 3, 256-273. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204009333834
- Ellard, J. (1989). Some Rules for Killing People. London: Angus & Robertson.
- Fromm, E. (1974). The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. London: Jonathan Cape.
- Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Standard Edition 19). Vienna, London: Hogarth Press.
- Gao, Y., & Raine, A. (2010). Successful and Unsuccessful Psychopaths: A Neurobiological Model. Behavioural Science and Law, 28, 194-210. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.924
- Glover, E. (1960). The Roots of Crime. London: Imago Publishing.
- Hare, R. D. (1970). Psychopathy: Theory and Research. New York, NY: John Willey & Sons.
- Hare, R. D. (1993). Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths among Us. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
- Hare, R. D., & Newman, C. (2009). Psychopathy: Assessment and Forensic Implications. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 4, 217-246. https://doi.org/10.1177/070674370905401202
- Iria, C., & Barbosa, F. (2009). Perception of Facial Expression of Fear: Comparative Research with Criminal and Noncriminal Psychopaths. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, 20, 66-73. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789940802214218
- Jenkins, R. L. (1960). The Psychopathic or Antisocial Personality. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 131, 318-334. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005053-196010000-00005