We know that psychopaths lack remorse, empathy, ethics, and a conscience. They lie with absolute clarity for whatever appeases them and their lifestyle. They are almost like an unscrupulous chameleon showing their mask of normalcy for most of the world to see, but wait for the opportunity to strike out against unsuspecting victims.
Crime seems to be a logical choice for many of these types of individuals – of course not all. I think it’s extremely important to study the habits and signatures of psychopaths in relation to crimes being committed. That means all types of crimes, not just the violent ones. There is much more to learn about this “subculture” of our society. If we pay close attention, psychopaths will allow us glimpses into their personality and impulses.
- The recidivism rate of psychopaths is approximately double compared to other offenders.
- The violent recidivism rate of psychopaths is approximately triple compared to other offenders.
- Psychopaths are responsible for more than 50% of the serious crimes committed.
- According to the 1992 study by the FBI, 44% of offenders who killed police officers were psychopaths.
- Psychopaths are more likely to commit violent crimes both in and out of prison.
It seems for the most part, criminals have some type of code among themselves, but psychopaths don’t show any loyalty to groups, codes, or principles.
How can this type of individual that lacks impulse control that has an egocentric view of the world be successful at committing crimes?
Many of them commit crimes ranging in a broad spectrum of embezzlement, theft, assault, extortion, armed robbery, murder, and crimes against the state such as espionage, treason, and terrorism.
Psychopaths have an uncanny readiness to take advantage of any situation. They have a combination of lack of internal control, namely a conscience, and living for the moment that makes for a perfect formula of crime.
Why you ask, do I prefer to study and write about such individuals?
I find it fascinating that a group of people can cause so much distress among all areas of society. I believe that there’s more to learn and that we’ve just scratched the surface into their motivations and impulsive nature. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any shortage of psychopaths for study.
You can read how I incorporated this type of behavior into my EMILY STONE THRILLER SERIES.
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More articles to explore:
Are There Two Varieties of Psychopaths?
Can Brain Scans Really Show Specific Abnormalities in Psychopaths?
Psychopaths Hide Behind a Mask of Normalcy
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Author Jennifer Chase 
I think that to understand the psychopath we have to make a comparison with the individual who is at the other end of the spectrum of psychological health.
A fully psychologically healthy individual (the rarity of all rarities amongst adults) has no impairment to their capacity for love, i.e. open, honest, spontaneous and generous communication with their fellows.
What impairs our capacity for love is our character armour, those rigid habits of thought or behaviour which we adopt as a protection against perceived threats from outside ourselves and from inside ourselves, in the form of powerful repressed aggressive or sexual feelings.
The psychopath the opposite of the healthy loving individual. They are closed. They are liars. They’re behaviour is strictly controlled most of the time. And they are selfish.
The key to being a healthy loving individual is to be free from fear. This is something over which we don’t always have complete control, but the nature of our thinking can reduce fear greatly even in dangerous situations.
If the psychopath is the opposite of the loving individual it follows that the psychopathic character structure is a fear based addiction. This may seem unlikely if our concept of fear is its passive form, i.e. anxiety. Psychopaths are often very calm. But fear also takes an active form. When we engage in defensive or aggressive behaviour we are motivated by fear even when the defensive strategy or the aggressive behaviour is effective enough to keep us from consciously feeling that fear. If the psychopath defensive character armour could be removed we would see the naked fear which underlies it.
Our behaviour in adulthood consists of strategies we learned in childhood. We can imagine the kind of childhood which would lead an individual to feel such fear and adopt such drastic defences against it.
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Psychopaths definitely have several missing links. The most important, I believe, is a conscience. It’s not that they don’t know the difference between right and wrong, they don’t care.
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Reblogged this on syndax vuzz.
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