Artigo Revisado por pares

Negotiating with Psychopaths: Coping with a Medical-Legal Conundrum

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 6; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/19361610.2011.529544

ISSN

1936-1629

Autores

H. H. A. Cooper, Brooke E. Penn,

Tópico(s)

Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending

Resumo

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size The authors acknowledge their gratitude to the staff of the Dallas Public Library System, without whose generous assistance many of the sources cited could not have been consulted. Notes 1. The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless v. The Rest of Us, Martha Stout, New York: Broadway Books, 2005, page 13. The term sociopath, coined by Dr. G. E. Partridge in 1930, is still far from gaining unanimous professional usage or approval despite its sanctification in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. 2. “The Super-Ordinate Nature of the Psychopathy Checklist Revised,” Journal of Personality Disorders, Volume 21, pages 102–117, 2007, published by The Guildford Press, at page 113. No writing on this topic can be considered complete without reference to Dr. Hare's seminal text, Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us. New York: Pocket Books, 1993. 3. No serious discussion on meaning can avoid reference to the oft-cited exchange between Humpty Dumpty and Alice in that remarkable work of the incomparable C. L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), logician and writer of whimsy. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more or less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that's all.” Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There: The Annotated Alice, New York: World Publishing Company, 1971, page 269. See, also, Diez Ensayos Sobre el Common Law, H. H. A. Cooper, Lima, Peru: Editorial Universe, 1967, page 17. “Crime Control and the Deterrence Perspective,” H. H. A. Cooper, Criminology, and Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 11, August 1973, pages 161–182. 4. See the interesting annotation by Martin Gardner, citing Dodgson's Symbolic Logic: “… I maintain that any writer of a book is fully authorized in attaching any meaning he likes to any word or phrase he intends to use. If I find an author saying at the beginning of his book ‘Let it be understood that by the word ‘black’ I shall always mean ‘white,’ and that by the word ‘white’ I shall always mean ‘black,’’ I shall accept his ruling, however injudicious I may think it.” Op. cit. supra note 3, ibid. For more in-depth view of this important issue, see The Meaning of Meaning, 8th edition, C. K. Ogden and L. A. Richards, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanonich, 1946, especially Chapter VI, “The Theory of Definition.” In the present context, this discussion raises issues beyond the definition of psychopath. A fundamental debate affecting the place of psychopathy in the realm of criminal justice is developing around the meaning of “mind” and its association with the brain. This goes to the heart of criminal responsibility. For the most controversial examination of this, see “Mind, Brain, and the Problem of Responsibility,” Thomas Szasz, Society, May/June, 2000. Dr. Szasz observed, “Meaning is grounded in culture, memory, and language, not in an imaginary mind/brain.” 5. See “Terrorism: The Problem of Definition Revisited,” H. H. A. Cooper, American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 44, February 2001, pages 881–893. 6. “Because it is difficult to define or identify a psychopath, the label, “psychopathic personality” can be applied to almost anyone.” Principles of Criminology, E. H. Sutherland and D. R. Cressey, 8th edition, 1970, page 159. 7. Pinel (1806), Rush (1812), and Pritchard (1835). See J. Stuart Whitely, “Concepts of Psychopathy and Its Treatment,” Medico-Legal Journal, 1967, volume 39, on page 154. See, also, The Human Predator, Katherine Ramsland, New York: Berkley, 2005, pages 73, 188, and 254. This is a useful, ambitious text. The necessary brevity of some of its entries should inspire specialists to investigate further those cases of particular relevance to their concerns. It does contain a few minor errors that hardly detract from its overall value. 8. The term sociopath is generally attributed to Dr. G. E. Partridge. Dr. Ramsland observed, “By 1968, for psychiatrists, the term “sociopath” used to describe people like Manson and Puth, had officially yielded to ‘personality disorder, anti-social type.’” Op. cit. supra note 7, page 174. 9. For the crisis situations envisaged here, the well-prepared security department endowed with the appropriate resources will have properly trained and equipped negotiators as point-persons. These will be supported, as needed, by a variety of specialists on call for intelligence, linguistics, communications, and other advice. 10. Professor F. W. Maitland observed, “That which the law is unable to regulate, it must necessarily prohibit absolutely.” The History of English Law, Pollock and Maitland, Vol. II, page 574. See, also, Ideology and Crime, Leon Radzinowicz, London: Heinemann, 1966, pages 1–28. 11. A leading text on criminal justice concisely highlights the problem in discussing mans rea: “The intent requirement is complex. Neither court decisions nor scholarly legal writings provide an easily understood meaning. The intent requirement may vary from crime to crime, but it is clear that some kind of intent must be present in order for an act to constitute a crime.” Criminal Justice, 7th edition, Sue Titus Reid, Cincinnati, OH: Atomic Dog Publishing, 2005, page 15. See, too, by the same author, a fine review of psychological theories of criminal behavior in her Crime and Criminology, 12th edition, New York: Oxford University Press, 2009, at pages 78–82. 12. See the extraordinarily confident assumptions of one professional, Dr. Keith Ablow. At the beginning of his slender book, Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005, he declared: “As a forensic psychiatrist, I have not only treated extremely violent people but have testified in many murder trials about exactly what happens in the minds of men and women who kill. I have told juries precisely how murderers are created, what they feel inside, and what they think in their private moments.” Although Dr. Ablow's professional reputation rests on the credibility of what he avers, we may appeal to the authority of others, no less professional in their own fields whose life and liberty depend upon the accuracy of their appraisals. See the remarkable book, Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob, Kevin Weeks with Phyllis Karas, New York: Regan Books, HarperCollins, 2006, page 137: “Jimmie [Whitey, still at large] trusted Stevie [Flemni, a vicious, incarcerated psychopath] but he always said that he never knew what Stevie was thinking.” They carried out many horrendous criminal activities over 20 years. See, too, Author's Note, page XV: “For more than twenty years that I was associated with James “Whitey” Bulger, despite that fact that we were together nearly every day for hours at a time, I was unaware that he was leading a dual existence.” 13. This word, wrong, on which so much relative to psychopathy depends, derives from the leading English case M’Naghten, 8 Eng. Rep. 718, 722 (H.L. 1843). Professor Reid asks, “Does wrong mean knowing that an act is legally wrong, morally wrong, or both? For these and other reasons, the M’Naghten rule is criticized frequently.” Criminal Law, 5th edition, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2001, page 103. Professor Alfred Korzybski wrote: “Our life problems have always been ‘solved’ by verbalists and rhetorical metaphysicians who cleverly played with vague words and who always ignored the supremely important matter of dimensions because they were ignorant of it. There was no possible way to arrive at an agreement on the significance of words, or even the understanding of them. Let us take, for instance, such words as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or ‘truth;’ volumes upon volumes have been written about them; no one has reached any result universally acceptable; the effect has been to multiply warring schools of philosophy—sectarians and partisans. In the meantime, something corresponding to each of the terms ‘good,’ ‘bad,’ and ‘truth’ exists as a matter of fact; but what that something is still awaits scientific determination.” Manhood of Humanity, 2nd edition, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1950, page 25. 14. See Schizophrenia, Ed. Scott Barbour, San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 2002. 15. In the case of Scott Peterson, diagnosed unequivocally by Dr. Keith Ablow as a psychopath, op. cit. supra note 12, it would have been difficult for counsel even more ingenious than Mark Geragos to have argued that his client, after attaching concrete weights to his pregnant wife and tipping her into the waters of San Francisco Bay, did not know what he was doing. Denial, rather than the insanity defense, was the only one believable. Judge Catherine Crier observed: “Scott seems to display many of the textbook qualities of a sociopath.” Deadly Game, New York: HarperCollins, 2005, page XI. 16. See the instructive case of “Ken,” The Psychopathic Killer, in the excellent work by the experienced forensic psychiatrist, Martin Blinder, Lovers, Killers, Husbands, and Wives, New York: St. Martin's Press (reviewed by the senior author here in The Journal of Psychiatry and Law, Spring/Summer 1986, pages 225–234). 17. This can only be truly appreciated by a careful review of the leading cases in which this issue has fallen to be considered. It may be taken that this is an ongoing debate. 18. For an interesting extensive discussion from a certain sociological perspective, see Social Control at the Margins: Toward a General Understanding of Deviance, David P. Adayjir, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1990, pages 130–160. 19. Martha Stout, op. cit. supra note 1, page 82. “… most identified criminals are not psychopaths.” 20. Stout, op. cit. supra note 1, page 6 and pages 219–220. 21. Op. cit. supra note 14, “Defining schizophrenia,” National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), page 14 is given as 1% of the general population. 22. The classic case is perhaps T. E. Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia. A study of the extensive literature about this controversial figure reveals many of the core characteristics of the psychopath; his propensity for lying is well attested, even by one who otherwise admired him, Charlotte Shaw, “… he is such an INFERNAL liar,” cited by Phillip Knightley and Colin Simpson in The Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia, London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, Ltd., 1969, page 215. See, also, “Deceit and Deception at Deraa,” H. H. A. Cooper, Tactical Response and Security, Vol. 7, 1995, pages 31–39. 23. Judge Crier, op. cit. supra note 15, writes on page XI: “Sociopathic behavior can be found anywhere in our society; some of the most successful CEOs in our country could be classified as having sociopathic tendencies.” 24. The use of the definite article, here, should not be taken to imply a single, discrete category distinguishable by a display of all elements in common. There are many different kinds of psychopath, among them the inadequate, the covetous, the narcissistic, the sexual, and the extremely violent. Each subset presents its own distinctive challenges. 25. Op. cit. supra note 1, page 19. See, also, The Gift of Fear, Gavin de Becker, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1997, page 52. “Conscience, Empathy, and Their Partners, Morality and Ethics, Are Not Inborn Qualities.” 26. Op. cit. supra note 1 on page 33. 27. See the excellent clinical material of Dr. Theodore Nadelson, Trained To Kill: Soldiers at War, Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2005. 28. Richard Rhodes, in Why They Kill, New York: Knopf, 1995, his extensive commentary and analysis on the work of Dr. Lonnie Athens, cites Case 35: “The philosophy that I followed was that you do whatever you want to do and how you want to do it, and fuck everything and everybody else,” page 217. 29. Nowhere, perhaps, is this better illustrated than in the criminal career of Gary Gilmore, a poster boy for psychopathy, as brilliantly documented in The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979. “I’m impulsive. Don't plan. Don't think,” page 798. (Reviewed by the senior author here in The Journal of Psychiatry and Law, Spring 1981, pages 111–119.) 30. Whether or not Patricia Cornwell's identification of the artist Walter Sickert as Jack the Ripper is accepted, she certainly makes out a strong case for Sickert the psychopath. Before taking up painting, at which he excelled, he was an actor under the name of Mr. Nemo. He never lost his passion for the stage. Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed, New York: Putnam, 2002. 31. Cornwell op. cit. supra note 30: “They have no concept of guilt. They have no conscience.” The serial killer Henry Lee Lucas confessed to more than 100 murders, few of which could, on careful investigation, be definitely attributed to him. 32. The remarkable criminal progression of John Robinson (the women in the barrels) is testimony to this. See Anyone You Want Me to Be: A True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet, John Douglas and Stephen Singular, New York: Scribner, 2003. “His ability to be different people in different situations was exceptional,” page 65. He learned his computer skills in prison while serving time for earlier offenses. 33. Most clinical encounters are relatively brief, even supplemented with other evidence they can rarely be relied upon to provide a really penetrating portrait. Patricia Cornwell is an experienced observer. After witnessing the trial of John Royster, she confessed, “Had I met Royster in Central Park and seen him flash his silver smile at me as I jogged by, I would not have felt the slightest breath of fear.” He had killed and raped four women in broad daylight. Op. cit. supra note 30, page 27. Stout, op. cit. supra note 1, on page 104. “Apart from knowing someone well for many years, there is no fool-proofing rule or litmus test for trustworthiness.” Trustworthiness and psychopathy are a contradiction in terms. The psychopath becomes the personification of his or her own lies. 34. See “Negotiating With Terrorists,” H.H.A. Cooper, Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, Vol. 1, 2001, pages 53–67, on page 57. 35. See, on mendacity, generally, Lies! Lies! Lies! The Psychology of Deceit, Charles V. Ford, M.D., Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1996. See, especially, Chapter 7 and 8. A remarkable story of a lie lived out for 20 years, culminating in murder, is told in penetrating detail by the talented French writer Emmanuel Carrère, The Adversary, New York: Holt, 2000, pages 82–83. “A lie usually serves to conceal a truth, something shameful perhaps. His concealed nothing. 36. See Blinder, op. cit. supra note 16, on page 164. 37. Crier, op. cit. supra note 15, on page 193, “will this benefit me or not?” and page 189 “… he would say or do whatever was necessary to ensure his self-preservation.” 38. “The magician's audience gives itself over to belief; if it sees deception, so be it, it is entertained.” Making Spies: A Talent Spotter's Handbook, H. H. A. Cooper and Lawrence J. Redlinger, Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1986, page 101. 39. Sexual psychopaths, in particular, are avid readers of accounts of those who have preceded them, some like Ted Bundy are even eager to offer their own commentary and analysis. See, too, Inside the Mind of BTK, John Douglas and Johnny Dodd, New York: Wiley, 2007. Dr. Douglas has not only convincingly demonstrated that there is life after a near-death experience but that there is even life after the renowned Behavioral Science Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 40. Most are acutely aware that psychopathy, far from being a legal excuse or ameliorating factor has virtually no application in the realms of insanity defense. This is what makes the Ablow reference at note 12 especially curious, viz: “This book is an extended version of what I would have told the jury as an expert witness had I been called to testify in the Scott Peterson murder trail … At the end of my testimony, Mark Geragos, Scott's Peterson's attorney would have asked me whether I believed his client was insane. My answer, with medical certainty, would have been yes.” The doyen of all matters relating to psychopathy, Dr. Hervey M. Cleckley wrote, without equivocation, “The word insane, of course, is not a medical term.” The Mask of Sanity, St. Louis: Mosby, 1955, 3rd edition, page 19. Blinder, op. cit. supra note 16, on page 146 gives an illustration from the transcript of his examination-in-chief in an actual trial, in which he appeared as a defense expert: “Could she premeditate or form malice?” “I can't answer that very well—those are legal questions requiring a legal answer from the jury.” “Was she insane?” “That, too, is a legal question that I must leave to the jury.” 41. Despite the difficulties posed by the requirements of the insanity defense, psychopaths are rarely at a loss to find exculpatory explanations for their behavior. The most common, in one form or another is that of “possession” by a demon or evil spirit. Typical is that advanced by Rader, first in his clandestine correspondence after his earliest crimes, blaming their commission on “factor X” or, later, “Rex.” See, on this, BTK: Unholy Messenger, Stephen Singular, New York: Scribner, 2006. However well this defense is structured, and psychopaths can be persuasive, there are few takers. Denial, is still the best default option, as in the Scott Peterson case. That it can still be practiced, by psychopaths (and others involved with them) is demonstrated by an incident related by Dr. Hare. See, “Suffering Souls: The Search for the Roots of Psychopathy,” John Seabrook, The New Yorker, November 10, 2008, pages 64–73, on page 72. 42. On Berkowitz, the 44 Caliber killer, “Son of Sam” claimed to have been sent on his killing spree by the voice of “demons” that he could not resist. For an excellent account and commentary, see Hunting Humans: The Rise of the Modern Multiple Murderer, Elliott Leyton, New York: Penguin, 1986, page 185 et seq. Berkowitz, following his conviction, confessed that his “explanations,” so complicated and bizarre, had been a hoax designed to lay the groundwork for an insanity defense. See, too, the pictures accompanying Dr. Ramsland's text, op. cit. supra note 7, especially that of the wide-eyed Charles Manson putting his tongue out at reporters. The senior editor had the pleasure and privilege of knowing one of the arresting officers, Detective Robert Magnuson, of the New York Police Department, later Director of Security, OxyChem, Dallas, who furnished some interesting, unpublished details. 43. There is a tendency for those who have been acquainted with a psychopath, suddenly revealed as one capable of some horrendous crime, to resist belief even in the face of irrefutable evidence: “that was not the person I knew all those years.” This is not only evidence of the psychopath's ability to deceive, but also an understandable, human, unwillingness to confess to having been fooled. See the shrewd observations of the knowledgeable crime writer, Ann Rule, on Ted Bundy in The Stranger Beside Me, New York: W.W. Norton, 1980. 44. The Mask is worn by the psychopath with great conviction, it is an important part of his stock in trade, his equipment. Discussing other kinds of mental disorders, Cleckley observed, “The psychopath's outer mask of mechanically correct peripheral functioning is immeasurably more deceptive.” Op. cit. supra note 40, on page 437. 45. The incarcerated psychopath is often enough the model inmate, especially if good behavior seems likely to be rewarded with early release. During his earlier imprisonment, doctors seem to have been grossly deceived by John Robinson, whose capacity “to be different people in different situations was exceptional.” His potential for harm on a serious scale was completely misjudged by his practiced art of concealment. See Douglas and Singular, op. cit. supra note 32, on page 65. 46. Crier, op. cit. supra note 15, on page 65, comments that Scott Peterson had “… an inflated sense of self-worth” and “… he thought himself very bright.” Bundy's estimation of his own forensic abilities certainly contributed in large measure to his final downfall. Ann Rule observes, op. cit. supra note 43, on page 289, “It was important to his sense of worth. To be an important defendant with a famous attorney could be dealt with; to be stuck with public defenders was more a blow to his ego than to his life.” 47. The modern psychopath, especially the serial killer steeped in the literature of his predecessors, would do well to realize that the saga of Jack the Ripper and even some criminals of the mid-20th century is no longer a useful business model. Modern policing has greater technical resources and a better understanding of this type of criminality. Indeed, the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. has turned its studies of the criminal psychopath into something of an art form so as to exploit to advantage the narcissistic weaknesses of those such as Rader. See Bind, Torture, Kill: The Story of the Serial Killer Next Door, Roy Wenzl, Tim Potter, Hurst Laviana, and L. Kelly, New York: HarperCollins, 2007. 48. Cleckley, op. cit. supra note 40, on page 395. “The psychopath is always distinguished by egocentricity. This is usually of a degree not seen in ordinary people and is little short of astonishing.” 49. “Once he spotted weaknesses—and there are weaknesses inside every human system and every human being—he knew what to do next.” John Robinson, op. cit. supra note 32, on page 68. 50. See “Spychology: The Human Side of the Gentle Art of Espionage,” H. H. A. Cooper, Chitty's Law Journal, Vol. 29, October 1981, pages 251–259, especially page 254. Rader, asked what he thought about BTK, replied, “The killer was like a lone wolf, kind of like a spy or something.” Op. cit. supra note 47, on page 271. 51. For the development of these boundaries, see “Hostage Rights: Laws and Practice in Throes of Evolution,” H. H. A. Cooper, Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, Vol. 15, Winter 1983, pages 81–125. 52. See Hostage Negotiations: Options and Alternatives, H. H. A. Cooper, Gaithersburg, MD: International Association of Chiefs of Police, 1977. 53. Recalling Judge Crier's observation at note 23 supra, there is something in this akin to the pursuit of high finance. See Never Enough, Joe McGinnis, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. 54. Chapter 10, the case of Pierre in Cleckley, op. cit. supra note 40, is worthy of close study for this issue of rationality. The psychopath is prone to behavior that is inexplicable to him- or herself. Nothing, perhaps, is more revealing than the statement, page 109, “I just didn't think what I was doing.” To Gilmore, it was said once, “Gary, you have a high I.Q., but you do not have a drop of common sense.” Op. cit. supra note 29, on page 51. In the abstract, a psychopath may resolve problems rationally but, as Cleckley observed, page 394, “When the test of action comes to him we soon find ample evidence of his deficiency.” 55. Mailer, op. cit. supra note 29, on page 692, the killings for which he went to the firing squad, “… didn't make any sense.” The peculiar reasoning of the psychopath receives chilling illustration in the words of Bundy: “What's one less person on the face of the earth anyway?” Op. cit. supra note 42, page 87. “On May 10, 1996, appearing on the U.S. TV show 60 Minutes, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, was presented with a figure of half a million children under the age of 5 years having died from the sanction imposed on Iraq. Without challenging the statistic, Albright replied, ‘We think the price is worth it.’” Cited by Professor Bruce Lawrence, Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, New York: Verso, 2005, page 40. 56. This is particularly the case of Rader who, having escaped justice more than some 30 years, had come to think of himself as invulnerable and in perfect control of his own situation. He even spoke of “… shutting this stuff down in about a year… I might do another hit and I might not do another hit.” Fortunately, through excellent police work, he was denied the choice. Op. cit. supra note 47, on page 276. 57. Op. cit. supra note 29, “Gary had a problem. No patience.” See, also, Cleckley, op. cit. supra note 40, on pages 522–523, discussing the legal implications of irresistible impulse. 58. See Ann Rule, op. cit. supra note 43, on Bundy: “In considering a place to run back to in December, 1977, Ted might have done well to consider other factors beyond the weather,” page 290. And, page 330, “He had deliberately walked into the jaws of death. Why?” In Brothers in Blood, New York: Scribner, 1977, Ovid Deman's recounts Andreas Baader's toothache at age 12: “He said he wanted to test how much pain he could endure,” page 223. 59. See “Psychopath as Terrorist,” H. H. A. Cooper, Legal Medical Quarterly, Vol. 2, December 1978, pages 253–262. 60. The literature on organized crime is now extensive, but a recent news item is pertinent in the present context. Hollywood, in the entertainment sense, as well as the business aspects has long had a fascination with organized crime, as witness “Scarface” and the “Untouchables,” as well as the ministrations of “Bugsy” Siegel and Johnny Rosselli. American Police Beat, Vol. XVI, page 38, February 2009 reported. “‘Button man’ ripped off. Contract killer gets busted on movie deal.” Incarcerated Johnny Martorano, one-time associate of “Whitey” Bulger, still at large, was hoping to sell his life story for portrayal on the Silver Screen. The report avers, “He's a pure psychopath—the very characteristic that made him such a successful ‘button man.’” Obviously a failure of negotiation somewhere along the line. Leverage, perhaps? 61. By its nature, enforcement for organized crime is a mechanism strongly at variance with the social order and the nation state's national monopoly on the use of force. However, as a matter of record, it has to be recognized that organized crime has, on the whole, been effective in regulating its own affairs. See, for example, Five Families, Selwyn Raab, New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005. See, too, Born to the Mob, Frankie Saggio and Fred Rosen, New York: Thunders Mouth Press, 2004. 62. Cleckley, op. cit. supra note 40, on page 441, expressed the view that, “Though suicide, then, cannot be named an impossibility among this group, its unlikelihood still merits strong emphasis.” He noted, too, ibid: “Many bogus attempts are made, sometimes with remarkable cleverness, premeditation, and histrionics.” 63. Again, the case of the protagonist in The Adversary, note 35 supra is in point. His desperation is patent and the lengths to which he was driven in the endeavor to escape the impasse in which he found himself are evident. Yet, the author's analysis of his intended suicide is most revealing of its lackluster nature. 64. Gilmore's attempted suicide and his subsequent successful negotiation of his situation, against considerable odds, allowing him to die by choice at the hands of the State of Utah is most material in the present context for it can be equated to “suicide by cop,” a not unfamiliar scenario in our times. See The Elements of Police Hostage and Crisis Negotiations: Critical Incidents and How to Respond to Them, James L. Greenstone, New York: Haworth Press, 2005, pages 115–116. See, too, “Forcing the Police to Open Fire,” Ian K. McKenzie, Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, Vol. 6, 2006, pages 5–25. 65. Allusion has already been made to McGinnis’ fine book, note 53. The psychopathology here is graphically illustrated by the remarkable case history presented by Cleckley, op. cit. supra note 40, Chapter 21. At page 225, he recounted of this patient: “Penniless, he resented bitterly the unwillingness of his father-in-law to let him throw his wife's fortune also into speculation.” Even without 20/20 hindsight, it is difficult not to see a parallel between the current financial crisis and the resentment of those who were frustrated in their endeavors to privatize Social Security. 66. Charming and psychopath seem to go together like horse and carriage. Cleckley, although furnishing much descriptive material on the point, wisely eschewed any attempt at defining charm. Albert Camus offered: “You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having to ask any clear question.” The Fall, New York: Vintage Books, 1956, page 56. Gavin de Becker, op. cit. supra note 25, page 56, opined: “Charm is another overrated ability. Note that I call it an ability, not an inherent feature of one's personality.” The acclaimed novelist, Ian McEwan takes the view that “style is an extension of personality,” see “The Background Hum: Ian McEwan's State of Unease,” Daniel Zalewski, The New Yorker, February 23, 2009, pages 46–61, on page 52. “Style” is certainly one of the more striking characteristics of the psychopath. “Charming,” or one of its analogues certainly runs like a background hum through many accounts of psychopaths, even those not otherwise impressed. See, for example, Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger,” Richard W. Larsen, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1980, on page 5, “He was terribly charismatic.” 67. “Love” is another difficult word with which to grapple, in the present context. Although intimately connected to lust, it is more importantly, here, related to “power” and “control.” The seeming shallowness [Deeper probing will always reveal a self-centeredness that is apparently unmodifiable and all but complete.] Cleckley, op. cit. supra note 40, on page 395, of the psychopathic relationships shown by clinical studies, suggested a fear of a lo

Referência(s)