Serial Killers and Psychopaths

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Serial Killers and Psychopaths

• David Lombard, Ph.D.
• www.LegalShrink.com

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Serial Killers?
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Psychopathy
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Charles Manson
From the worlds of darkness I did let loose
devils and demons with the power of scorpions to
torment."
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Pedro Alonzo Lopez Monster of the Andes
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Aileen WuornosHighway Killer
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John Gacy Killer Clown
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Edmund Kemper Co-Ed Killer
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Psychopathy in Life

• Serial killers, repeat bank robbers, con artists,
  organized crime
• What about other similar characters?
• Robert Hare has proposed a more informative
  diagnostic category
• Psychopathy

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Are Psychopaths just Anti-Social

• Major distinction appears to be in symptomatology
• Lack of remorse, a core symptom of psychopathy,
  is not required for diagnosis of APD.
• In one study, 75 to 80 of convicted felons met
  criteria for APD, but failed to meet criteria for
  psychopathy.

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Psychopathy

• FACTOR 1
• Charming
• Manipulative
• Superficial
• Shallow
• Lack of remorse
• Inconsistent

• FACTOR 2
• Failure to conform
• Impulsivity
• Aggression
• Deceitful/lying
• Disregard for others
• Irresponsibility

Psychopathy encompasses both of these factors
whereas Antisocial PD predominantly involves
Factor 2
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Psychopaths identified by Hare

• Two clusters
• 1. Emotional detachment cluster- a selfish
  remorseless individual with inflated self-esteem
  who exploits others.
• 2. Antisocial lifestyle cluster- marked by
  impulsivity irresponsibility.

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Are psychopaths born or made?

• Most likely there are components of both that
  account for the development of full fledged
  psychopathy.

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Causes of APD Psychopathy?

• Family
• McCord McCord concluded that lack of affection
  severe parental rejection may be primary causes
  of psychopathic behavior.
• Other suspected family related factors are
• Inconsistencies in discipline or no discipline at
  all, physical abuse, marital discord, substance
  use.

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Heritable components

• Twin Studies
• 1. Higher concordance rate for MZ twins than for
  DZ twins in APD.
• Adoption Studies
• 2. Higher rate of antisocial behavior in adopted
  children of biological parents with APD.

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Fathers behavior

• Fathers of psychopaths are likely to be
  antisocial personalities themselves!!!!!!

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Environmental Factors

• Environment seems to play an important role in
  APD.
• It has been shown that environmental factors such
  as marital problems and substance abuse) are
  related to the development of APD.
• Also high levels of conflict negativity and low
  levels of parental warmth predict APD.

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Whats likely to be going on?

• Child with propensity for antisocial behavior may
  be difficult to deal with produce environmental
  changes that result in harsh conditions
  (treatment) by family members.
• This may fuel development of full blown
  antisocial behavior.

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Are psychopaths less prone to anxiety than normal
people?

• Yes!!!
• Lykken (1957) studied the ability of psychopaths
  controls to avoid shock.
• Psychopaths were poorer than controls at avoiding
  the shocks, suggesting they are low in anxiety
  compared to controls.

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Do psychopaths fear little?

• Psychopaths show a pattern of autonomic activity
  that suggests they tune out aversive stimuli.
• Their hearts beat faster than normals when
  anticipating stress, but their skin conductance
  levels are lower than controls in response to
  aversive stimuli.
• This makes them appear under aroused when they
  are not.

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Relationship betweenPsychopathy Antisocial PD
ANTISOCIAL PD
PSYCHOPATHY
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high neuroticism
extravert
introvert
psychopaths
low neuroticism
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Psychopathy Vs Reactive Offender

• PSYCHOPATH
• Self-concept Invulnerable
• Superior
• Pre-emptive rights
• Sees Others Dupes/stupid
• Inferior
• Weak
• Strategies Manipulative
• Violence

• REACTIVE
• Vulnerable
• Fluctuates/unstable
• Fragile rights
• Hostile
• Oppositional
• The enemy
• Inadequate problem solving
• Defensive violence

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Factor 1 in everyday life

• Lawyers, politicians, businessman
• Aspects of psychopathy may be seen in many areas
  of life
• These two factors are reliable
• Across sites
• Across cultures

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Criminal Careers

• Life course persistent antisocial (preadolescent
  onset chronic offending)
• High recidivism risk
• Burnout with age ? or change in display of
  antisocial behaviour
• Big four risk predictors
• Antisocial beliefs
• Antisocial associates
• Antisocial history
• Antisocial personality (psychopathic).

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Violence and Psychopathy

• Psychopathy a robust predictor of violent
  recidivism
• Instrumental violence vs reactive
• VRAG, SORAG, HCR-20 use psychopathy to predict
  risk

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Sexual offending and Psychopathy

• Child sexual offending
• Importance of Factor One
• Rape
• PCL on own not enough
• Need sexual risk factors
• Opportunistic sexual behavior
• Treatment difficulties
• Seto and Barbarees (1999) study

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• Psychopathy Case Studies

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• Ted Bundy

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Biography

• Seattle, Washington
• Intelligent, attractive, articulate
• Law student at U Washington

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Anti-social activity

• Serial killer in early eighties
• Raped and murdered 12 women from Washington to
  Florida
• Executed 1989

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• Jeffery Dahmer

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The Early Years

• Dissected dead animals at a young age
• Teenage years alcoholic
• Molested by a neighbor
• Parents divorced - left with only his father
• Had dreams of killing and mutilating men
• College dropped out and joined the army
• 1982 Moved in with his grandmother (22 years
  old)
• Arrested for exposing himself at a state fair
• 1986 Arrested for exposure of himself to two
  young males
• 1988 Grandmother kicked him out
• Stayed up all night
• Odors from the basement
• 1988 Arrested for sexually fondling a 13 year
  old boy
• Convinced judge he needed a therapist

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The Police Found

• Multiple photographs of murdered victims
• Human remains heads and genitals
• Corpse were stored in acid filled vats
• Was attempting to create zombies
• practiced necrophilia, cannibalism, and possibly
  a form of trepanation

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Trepanation
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• Paul and Karla

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Paul Bernardo

• Hamilton, Ontario
• University graduate
• Successful accountant

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Karla Homolka

• Hamilton, Ontario
• University graduate
• Veterinary assistant

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Antisocial activities

• Paul had many prior girlfriends but treated them
  sadistic fashion
• He and Karla had a sado-masochistic sex life
• Together, they drugged, raped and murdered three
  women
• Including Karlas sister
• They filmed the activities to watch later

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Karla wins

• Karla turns in Paul to police
• Gets special deal 12 years in prison
• Paul gets life in prison no chance of parole

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• Christopher
• Rocancourt

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Christopher Rocancourt

• Mug shot

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Biography

• Raised in France
• Violent history in Europe
• Adored in Los Angeles

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Character

• Master manipulator
• Assumed many different identities
• Millionaire, Movie producer, race-car driver,
• Member of Rothschild family
• Member of Rockefeller family

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Arrested for

• Bilking victims of money esp. women
• Many counts of extortion, fraud, weapons in NY,
  LA, and Vancouver

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Clifford Olson

• Vancouver, BC

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Antisocial activities

• Arrests for include theft, assault,
• escape (7 times), rape, dangerous driving
• At least 11 murders including many children
• Victims sexually assaulted and mutilated

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Character

• Early delinquency
• Social charm
• Story teller

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Manipulation

• Avoids arrest for 11 murders
• Mocks police until arrest
• Manipulates federal government
• Special privileges in prison
• Vacations to Vancouver

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Charles Ng

• California native

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Antisocial activities

• Torture and murder of 25 victims
• Filmed the activities
• Manipulated Canadian justice system

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Aileen Carol Wuornos

• Dad - Dale Pittman was a psychopathic child
  molester who hanged himself in prison in 1969

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Antisocial activities

• Prostitute
• Murdered 7 men she claimed tried to rape her
  while she prostituting
• Admitted to murders for her ex-lover

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Women Serial Killers

• Female serial killers have long killing sprees,
  lasting up to 8 years (males' sprees last about 4
  years and usually end after several months).
• Female serial killers kill more quietly and less
  "violently", with poison or other less
  undetectable methods, like suffocation. Males
  tend to batter, strangle, stab, and shoot.

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Women Serial Killers

• Female serial killers kill for profit most of the
  time, while male serial killers kill for sexual
  reasons about half the time.
• Female serial killers generally kill people close
  to them, such as husbands, family members, or
  people dependent on them. Males kill strangers
  more often.

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All Serial Killers

• They look, act, and sound normal which makes
  people trust them
• They are psychopaths, but they're not insane
• Neither male nor female serial killers have a
  conscience

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Psychopathy

• Key Aspects
• Criminality vs. mental illness
• Absence of conscience
• Emotional poverty
• Sex differences
• Genetics
• Physiological dysfunction
• Family social context
• Learning deficits

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Questions?