The psychopaths in our midst

The fact that 4% of inmates in our correctional institutions are psychopaths shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

The difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is somewhat blurred, at least according to the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that lists both definitions together under the heading of Antisocial Personalities. That is because they share some common traits. However, some professionals maintain there is a difference beyond the similarities. Sociologists typically prefer using the term sociopath, whereas, psychologists use the term psychopaths when both professions are describing a psychological disorder that is the product of a combination of psychological, biological, genetic and environmental factors. For the purpose of this piece, I shall refer to sociopaths as psychopaths.

Shared traits of the psychopaths include a complete disregard for the feelings and rights of others. This usually surfaces by age 15 and may have begun by cruelty to animals and bullying younger children. These traits are distinct and repetitive, creating a pattern of misbehavior that goes beyond normal adolescent mischief.

The psychopaths fail to feel remorse or guilt. They have no empathy for other human beings or even for animals. They appear to lack a conscience and are completely self-serving. They routinely disregard rules, social mores and laws, and are unmindful of putting themselves or others at risk.

Of the more distinguishing traits, some argue, is that the psychopath is less organized in his or her demeanor, nervous and easily agitated –--- someone likely living on the fringes of society, without solid or consistent economic support. A mass murderer or serial killer on the other hand is more likely to spontaneously act out in inappropriate ways without thinking through the consequences for himself or herself or others.

On the other hand, I believe that psychopaths for the most part tend to be extremely organized, secretive and manipulative. The outer personality is often charismatic and charming, hiding the real person beneath. Though psychopaths do not feel for others, they can mimic behaviors that make them appear normal. Upon meeting them, we are more likely to trust a psychopath. For example, serial killer Ted Bundy was a good example of that. The women he killed thought of him as a very nice man and they entered his car willingly not knowing that he was serial killer

Because of the organized personality of the psychopath, he or she might have a tendency to be better educated than the some people who probably lack the attentive skills to excel in school. Those who have a hatred for humans on the other hand are the kind of people who are mass murderers and serial killers. While psychopaths can fly under the radar of society, many maintaining families and steady work, mass murderers and serial killers more often lack the skills and drive for mimicking normal behavior, making “seemingly healthy” relationships and a stable home less likely. From a criminological standpoint, the crimes of mass murderers and serial killers are typically disorganized and spontaneous, while the psychopath’s crimes are well planned out.

Again, there are exceptions with respect to serial killers being disorganized. Robert Lee Yates murdered 18 women over a period of ten years. His murders took place in Detroit, Virginia, North Carolina, Hawaii, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Israel. His friends and neighbours said that he was really a great guy and were shocked when he was finally arrested. For him to have committed those crimes in so many places over a period of ten years with no detection in the first 17 murders, is evidence that his crimes were well organized.

Psychopaths are harder to recognize than mass murders and serial killers as the latter are more apt to leave ample evidence in his or her explosions of violence. There are exceptions however with both psychopaths and multiple killers.

I wish at this time to deal only with psychopaths. The term psychopathy is best described as chronic immoral and antisocial behavior. Although that can be said about mass murderers and serial killers also, I wish nevertheless to concentrate on what psychopaths are and what they do to their innocent victims.

I can’t think of a better example to use than that of Gloria O'Neill. I will give you a brief history of this 51-year-old Toronto woman. To begin; her licence was suspended as far back as 1978, at age 21. It was suspended again six years later when she didn't pay a court judgment to the victim of a crash. In 1984, it was suspended again. Still forbidden to drive, she got a new licence under a different name. When that licence was suspended, she got another one under another different name. One day in 2003, she drove through a red light and killed a pedestrian in a cross walk. She didn’t stop to offer aid and subsequently dragged the man’s body under her car for 26 metres before it came loose. She then sped away at 100 kilometres an hour. At the time of the collision that killed the pedestrian, O'Neill was under two driving suspensions. In one licence, she used the name Meyer, in the other licence, she used the name Cloutier. Two weeks after she killed the pedestrian, she caused four collisions involving rental cars.

She was convicted for the death of the pedestrian and sentenced to only three years in prison. The court also banned her from driving for 10 years. She was released from prison after serving only nine months.

Now most people after having served time in prison for killing someone because of their driving would behave. But not this woman. You must remember that this woman was and still is a psychopath.

In 1995, according to parole documents, O'Neill rolled her car on Highway 401. She was charged with driving while under suspension and got 15 days in jail. Ministry records show O'Neill obtained a third driver's licence using her real name in June 1998. Then came more than a dozen accidents and eight more convictions under that licence.

With five years left on her driving ban, O'Neill got behind the wheel of a Lincoln Continental registered to her husband. On Aug. 28, 2008, two Waterloo Region Record journalists watched as she drove the shiny red car out of her Toronto garage and disappeared down the street. That woman is the poster child of a psychopath.

What are the traits of a psychopath? They are in no way moved by the nagging voice of their conscious. They crave money and power. They work in politics, business, the law, banking and a broad array of other professions and while working in those fields, they run slip shod over everyone they meet. They pursue their careers with a cold passion that tolerates none of the moral or legal encumbrances. They will doctor accounts, refuse to pay accounts, borrow money when they have no intentions of every paying the money back, they marry for money alone, they abandon their wives and children, they double cross their friends, they lie to their friends and family, they steal from their employers, they attempt to ruin the careers of their colleagues, they rip off the public with their scams. These are just some of the countless things that psychopaths do.

The trouble we face with psychopaths in our midst; is that often, we have no way of knowing where they are or even who they are. They can be charming, intelligent, appear caring and even risk their lives to save their pet but whatever façade they are showing us, behind that façade is a very evil and mean-spirited individual---your true garden variety psychopath. Worse yet, they can end up killing people.

Back in 2005, Peter Braunstein stalked a woman who worked for the same company as he once did (although he didn’t know her). He set off a smoke bomb in the hallway of her New York City apartment, banged on her door dressed as a firefighter, and held her prisoner and molested her for 13 hours. He then fled and police launched a multi-state manhunt. Meanwhile, he robbed a psychiatrist in the Cincinnati area, and was eventually caught in Memphis. After he was sent to prison, he exclained that if he was ever released, he’d go on a homicidal rampage.

Often psychopaths when they were children were cruel to animals. One CEO of a large corporation in the United States, who stomped on nearly everyone in his firm, including breaking the arm of a secretary in the firm who resisted his advances, and who was later investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud; as a child, used to shove lit firecrackers down the throats of frogs and watch them explode.

Sometimes, we have the advantage of seeing psychopaths when they are young and that is sufficient warning to stay clear of them when they mature into adults. Let me give you two examples that will undoubtedly shock you but they do require retelling.

The first instance of psychopathic behavior is the case of four teens charged with roasting a cat in a microwave oven during a house break-in in Camrose, Alberta. For ten minutes, they listened with glee as the cat screeched as it tried to claw its way out of the microwave oven before it died. The second instance took place in Toronto when two teens slowly skinned a cat alive. Would anyone in their right mind ever want their daughters to marry such psychopaths?

But such psychopathic children are still in our midst. We simply don’t know of them but sometimes, our children see them as bullies at school and sometime in the future, our children will later see them as bullies at work or worse yet, they will later have such creeps as their neighbours.

What should we look for when trying to stay clear of psychopaths? Common traits that are associated with psychopathic behavior include the following: over exuberant and charming personality; being selfish and narcissistic; short attention span; adept at lying; lies habitually; lacks or shows little conscience; emotionally distant; can be cruel and mean at times; doesn’t show much; if any, sympathy; practices deviant sexual behavior that is harmful to his sexual partner; doesn’t exhibit any concrete goals for the future; acts impulsively and at times irresponsibly; doesn’t take responsibility for own behavior; repeated evidence of failed relationships; unable to maintain a long-term relationships; is extremely possessive; may have been in trouble as a child, preteen, and teen; and may have a criminal record involving theft, fraud, assaults, or sexual offences.

Now I am not implying that anyone that has any of these traits is automatically a psychopath. But be sure that anyone who possesses at least three of these traits is a psychopath and persons you should try to stay clear of if at all possible. Sometimes, that isn’t always possible. The nearest psychopath to you could be a spouse or another close family member, a relative, a fellow worker at your place of employment, or even a trusted friend. As an example, a Battle Creek, Michigan, man covered his mother in gasoline before trying to kill her by setting fire to her and their house. His mother said her son was not to blame. She told local news stations that her son had been drinking and had mental health problems. He tried to kill her because he was upset at something she said to him. He is obviously a psychopath and she would have been better off if she kept him away from her. The judge agreed with that premise and ordered the man to keep away from his mother.

Remember this. It isn’t that much of a leap from being a psychopath to being a mass murder or serial killer. You will recognize the potential of a mass murderer if you see in him the traits of a psychopath, especially when he approaches you with a gun and people near you are falling down beside you, dying of bullet wounds. You will also recognize the potential of a serial killer if you see in him, the same traits. If you ignore those traits and choose to hang around him, you will know that you are in the company of a serial killer when he has you alone and he is cutting your throat.