The book “Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain” by David Eagleman is a summary of how David Eagleman, a neuroscientist, thinks is the best way to reform the criminal justice system in the United States. Eagleman argues that sentencing for crimes should not be based on the crime itself but rather the person who is committing it ability to reform. Throughout the book Eagleman gives examples and explains how a person who consciously commits a crime is not completely at fault since there many factors that influence a person’s conscience mind. He cites the examples of stress and drugs as two factors that could alter a person’s personality and contribute in making a person commit a crime.
A psychopath is classified as someone who shows no remorse and has no conscience, while a sociopath has some sort of conscience and sometimes shows some guilt or remorse ("What's the Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath"). Psychopaths do not feel sorry for other people (“What’s the Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath”) and Kuklinski certainly did not feel sorry for any of his victims (“Married to The Iceman”). During an interview with HBO, Kuklinski stated that he probably could have killed his father and wouldn’t have felt bad about it ("Richard Kuklinski The Iceman Mafia Hitman HBO Interview 2001 (Part 1)"). Richard Kuklinski also showed sociopathic traits. He only showed remorse when talking about his wife and kids ("Richard Kuklinski 'The Iceman' Part 12 of 12").
Despite the fact that Dahmer had confessed to the murders of seventeen victims, he initially pleaded not guilty, but eventually changed his plea to “guilty by virtue of insanity” (Biography). The judge wanted the jury to have an “objective” point of view, so he appointed two psychiatrists to assess Jeffrey’s mental state at the time of the murders. Dr. George Palermo, forensic psychiatrist, concluded that because Dahmer had chosen never to defend himself when he was teased as a child, he had internal feelings of hostility. He also speculated that because of his chronic inability to form relationships, his frustrated homosexual desires had developed until he turned into a sexual sadist. Jeffrey’s aggressive, hostile tendencies turned into homicide after a while, and he would channel all his sexual desires into the killing of his victims.
Throughout the centuries, many people have been diagnosed with the title “Psychopath.” A psychopath is someone who has a mental disorder that causes them to act violently towards people in society and is unable to show sympathy or remorse after what they have done. Canada has had many notorious psychopaths over the years, but there is always one that must outshine the rest; so to speak. Paul Bernardo was not only a psychopath, but he was also named “Canada’s notorious Serial Killer and Rapist” or better known as “The Scarborough Rapist.” This essay will examine Paul Bernardo’s case from beginning to end, and also prove why he is properly labeled as a psychopath.
Ronson, Jon. “Strange Answers to the Psychopath Test.” One in a 100 people is a psychopath. If there is a school of 1,500 people, 15 of those people are a psychopath or have psychopathic trait/tendencies. The author Jon Ronson of the book “The Psychopath Test” tell us about the fine line between crazy and sane.
In the paper “Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility”, Susan Wolf discusses her ideas on what is necessary for an individual to be responsible for their actions. She argues that in order for the person to be held morally responsible for their actions, they need to be morally sane. To consider one to be morally sane, this individual must have an ideology that is able for them to distinguish right from wrong. Hence, a morally sane person must be able to reason and have a sound mind. Furthermore, Wolf establishes the sane deep-self view by applying other philosopher’s ideas.
Psychopathy meant an individual was socially a predator who used his charm to manipulate people and live life according to their desires, harming others and never feeling remorse. Since these traits best describe Bundy, who lacked conscience and violated all laws and regulations of the community without regret, he was a psychopath. Notably, Ted Bundy's actions were coercive and unwanted, constituting sexual violence. As an individual with antisocial personality disorder, Bundy got satisfaction each time he raped and killed his victims. With Cleckley's analysis, Widiger considers Bundy to have sadism, which best describes his sexual violence behaviour.
A lack of empathy for others, routine lying or deceit, and disdain for other people's rights are characteristics of antisocial personality disorder. It is crucial to understand that receiving a diagnosis in no way excuses or justifies engaging in dangerous or illegal activity. Based on his life history and behaviors, it is believed that Charles Manson satisfied the diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality
(66). The criminal is aware that he murdered someone, yet shows no remorse. A person who is criminally insane does not understand the effects and consequences of their actions, and therefore cannot take responsibility for them. The murderer also hides his wrongdoings from the police. If he were criminally insane, he would not have to lie about his actions.
Serial homicide is among the less common, but most heinous crimes an individual can commit. The vicious act of murder is unfathomable to most human beings, but research is not lacking in the attempt to provide an explanation. Criminological research is notorious for integrating theoretical perspectives to create an overarching explanation for different crimes. This paper will attempt to provide some insight to the crime of serial homicide. The difference between homicide and murder as outlined in the Criminal Code will be presented.
The perspective of criminal behaviour (Andrews & Bonta, 2006) fundamentally reflects a personality predisposition and the learning of criminal behaviour governed by the expectations an individual holds and the actual consequences to his or her behaviour. General personality functions as criminogenic needs (e.g., impulsivity) and responsivity factors (e.g., need for excitement). Cognitive aspects focus on self-regulation in shaping procriminal attitudes, whereas social learning discusses the learning influence within the proximal social circles. On the other hand, GLM is driven by the strength-based rehabilitation theory. Human are by nature, active, goal seeking beings who are consistently engaged in the process of constructing a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives (Ward & & Brown, 2004).
The Macdonald Triad Psychiatrist J.M. Macdonald proposed the idea of the “Homicidal Triad,” or Macdonald Triad in 1963 as part of his paper “Threat to Kill” published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The triad includes bedwetting, arson, and torturing animals (“The Macdonald Triad.”). The bedwetting theory has been around since Freud, but has recently be debunked due to recent research.
The show dramatizes the lives of many real cases where the majority of viewers are familiar with. For example, many people know about the case of the Zodiac the serial killer, Robert Berdilla, one of the most aggressive, bloody and torturing assassins who used to take photographs of his horrifying acts, and many other cases which are narrated in this show. According to the author of the book “The forensic psychology of criminal minds” Ramsland mentions that, “in criminal minds, we see not only the activity of crime scene analysis and reconstruction variety of criminal psyches.” (8) On the show psychopathic murders are portray as cold-blooding, lacking of rumour, and emotionless.
In order to understand why people commit crimes we must understand their feelings. Homicide is the act while psychodynamics is the mental state. The word psycho comes from psychology and the point of psychology is to understand people and their problems. In this case it is
) This means that they aren 't able to feel much empathy causing them to commit such violent crimes (Keysers, 2013). Conclusion: Review: Since we established that psychopath have certain characteristic or traits such as speech pattern, abnormal sexual behavior and lack of emotional control. You will now be able to identify a psychopath End-Statement
