Sexual Psychopaths

Sex offenders use sex as a vehicle to gain control over their victims by inflicting pain and suffering. It is believed that the sexual involvement of many serial killers is a result of childhood experiences. According to Gebhard (1965), “It appears that fewer sexual psychopaths than other offenders were able to make good adjustments with their parents and their peers throughout their peers and throughout their childhood.” De Young (1982) notes that “the sadist sees the child victim as representation of everything he hates about himself as well as the dreaded memories of his own childhood.” Karpman (1954) notes similar characteristics of masochists: “Aggresive sexual crime symbolizes the inferiority feelings of the masochist and expresses his hostility toward the objects of his lust; these tendencies are integrated in the personality of the sexual psychopath as a result of long-standing emotional conflicts and stresses.” The offender, through violent acts, attempts to gain the control he or she has sought since childhood. As Stroller (1975) observes, “Many childhood defeats and frustrations feed into the dynamics of risk, revenge, and triumph.” The sexual psychopath who murders is often referred to as a “lust killer” or one who practices erotophonophilia. The notion of lust suggests one who possesses a particular urge not only to kill but to ravage the victim. Methods of killing vary widely among lust killers, as do the types of mutilations that may occur before or after the victim has died. In one case, an offender described his feelings about killing, focusing on the urge to mutilate and destroy his victims before he could find relief.

Submitted by: theworldisgettingdarkernow

You may not know who Robert John Maudsley is, but if you saw his prison cell in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, you would instantly recognize that he was Thomas Harris’ primary inspiration for Dr. Hannibal Lecter. As described in the novels and in the Anthony Hopkins films, the cell is solitary confinement, underground, through multiple, locked checkpoints with armed guards, and the Prison officials take such care to secure Maudsley because he is, in reality, no less the monster that Hannibal Lecter is. He is not as smart or well educated as the character based on him, but he is the pristine definition of a pure sociopath. He has absolutely zero interest in either the sanctity of human life, or the rules of any society. He does not kill for enjoyment, at least as determined by his many psychological evaluators. He kills because he feels it is his duty. The very presence of another person obliges Maudsley to desire to kill that person, and to try if he thinks he can succeed.

Although it certainly doesn’t justify what he did, Maudsley’s sociopathy stems from being beaten horribly by both parents throughout most of his childhood. He claims to have been raped by his father, before social services rescued him. By then it was too late. He was incarcerated for strangling a man who attempted to pick him up for sex, then showed him pictures of children the man had sexually abused. While in Broadmoor Hospital for the Criminally Insane, surrounded by pedophiles, he decided to take it on himself to kill as many of them as he could. He and another inmate captured one pedophile and locked themselves in his cell, where they tortured him for an hour, breaking all his arms and legs, castrating him, and finally smashing his skull open, killing him. Maudsley then got the nickname “Hannibal the Cannibal” when he ate some of the prisoner’s brain with a spoon.

This incident got him transferred to Wakefield, “the Monster Mansion,” where all the very worst, most violent prisoners in the UK are held. One day in 1978, he lured a rapist named Salney Darwood into his cell, where he stabbed and strangled him. He hid the body and attempted to repeat his tactic, but no other inmate wanted to enter his cell. Several of them testified that they “saw death in his eyes.” Maudsley would not be deterred, walking around the prison until he found a random prisoner alone, stabbed him and bashed his head against a wall, then walked into the guardroom and gave them the shank he used. “Your next roll will be two men short,” he said. The guards stated that he smiled and laughed a little as he walked out. Since then, he has been kept in his “Silence of the Lambs” cell. Guards, and even the other inmates, are terrified of him escaping. Once, in 1984, when a new guard attempted to open his cell, Maudsley snickered and said, “Look, if you come in here, I’m going to have to kill you. It’s not personal. I don’t hate you and I’m not angry. It’s just something I’ll have to do.” The guard quit his job and visited a psychiatrist. The prison’s psychiatric experts have labeled Maudsley “100% psychopath. He only regards the rules of society because, in his case, those rules are made of brick.”

Psychologist S.K. Henderson described psychopaths in his 1939 text as follows:

The term psychopathic state is the name we apply to those individuals who conform to a certain intellect standard, someones high, sometimes approaching the the realm of defect but yet not amounting to it, who throughout their lives, or form a comparatively early age, have exhibited disorders of findings of an antisocial or asocial nature, usually of a recurrent or episodic type, where, in many instances, have proved difficult to influence by methods of social, penal, and medical care and treatment and for whom we have no adequate provision of a preventive or curative nature. The inadequacy or deviation or failure to adjust to ordinary social life is not a mere wilfulness or badness which can be threatened or thrashed out of the individual so involved, but constitutes a true illness for which we have no specific explanation.

The official psychiatric term for a psychoapth is antisocial personality disorder. The diagnostic criteria for this disorder, as described by the standard Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV), are as follows:

• There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occuring since age 15 years, as indicated by at least three (or more) of the following:

1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.
2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure.
3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.
4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights and assaults.
5. Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others.
6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behaviour or honor financial obligations.
7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by indifference to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

• Individual is at least age 18 years.

• There is evidence of Contuct Disorder with onset before age 15 years.

• The occurrence of antiosocial behaviour is not exclusively during the course of a Schizophrenic or Manic Episode.

• Evidence of conduct disorder onset before age fifteen.

Psychopathic Checklist

Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us - has devised a twenty-item checklist identifying the main characteristics of the psychopathic personality.

1. Glib and superficial charm - the tendency to be smooth, engaging, charming, slick, and verbally vacile. A psychopath never gets tongue-tied.
2. Grandoise self-worth - a grossly inglated view of one’s abilities and self-worth. Psychopaths are arrogant people who believe they are superior human beings.
3. Need for stimulation or proneness to boredeom - an excessive need for novel, thrilling, and exciting stimulations; taking chances and doing things that are risky.
4. Pathological lying - can be moderate or high.
5. Conning and manipulativeness - the use of deceit and deception to con, cheat, or defraud others for personal gain.
6. Lack of remorse or guilt - a lack of feelings or concern for the losses, pain, and suffering of victims.
7. Shallow effect - emotional poverty or a limited range or depth of feelings.
8. Callousness and lack of empathy - a lack of feeling toward people in general; cold, contemptuous, inconsiderate, and tactless.
9. Parasitic lifestyle - an intentional, manipulative, selfish, and exploitative financial dependance on others.
10. Poor behavioral controls - expressions of irritability, annoyance, impatience, threats, agression, and verbal abuse.
11. Promiscuous sexual behavior - a variety of brief, superficial relations, numerous affairs, and an indiscriminate selection of sexual partners.
12. Early behavioral problems - a variety of behaviors prior to age thirteen, including lying, theft, cheating, vandalism, bullying, sexual activity, fire-setting, glue-sniffing, alcohol use, and running away from home.
13. Lack of realistic long-term-goals - an inability or persistent failure to develop and execute long-term plans and goals.
14. Impulsivity - the occurrence of behaviors than are unpremeditated and lack reflection or planning; inability to resist temptation.
15. Irresponsibility - repeated failure to fulfill or honor obligations and commitments.
16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions - as reflected in low conscientiouness, an absense of dutifulness, denial of responsibility, and an effort to manipulate others through this denial.
17. Many short-term marital relationships - a lack of commitment to a long-term relationship.
18. Juvenile relinquency - behavior problems between the ages of thirteen and eighteen.
19. Revocation of conditional release - a revocation of probation or other conditional releases due to technical violations.
20. Criminal versatility - a diversity of types of criminal offences; taking great pride in getting away with crimes.

Sexual Psychopaths

Sex offenders use sex as a vehicle to gain control over their victims by inflicting pain and suffering. It is believed that the sexual involvement of many serial killers is a result of childhood experiences. According to Gebhard (1965), “It appears that fewer sexual psychopaths than other offenders were able to make good adjustments with their parents and their peers throughout their peers and throughout their childhood.” De Young (1982) notes that “the sadist sees the child victim as representation of everything he hates about himself as well as the dreaded memories of his own childhood.” Karpman (1954) notes similar characteristics of masochists: “Aggresive sexual crime symbolizes the inferiority feelings of the masochist and expresses his hostility toward the objects of his lust; these tendencies are integrated in the personality of the sexual psychopath as a result of long-standing emotional conflicts and stresses.”

The offender, through violent acts, attempts to gain the control he or she has sought since childhood. As Stroller (1975) observes, “Many childhood defeats and frustrations feed into the dynamics of risk, revenge, and triumph.” The sexual psychopath who murders is often referred to as a “lust killer” or one who practices erotophonophilia. The notion of lust suggests one who possesses a particular urge not only to kill but to ravage the victim. Methods of killing vary widely among lust killers, as do the types of mutilations that may occur before or after the victim has died. In one case, an offender described his feelings about killing, focusing on the urge to mutilate and destroy his victims before he could find relief.

Psychopathic Checklist

Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us - has devised a twenty-item checklist identifying the main characteristics of the psychopathic personality.

1. Glib and superficial charm - the tendency to be smooth, engaging, charming, slick, and verbally vacile. A psychopath never gets tongue-tied.
2. Grandoise self-worth - a grossly inglated view of one’s abilities and self-worth. Psychopaths are arrogant people who believe they are superior human beings.
3. Need for stimulation or proneness to boredeom - an excessive need for novel, thrilling, and exciting stimulations; taking chances and doing things that are risky.
4. Pathological lying - can be moderate or high.
5. Conning and manipulativeness - the use of deceit and deception to con, cheat, or defraud others for personal gain.
6. Lack of remorse or guilt - a lack of feelings or concern for the losses, pain, and suffering of victims.
7. Shallow effect - emotional poverty or a limited range or depth of feelings.
8. Callousness and lack of empathy - a lack of feeling toward people in general; cold, contemptuous, inconsiderate, and tactless.
9. Parasitic lifestyle - an intentional, manipulative, selfish, and exploitative financial dependance on others.
10. Poor behavioral controls - expressions of irritability, annoyance, impatience, threats, agression, and verbal abuse.
11. Promiscuous sexual behavior - a variety of brief, superficial relations, numerous affairs, and an indiscriminate selection of sexual partners.
12. Early behavioral problems - a variety of behaviors prior to age thirteen, including lying, theft, cheating, vandalism, bullying, sexual activity, fire-setting, glue-sniffing, alcohol use, and running away from home.
13. Lack of realistic long-term-goals - an inability or persistent failure to develop and execute long-term plans and goals.
14. Impulsivity - the occurrence of behaviors than are unpremeditated and lack reflection or planning; inability to resist temptation.
15. Irresponsibility - repeated failure to fulfill or honor obligations and commitments.
16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions - as reflected in low conscientiouness, an absense of dutifulness, denial of responsibility, and an effort to manipulate others through this denial.
17. Many short-term marital relationships - a lack of commitment to a long-term relationship.
18. Juvenile relinquency - behavior problems between the ages of thirteen and eighteen.
19. Revocation of conditional release - a revocation of probation or other conditional releases due to technical violations.
20. Criminal versatility - a diversity of types of criminal offences; taking great pride in getting away with crimes.

criminalprofiler:

From an interview with Karla Homolka the day she was released from prison:

Napier: Do you have a relationship with your family? 

Homolka: Yes. 

Napier: Good relationships? 

Homolka: Yes. 

Napier: With your father, your mother, and you have one sister? 

Homolka: Yes. 

Napier: Will you see them soon? They are here, your family is here? 

Homolka: Yes. My mother is here. 

Napier: Have you maintained a good relationship with your mother in these 12 years? Your mother came to visit you? 

Homolka: My whole family has visited me. 

Napier: Your relationships with family are difficult? 

Homolka: In what way? 

Napier: In the sense of what happened with your sister. You had a little sister. 

Homolka: Yes. 

Napier: You took part with Paul Bernardo in the death of your little sister and in the rape of your little sister. Hence my question as to whether your relationship with your family is difficult. 

Homolka: No, my family loves me, and my family has also lived with my ex-husband and my mother had no idea what happened in my relationship with him. My parents’ friends had no idea. Everybody thought he was Number One. My family has never rejected me for what I did. My mother only said that she hates what I did, but she loves me and we have a very beautiful relationship. I am very lucky.