In Cold Blood Psychopath

Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is the story of Perry and Dick and the night of November 15, 1959. This investigative, fast-paced and straightforward documentary provides a commentary on the nature of American violence and examines the details of  the motiveless murders of four members of the Clutter family and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers.

Psychopathy as a mental disorder or construct, although not included in the presently valid classification systems, is gradually fascinating the experts and investigators involved in the field of mental health. Curiosity in psychopathy has mainly grown after the declaration of the new classification system DSM V in which psychopathy is mentioned as a clear diagnosis in the context of six new personality illnesses.

Have you ever heard of the Insanity Defense? The insanity defense is when the defendant is not responsible for his or her actions because of a psychiatric disease or a psychotic episode during the act of the crime. For instance, the Durham rule can be used if the defendant is diagnosed with a mental illness that was present during the time or show his or hers medical history records to demonstrate the defendant’s insanity. In the book In Cold Blood, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, was sentenced to death for the murder of the Clutter Family, on November 15, 1959. Perry, who was the one that killed the whole family,could be eligible for the insanity plea if he has shown any signs of being mentally unstable during the act of the crime.

In fact,because psychopaths are not able to feel empathy involuntarily, they are able to turn the feeling on. It is very common for psychopaths to have “ a false belief in their own superiority, a sense of entitlement and a complete disregard for social norms” (Paula, year). Psychopathy had recently been changed into ‘antisocial personality disorder’ in the updated version of the FBI’s mental health book, DSM-III. It was changed for the reason of the personality not always being reliable, as well as psychopathy symptoms crossing over antisocial personality disorder symptoms. Another reason for the change was because it is believed that focusing on behavior instead of the why helped identify the disorder easier. The new research was highly and widely discussed among many physicians because some felt unsure of the change, but they were also for the change with consideration of the evidence that was found. The usual psychopath is not found to be violent. If they are violent, they are considered more dangerous than others and will most likely reoffend sooner and worse than the first time. Between psychopaths and non psychopaths, psychopaths have a longer criminal history which varies in crimes. Their patterns are unique when compared to a non psychopath, but due to their inability to have emotion, they are able to be more observant on their next chosen

The circumstances, environment, and events during an individual's life may have major effects on that individual’s personality traits and mindset. In many cases, the environmental factors of a convicted criminal’s life have led to the development of criminal minds and the eventual execution of extremely serious felonies. Truman Capote illustrates how a convict's background can influence a criminal mind in his novel, In Cold Blood. In this nonfiction novel, Capote depicts how the environment and events during the lives of infamous murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith have led them to commit the crime of killing Herbert Clutter and his family. Although very few people are naturally violent criminals through genetics, a combination of environmental

Genetics do play a part in psychopathic tendencies, but also the environment you grow up in and what you are exposed to plays a role in it as well. For example, Ted Bundy. Crime Feed Staff (2015) discovered many troubling details about the way he grew up. He lived a childhood full of lies. He grew up thinking that his birth mother was his sister and that his grandparents were his parents only later to learn that his sister was actually his mother and that his grandfather was possibly his father making him a product of incest. There were many things that Bundy did as a child that showed his strange attraction to violence (p.1). Bundy was exposed to pornography as a young age and became addicted, he needed to fuel his addiction and his fantasies became so unbearable he turned it into his reality. Dr. Al Carlisle, the psychologist who evaluated Ted Bundy, concluded that “Because they have painful memories from abuse, disappointment, humiliation, frustration, or being bullied, they have turned to fantasies

Denise Mann is a freelance health writer in New York. Her articles regularly appear in WebMD, health.com, cnn.com, Arthritis Today magazine, American Profile magazine and special sections of the Wall Street Journal. In this article, Mann explained the genetic factors that lead to psychopathy in serial killers. She also examined the abuse factor in developing a serial killer. Mann used BTK as an example of a psychopath and explained how his psychopathy lead him to become a serial killer, which helped me relate Dennis Rader, BTK, to a serial killer who developed from psychopath factors, such as traits they display.

The title of Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, is a title for a fictitious book. It should be named “In Freezing Blood,” for the events that occurred in the book deserve a much more appropriate adjective. However, that is not to say that Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, the perpetrators of the Clutter murders, were not human. To have cold blood means that at some point, it was warm, for it is a relative term. Thus, Capote acknowledged their existence as an antagonist, but also showed that they were capable of good. Besides being a part of our species, they were human in the ways of having faults, emotions, and through their relationships with others.

Psychologist Donald Hebb once answered the question of nature vs. nurture by responding with a similar question, “Which contributes more to the area of a rectangle, its length or its width?” I find this to be a very interesting and true argument. As we know, a rectangle’s area can be determined by multiplying its length by its width, or vice versa. If either one of these variables is unknown, you cannot determine what the area is. They both have an equal contribution to the equation. Similarly, it is impossible to single out either nature or nurture as the reason that somebody becomes a psychopath. They both contribute equally to the equation.

Many serial killers and mass murderers have been interviewed and tested to reveal why they killed and raped large groups of people. There are several factors as to why they perform such acts. My findings in this paper show that there is a logically explanation as to why they do what they do. In no way is killing or violence justified, but people have been through things we couldn’t imagine being put through. Many of these killers were put through harsh abuse physically, mentally, and emotionally which haunted them in their futures. This caused them to resolve their issues through inhumane ways. One who was put through sexual abuse became lust serial killers by wanting to rape the victims or sexually punish them. They want their

This article states that we need to stop interchanging psychopath and sociopath, as they are two different disciplines. Pemment goes into detail about the history, research, and growth of psychopathy. He says that we need to understand the difference between the two, as the behavioral characteristics and potential treatments for each are different. The article includes details on Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hares work on psychopathy. The article describes the PCL-R, and how Hare says the test should be done. The PCL-R is used as a screening tool to identify psychopaths, and

Psychopathy is an extremely complex subcategory of a specific personality disorder. This disorder has been researched since approximately the 18th century. Modern technology in science can detect psychopathy by examining the human brain using different techniques. This technology can and should be used to prevent violence in the world today.

A scientific study in England compared the brains of psychopaths with a group of mice. The result of this experiment directly correlates with the mental and physical behaviors of psychopathic humans. One mouse

An associate professor of Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of New Mexico, and a District Judge from Denver, Colorado, wrote in an article, The Criminal Psychopath: History, Neuroscience, Treatment, and Economics, and stated that a big difference in psychopaths is that individuals with psychopathic personality, or psychopaths, have disproportionate impact on the criminal justice system (Kiehl and Hoffman, 2011). Psychopaths are 20 to 25 times more likely than non-psychopaths to be in prison and are four to eight times more likely to violently recidivate compared to non-psychopaths (Kiehl and Hoffman, 2011). Kiehl and Hoffman also noted that psychopaths are resistant to most forms of treatment (Kiehl and Hoffman, 2011). Kiehl and Hoffman noted in their writing that psychopathy is a constellation of psychological symptoms that typically emerge early in childhood and affects all aspects of a sufferer’s life (Kiehl and Hoffman, 2011). These symptoms can affect all of their life relationships with family, friends, school and

There are many that are skeptic with the idea of genetic predisposition of evil - the idea that their own family with biologically innate risk factors for violence is indeed alarming, especially if nothing can be done about it. Some also worry that acknowledging such biological disabilities "will result in a society that takes a soft approach to crime, holding no one accountable for his or her actions, furthermore using "biology to stigmatize ostensibly innocent individuals" (Raine). It is growing rather difficult, however, to avoid the mounting evidence. Advanced science can now utilize modern technology to distinguish brain anatomies of specific individuals that will grow up to express dangerously antisocial behavior. "With each passing year, society is at the point where the genetic basis of criminal behavior is well established" (Raine).