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If psychopathy is a condition people are born with, a mental illness or disorder; when they kill because of their disorder, doesn't that count as diminished responsibility or something?

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Current understanding is that the psychopath trait is not always genetic.

 

In the cases that it is, then yes it probably could be called diminished responsibility.

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If psychopathy is a condition people are born with, a mental illness or disorder; when they kill because of their disorder, doesn't that count as diminished responsibility or something?

 

I don't think, it may have changed that psychopathy fell within the mental health act, I last looked in 2004.

 

psychopathy Isn't seen as curable.

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I don't think, it may have changed that psychopathy fell within the mental health act, I last looked in 2004.

 

psychopathy Isn't seen as curable.

 

It is currently being seen as less and less diagnosable.

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There's been some really interesting articles//programmes and books on psycopathy over the past few years. A bit of a bell curve theory. and prediliction plus environment creating how they behave.

how there are functioning psychopaths-

favourite proffessions: CEO.

Lawyer.

Media (TV/radio)

Salesperson.

Surgeon.

Journalist.

Police officer.

Clergy.

 

and it all facinating and scarey (jon Ronson the psychopath test is a good and easy read if you like books)

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I'm finding it interesting too. As I understand it (feel free to correct me if anyone is more knowledgable in the field), a psychopath is born (physical abrormality in the brain) whereas a sociopath is learned behaviour (perhaps as a consequence of a very harsh environment).

 

I think I heard too, CEO is the job with the highest incidence of psychopaths. Also in banking. Infact, I was reading something today that the financial crisis of 2008 and the fact of many psychopaths being in positions of power within financial institutions, was no small coincidence! Also, that the same psychopaths that caused the crash (reckless risk taking in the name of greed) the govenment turned to to help sort out the mess.

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I'm finding it interesting too. As I understand it (feel free to correct me if anyone is more knowledgable in the field), a psychopath is born (physical abrormality in the brain) whereas a sociopath is learned behaviour (perhaps as a consequence of a very harsh environment).

 

I think I heard too, CEO is the job with the highest incidence of psychopaths. Also in banking. Infact, I was reading something today that the financial crisis of 2008 and the fact of many psychopaths being in positions of power within financial institutions, was no small coincidence! Also, that the same psychopaths that caused the crash (reckless risk taking in the name of greed) the govenment turned to to help sort out the mess.

 

Why am I not surprised..

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This link is worth a read.

 

 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170705123121.htm

 

 

"Ultimately, Buckholtz said, his goal is to erase the popular image of psychopaths as incomprehensible, cold-blooded monsters and see them for what they are -- everyday humans whose brains are simply wired differently".

 

I wonder how many terrorists fall into the category?

Edited by petemcewan

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This link is worth a read.

 

 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170705123121.htm

 

 

"Ultimately, Buckholtz said, his goal is to erase the popular image of psychopaths as incomprehensible, cold-blooded monsters and see them for what they are -- everyday humans whose brains are simply wired differently".

 

I wonder how many terrorists fall into the category?

 

Not monsters maybe, but still dangerous people.

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Not monsters maybe, but still dangerous people.

 

 

Not nessacerily all are killers, a prediliction + environment = murderer or the lawyer representing them (glibbly)

 

 

I thought sociopath and psychopath were pretty much interchangable terms.

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This is the old 'bad or mad' argument, first used in court in the defence of Peter Kurten (aka the Dusseldorf monster or vampire). The argument is that surely, in order to commit such dreadful crimes, there must be something organically wrong with the murderer.

 

However, there are an awful lot of people who show signs of psychopathy and the vast majority of them do not commit any serious crime through their lives. Hanging the blame on a condition would also mean that the vast majority of murderers and other violent criminals would be found not responsible for their crimes because they had one identifiable condition or syndrome or another. That would mean that the state would be providing a very much more gentle, enriched and supported life to all of these people.

 

Over the years the debate about this has instead centred on how to prove whether an individual is capable of comprehending that, for instance, killing someone is wrong. Anybody who has attempted to cover up their crime is perfectly well aware that they have broken the law and that this is bad, yes? Scoring highly on the psychopathy scale implies nothing about this understanding, or about intelligence, and many company directors, MPs and the world's movers and shakers also score high on the scale.

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