ABSTRACT
The psychopath is the consummate instance of the criminal who “mirrors the elemental nature and embodies the pejorative essence of antisocial behavior” (DeLisi, 2009:257). The psychopath is de¿ned by a laundry list of affective and behavioral characteristics, such as narcissism, deception, irresponsibility, impulsiveness, sensation-seeking, and shallow affect (Muller, 2010). Although the term “psychopath” is relatively new, those whom the term denotes have preyed on us since the dawn of time. Those who commented on the trademark behavior of such people in classical, biblical, and medieval works recognized the same characteristics in them as we do today (Hare, 1996). In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle (384-322 BC) wrote of individuals with a “brutish nature,” which arises from three sources: “by reason of injuries to the system, by reason of acquired habits, and by reason of originally bad nature” (McKeon, 1947:453). Even preliterate cultures, such as the Eskimos (Inuit), recognize a class of psychopathic individuals they call kunlangeta, who repeatedly lie, steal, freeload, and who, when the other men are out hunting, “take advantage of many women” (Murphy, 1976:1026).
