I am late getting my blog done this week partly because I have been helping a crime victim get justice. I hope at some point to be able to share the entire story with you but for today I want to share part of it and not yet name the offender. The offender is in prison for kidnapping and physically assaulting (torturing) a child.
The victim’s mother provided me an official copy of the sentencing transcript where the defendant plead guilty to those crimes. He was sentenced to 3-12 years in prison. It is unclear to all of us exactly how it is determined if the defendant serves 3 years or 12 years or something in between.
The sentence of 3-12 years was handed down after the defendant and his attorney made the case that OCD caused him to torture the child. There was apparently a psychiatrist and a psychologist who diagnosed OCD and prescribed medication for same.
OCD is a mental disorder that involves obsessions or thoughts that keep replaying in a person’s mind and compulsions or behaviors that the person has to repeatedly do to reduce anxiety. For more on OCD see the US NIMH website.
Because I did not remember from my training any association between OCD and violence, I did a search and found this statement in an article summary of two cases of OCD with violent obsessional thoughts, “Both cases were characterized by preoccupation with aggressive thoughts and images, a need for reassurance that they would not act on their impulses, and a history devoid of violent or aggressive behavior.”
Nevertheless the court transcript indicated the Judge and even the DA believed the assessment that the defendant had OCD and that this played a role in his violent behavior. Furthermore they believed this to be a mitigating factor that lessened the sentence. The words of the Judge according to the transcript were, “My gut reaction in a situation where a person does not have OCD and getting treatment and so forth would be to really hammer you hard for a long, long time.”
I spoke with both the victim (who is now of age) and victim’s mother, because they wanted to understand the psychological state of the defendant. I asked them for specific examples of the offender’s behavior and verbal statements relating to both the offender’s contact with reality and symptoms of OCD and psychopathy as measured by the PCL-R. The offender was known to the victims for years and never displayed any symptom of OCD. He is your basic grandiose, charming and manipulative, power motivated psychopath who lacks empathy and remorse. His lack of empathy and remorse were apparent during his sentencing statement.
Both sources were able to give me specific examples verifying that the offender is likely highly psychopathic. There was also some evidence that the offender hallucinates and is paranoid. That evidence was provided by the victims and also by the offender’s statements during the sentencing. A psychotic psychopath is the most dangerous felon there is, want proof, check out Charles Manson.
In reading the transcript which was 45 pages long, I was struck by the observation that everyone in the proceeding seemed to be searching for an answer to the why question. Why did this perpetrator do what he did? In answering the question “OCD” they could maintain their sense of safety. The Judge said to the offender,
“I do believe that at your core you are a good person, this is just a problem you have. In the 10-15 years I have been doing this I have seen relatively few evil people come through the courtroom. Three, I believe, that were so inherently evil that everybody in the courtroom couldn’t wait to get them in the prison system because they hurt everybody they were around. And I don’t believe you are a monster and I respect your religious beliefs and hope they help you heal.”
The offender had convinced the Judge that not only did he have OCD, he was a true believer and constantly asked WWJD! And I mean this literally.
If the mental health statistics are correct and that 80% of offenders have some degree of psychopathy and 25% have the full blown syndrome there are so many sociopaths out in the world that it is likely no life will be untouched by the disorder. However, this Judge feels safe in his little bubble where he has seen only 3 evil defendants in his lengthy career.
It should be mandatory that all Judges receive an officially sanctioned educational program on psychopathy/sociopathy. That would help immunize them against being fooled by sociopaths/psychopaths and their corrupt attorneys.
Thanks Donna for putting this article back up…..
I am on a mission here.
I am going to post a few links…..
This was great info….sums up dealing with a socipath…..
I highly recommend….
http://forthevictims.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/dealing-with-sociopaths-a-prescription-for-survival/
Dear Isabell,
The “social niceties” (spelling?) were what the teachers were engaging in with your daughter AND I am sure that your children’s SPERM DONOR (I won’t call him a dad, as that term must be earned and he obviously hasn’t earned it) put on such a FAKE CARING that they were taken in.
That they didn’t “pick up on” your daughter’s pain is likely because lots of kids “dis” their parents’ involvement, BUT HOPEFULLY these teachers DID LEARN A LESSON from this, so your daughter’s pain may be a good teaching tool for these good-intentioned but DULL teachers. Tell your daughter that and that her pain may keep some other student who is less strong than she is from suffering.
YOUR DAUGHTER ROCKS! TELL HER I SAID SO! She stood up to these teachers GOOD FOR HER!!!!! Give her a big hug and tell her how strong she is!!!!!
Joke for Oxy, and all (especially those of us who can’t spell)
Did you hear the one about the blonde who’s husband had a heart attack? Well, she called 911, very upset and told them she needed a paramedic at 310 Eucalyptus Ave.
The dispatcher asked her to calm down, and asked her to
spell Eucaluptus for him, So she stared, very thoughtfully,”U..k…u,’ then abruptly said, “never mind, I’ll drag him down to Oak, I’ll call ya when I get there.”
What’s really funny, I had to look up eucalyptus to tell ya’ll the joke. Ha
LOL, that’s a good one Kim! I find myself with so much spelling trouble now too! I think I would have doen what the blonde did.
My best friend (the one who came on a suprise visit this week) is blonde naturally so I know all the blonde jokes and am always sending them to her! She is actually VERY smart and talented, but I get a kick out of sending her blonde jokes.
Now she is sending me “old folks” jokes in retaliation! And of course “Maxine” jokes—gosh I love maxine, she is my heroine! I wanna be just like her when I grow up! LOL
Tood,
Delivery is actually an interesting analogy. I also was not prepared for labor. My mom had told me childbirth was a “piece of cake”. Since she died before I gave birth, I never got to hear the truth from anybody. Did you know that labor and delivery can be a huge trigger for someone with PTSD? It is a traumatic event for some women, even without PTSD. Anyway, I thought your analogy was very interesting, especially considering all of the latest research that is being done on the trauma of birth and PTSD.
I think the best sex education there could be is watching someone give birth. Ha. That would cure any horny teen. All joking aside, I actually really do consider it all more than worth it, but that is because I wanted my baby so badly and waited and prepared until I was in my thirties to have him. I feel for girls who have their babies in their teens and early twenties. I don’t know how people cope with such a significant and sometimes traumatic event so early in life. I wasn’t prepared for the pain and reality of childbirth until I was in the middle of it. I’ll save you the gory details, but let’s just say that I have not received this miracle amnesia about labor and delivery that so many mothers speak of. I remember every single detail and minute of the 36 hours. I’m proud of myself and my body that I was able to do it though. So, in that regard, it was empowering. I did it without any man to hold my hand through it and I’m actually happy about that. I was surrounded by love and very competent women, including the nurse, my midwife and my doula. Thank God for these women!
Tood,
Good for you for teaching your daughters the realities of labor. I think that all of the sugar-coating many parents do about significant events and/or stresses in life doesn’t do any child any favors in the long run. It’s best to be prepared for adulthood, IMHO.
Kim,
Ha. Ha. That joke had me in stitches! Thanks for the great laugh on this Saturday afternoon! I needed it. You’re awesome! Have any more jokes?
Why Church is important to community as a whole.
Whether you believe in God or not. Church leaders have the most important duty to all in society everywhere in the world. Church leaders teach all the glorious virtues of our Lord and Savior. To be a faithful believer is to say to all who live among us, I read, comprehend and practice how God wants us to live … in harmony, with love, compassion and tolerance with all (just to name a few of His virtues).
Right thought, right action.
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Luke 19:8
If the predators that came into our lives … agreed to read, comprehend and abide in His blueprint (aka the Bible, the Torah, the Koran etc) maybe, just maybe, people would take seriously their words and their actions and make it a point to live in harmony with all throughout the world!
This is why it is important to explain to non-believers in our world, you know not what you do. Read, comprehend and practice living His wisdom and you too can be the best that you were meant to be.
Peace.
OxDrover,
“YOUR DAUGHTER ROCKS! TELL HER I SAID SO! She stood up to these teachers GOOD FOR HER!!!!! Give her a big hug and tell her how strong she is!!!!! ”
Thank you.
Yes, I do think it should be a mandatory for all Judges to receive an officially sanctioned educational program on sociopath. They believe they can scheme the judicial system with their lies, as if they are the victims not the one that causing the problems. I do not know if the sociopath you had dealt with, pretend to be changing his life and going to school and just write things that not normal, as if it is a child coming out of the person. Does sociopath has a child life mind?