You would think parole boards would know better. After all, they deal with bad guys all day, every day, and they’re supposed to decide when criminals are sufficiently rehabilitated to return to society. But a study released in January found that when psychopaths in Canada’s prisons were up for parole, they were 2.5 times more likely to win conditional release than non-psychopaths.
The study was conducted by Dr. Stephen Porter from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and published in the Journal of Legal and Criminological Psychology. It looked at 310 men who spent at least two years in a Canadian prison between 1995 and 1997. Most had committed violent crimes.
Ninety of the men were classified as psychopaths. They had committed significantly more offenses than the non-psychopaths. The psychopathic child abusers among them had far more charges and convictions than non-psychopathic offenders.
Yet the psychopaths won the get-out-of-jail-free card much more often than ordinary criminals.
“Despite their long and diverse criminal records and much higher risk posed to the community, psychopaths appear to be able to convince decision-makers throughout the correctional system that they can be reintegrated into society successfully,” Dr. Porter wrote.
Oscar award winning performances
How did they do it? Charm and crocodile tears. The researcher said they put on a good show.
“They use non-verbal behavior, a ‘gift of gab,’ and persuasive emotional displays to put on an Oscar award winning performance and move through the correctional system and ultimately parole boards relatively quickly, despite their known diagnosis.”
And apparently, it wasn’t just the members of the parole boards who were fooled—it was everyone who had any input into the parole decision.
“I don’t want to pick on the (National) Parole Board,” Porter said in an interview. “The parole board gets all kinds of information therapy reports and case management reports and so on. So psychopaths are probably putting on a good show for everyone.”
What happened after the psychopaths won their freedom? They committed another crime. On average, they offended again and were returned to prison after one year, compared with two years for non-psychopaths.
Let’s not berate ourselves
Dr. Porter says that the parole boards and psychologists need help in dealing with psychopaths.
“We need to acknowledge that training in this area is essential and that objective file information is much more reliable than trying to assess performance in an interview context,” he said.
So here’s the conclusion for us survivors: We should never again berate ourselves for falling for a psychopath. After all, the professionals who dealt with these predators every day, and had access to their criminal files, were just as clueless as we were.
For more information on this study, see:
BBC: Psychopaths’ ”˜early release con’
Ottawa Citizen: Psychopaths use charm, lies to fool parole officials
Thanks for bringing these studies to broader notice. We all need to accept the reality that Psychopaths talk rings around almost everyone. Our Ps are going to leave incarceration earlier than other criminals, and they’re going to enjoy broad social support in spite of their awful behavior.
Armed with the truth, we cope better.
Doesn’t surprise me. My S was a non-violent felon. I met him 3 weeks after he was released from prison. But, based on how he scammed his probation officer, I can pretty much tell that he scammed the entire criminal justice system. From the word go.
He managed to convince the judge that he deserved to be sent to a “shock incarceration facility” instead of prison — where he could get “treatment” for his drug addiction. Hell, if any idiot had gone online and goggled his name they would have come up with a string of default judgments for all the scams he had run and all the creditors he defaulted on. He had no discernible employment history. He had a history of being disruptive in school. And on. And on. And on.
But, the judge bought it all. And he only served 10 months of his system. So obviously the shock incarceration officials and the parole board bought his act.
He used to tell me about the various probation department mandated programs he had to attend and how he’d shine the drug counselors and group therapy leaders. He scammed his probation officer from the get-go. He was constantly going out of state with no permission. I now see, in retrospect, that he knew how to pass the drug tests even though he was using. He made a mockery of the criminal justice system.
No, the findings of this study don’t surprise me. What I’d like to know is what percentage of those studied ended up back in the crimnal justice system and how long it took them to end up back in it.
Well, this is NO SUPRISE TO ME!!!!
The Trojan Horse psychopath that finally went back to prison after a failed attempt to kill my son C after C discovered the affair between him and my son’s wife: Here is his rap sheet (15 pages long)
Multiple drug convictions & sentenced to rehab repeatedly
burgulary of a house,
Multiple convictions of driving either drunk or drugged
EVERY parole he had ever been on was revoked because of new criminal activity.
THREE separate sexual offenses of children, aged 9, 11 and 14 for which he served over 10 years.
Dishonorable discharge from military service
These offenses, totaled 15 pages of offenses and parole revocations.
He was charged this last time ONLY with being a felon in control of a fire arm, given a 5 yr with 2 suspended. He was eligible for parole in about 8 months. I was able to stop that because he was scheduled to go to a half way house which is prohibited by Arkansas law 679. The p-arole board did NOT know he was a sex offender OR they knew and didn’t care and were going to slip him under the radar until I called and raised hell with them. (They do NOT like me–DUH!)
He did get out about 6 months later though and apparently had hooked up with some Christian groups in prison who helped this poor misguided soul to get a place to live etc.
Though he had a no-contact order (his parole officer did NOT know this) and he called my egg donor and actually TRIED TO BORROW MONEY FROM HER. Nothing was done about this. I spoke to the POs supervisor and she was nicer to me, but I am not sure she took me too seriously either.
I also sent them written documentation and a letter outlining in great graphic detail his past crimes.
IN ADDITION TO THIS—in texas where he committed his crimes, he was rated as a HIGH RISK FOR VIOLENCE AND REOFFENSE SEX OFFENDER LEVEL 4. In Arkansas he is rated a 2 that is TWO–which means he will NOT SHOW UP ON A COMPUTER SCAN OF SEX OFFENDERS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD–the reason??????? He did not do these crimes in Arkansas! DUH?????
I also pointed out that he was already stalking a 12 year old boy int he neighborhood where he was renting a house from me.
The reoffense rate of sexual offenders who “do” children is almost 100%—so what’ya think? He’s not going to reoffend? I bet he already has! Just hasn’t gotten caught yet!
As for “passing” drug tests while using, as long as they use the piss tests, they can be beaten. I used to do pre-employment drug tests for a factory and I could always tell who was using and who wasn’t by the fact that they were so hyper-hydrated that their urine specific gravity was almost identical with distilled water. If the specific gravity was not higher I would invalidate the test until they came back in.
Body hair tests are much more reliable because they can tell the drug use as long as the hair is stuck to the body!
Matt, CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM is an oxymoron!!!!
Can you guys tell my dander is up? LOL
(despite their known diagnosis) that is why no contact is our only salvation…despite knowing what he is,he is so good at what he does I don’t trust myself around him, it’s like they cast spell’s – vampires – I dont know much about his criminal past but he had no drivers license ten years prior to meeting me – I helped him get legal, helped him get a vehicle and set him free to torment the good people of the world – my bad….
no, not surprising.
i have watched my ex talk himself out of more traffic violation stops — things that may have landed others a trip to jail. also got busted for smoking weed on the street, but eventually had the cop laughing and walking away. incredible.
he has assaulted people and never got in trouble for it. no one would ever snitch on him because he’s ‘the man.’
he actually told me once that on the street they called him ”truth.” how freakin’ funny is that? or not.
NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT THEM
Wow, what a surprise. (being sarcastic). I would guarantee my S talked his way out of the army fraud charges and probably played on their sympathy being an Iraqi vet with a young child.
They have these rehab-therapy programs for sex offenders that are supposed to have some limited success. Has anyone ever heard of a program like that being successful? I know because I once dated someone that I found out many years later liked to fondle kids. I found out he served a few years of prison time and then went into that program for several years. According to his mother, he is supposed to be rehabilitated. Is this even possible?
This is one subject that has driven me to “tears and fears”. How these “parasitic” people will feed off agencies social programs as well as the legal system. They have years of personal experience in this area. I always tell myself if one wants to learn how to con and abuse the system(s) well just asked a sociopath. But then you take a chance for remember they are “power” driven and pathological liars as well.
We had a psychpathic rapist here in Ark back when Clinton was president. He raped a young woman who was a distant cousin to Clinton (I am not even sure she knew clinton) but anyway, the rape was so brutal (though she lived) that some of the local good old boys caught this guy BEFORE the cops did and CASTRATED him.
He was finally caught, convicted and put in prison for life without parole. But his attorneys (sorry, Matt) convinced the courts and the GOVERNOR after several years that he was NOW HARMLESS because he was castrated and that it was ‘CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT’ and he should be released.
Well, the governor commuted his sentence, and guess what!!! WITHIN A MONTH AFTER RELEASE, HE HAD RAPED AGAIN AND KILLED THE WOMAN, and been rearrested.
I’m not “for” the vigilante castration that happened, because this is supposedly, and SHOULD BE, a country of LAWS and the judicial system and police system SHOULD protect us from CRIMINALS, but as long as psychopaths can use their cunning to convice people to pity them, or to trust them, they will always slide under the radar.
That’s why I carry a gun. A cop is wayyyyy too heavy, and when seconds count, the cops are only minutes away. I won’t go after my P that is out on parole now, but I WILL DEFEND MYSELF IF HE COMES AFTER ME AGAIN. I will also do my best to convince th eparole board to keep my p-son in prison for the rest of his natural life, bercause if he gets out, he WILL be a worse danger to my other two sons, even if I am dead and gone.
Hi,
A newbie…..hi. Responding here as it appears to be the newest post, and where the ‘action is’. The exP/N (who knows, they have so much in common), was not a violent offender or even in trouble with the law, so far as I could tell. But he is always on the edge of legality (drugs in home, seducing for money, and basically doing things that are ‘just under the radar’). But he, like all the others, does have the uncanny ability to get out of just about anything, and have a staunch group of current supporters who are more than willing to ‘testify’ to his integrity and his having ‘changed their life’.
Seems to me that parole board folks and other law or social helpers alike, all seem to be just as vulnerable to the twisted communications, ‘acts’ of contrition, upbeat attitudes, and flattery as the rest of us. Just rubbing up against that kind of ‘confidence and magic’ makes people’s brains turn to mush. All that promise of perfection/confidence and ability is intoxicating to so many of us.
We, the law, will continue to release these creatures, and be shocked by their reoffense so long as we keep wanting to ‘believe’ in the fairy tale versions of our own lives, and reject the real human experience.
Gosh….I hope I am not being too….too. Glad to have found this group. I look forward to learning and participating.