This volume grew out of my Harvard seminar on Psychopaths and Psychopathy
in which the contributors participated by discussing these topics and cases
and by writing these materials. Some had previously taken one or more of my courses: lectures on Psychology and Law, seminars on The Insanity Defense and Confining the Sexually Dangerous. Profiles of all appear in About the Contributors.
This volume is modeled on the earlier ones that answered approximately one hundred frequently asked questions and presented over a dozen case studies. This
book follows that general organization. Because the answer to each question is self-contained and because readers may choose to explore the book in various ways, some materials are repeated where necessary to answer each question. For simplicity, the masculine pronoun has been used throughout when both males and females may be involved. On some occasions, a plural accompanies a singular to make the same point.
In addition to the questions and answers, to which everyone contributed, this volume also includes a number of case examples. As the members of the seminar began to explore their own potential cases, they realized that the topic is often examined elsewhere in too narrow a manner. Only the most extreme conventional criminals tend to be labeled as psychopaths. This volume reflects an expansion from a more narrow psychological and legal focus on ordinary street crime and criminals to include non-conventional white-collar crime and criminals as well and the problems of morality, and political and social policy which accompany those white-collar psychopaths.
Each contributor then explored a case illuminating an important aspect of the
broader topic of psychopathy and wrote an individual study about it. These Case Studies are arranged alphabetically. Their subtitles reflect the nature of the primary issue each addresses. In addition, the participants in the seminar explored collectively two case examples. The first involved two conventional criminals and the author who wrote about them, and the second, a corporation and the individuals within it, as well as the related professionals and organizations, many accused of non-conventional white-collar offenses against individuals and society itself.
Although this volume includes an extensive Bibliography, it does not refer specifically to each listing within the text itself. Intended for the general reader and not for the researcher or the scholar, this volume assists that reader in thinking about psychopaths and psychopathy by presenting varying approaches to the materials. At the same time, it provides a comprehensive list of references for those who may wish to examine further some aspect of the topic. All involved with this volume urge those who read it to explore at length these other works for their interpretations and particular styles. It is the hope of everyone who contributed to Thinking About Psychopaths and Psychopathy that this volume will encourage all readers to pursue further the many cases and concepts about which we hear and see so much.
Because the contributors conducted no interviews, clinical or otherwise, with any of the subjects in these cases, and because attempts to describe and to label the subjects depend on and thereby reflect what others have said and written, a strong cautionary note is in order about the material in this book. The inclusion of any individual or organization is not meant to imply that the diagnostic label of psychopath or psychopathy is necessarily applicable. The inclusion, instead, is meant to signal that this volume attempts to explore as broadly as possible the important topic of psychopaths and psychopathy and its legal, psychological, moral, and social relation to psychoforensic issues.
