Opening Remarks
Dr. Edward Blackwelder
30th Annual Social Work Seminar
Jacksonville State University
Department of Sociology and Social Work
April 1, 2011
My eleventh grade term paper assignment was to research and write a report on Crime in America. It sounded interesting but I knew very little about the subject. I went to my high school library and began to search for book and articles on the subject of crime. I found several books and the more I read the more interesting the subject became; I was hooked. Forty nine years later I am as hooked as ever and see no end in sight for my craving to learn more and more, not about what people in society do but why they do it.
I was fortunate in that I went on to college, earned degrees in crime related fields—political science, sociology and criminal justice and then move into the realm of theology where crime is often mentioned. After graduating from college I landed a job as department chairperson for a criminal justice/sociology program at a North Alabama college and remained in this position until my forced retirement due to Parkinson’s disease and related health issues.
If the is one thing you learn after forty six years as a student of crime it’s that the world is full of predators and they are often very difficult to spot. They come in all shapes and sizes, from every nationality, from the nicest neighborhoods to the poorest, and from every walk of life, men and women.
They come in many forms: the seemingly nice elderly man who scams you of your life’s savings, the priest that repeatedly rapes the choir boy, the stalker who kills college women, the neighbor who lures innocent children, the toxic boss who makes life miserable for his employees, the nurse that wants to rid the world of the elderly, the father who iimprisons and rapes his own daughter, or the husband who terrifies and beats his wife daily. They are all predators; they are in every way psychopaths.
What psychopaths have in common is a profound sense of entitlement to do as they please, to seek reward by any method, to deviate from rules and social norms, to violate laws as well as the dignity of others. They feel no compassion for those they offend or victimize. They suffer no guilt feelings and have no remorse, they are without conscience.
Most people think of psychopaths as violent offenders, such as my friend and serial killer Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, the worst I ever met, David Berkowitz the prisoner turned preacher, Jeffrey Dahmer, Dennis Lynn Rader the BTK killer and others. To be sure there are many like these guys, but most psychopaths operate under the radar of judicial or law enforcement scrutiny. They are embezzlers, white-collar criminals, politicians, government leaders, teachers, attorneys, ministers, even members of law enforcement.
Like snakes, psychopaths are plentiful, but only a few snakes will kill you; the others, make us uncomfortable, fearful, and ruin a good day. Psychopaths can have dreadful, long-term effects when they are leaders of countries—Stalin, Hitler and Castro for instance—or when they live or work close to us. Their capacity to ruin lives fills the front pages of our newspapers and certainly constitutes the vast majority of cases that are brought to criminal trial. In fact, it is estimated that anywhere from 60-80% of our prison population—most of the recidivists—is composed of psychopaths as I define the term. I say “as I define” because not everyone can agree on what definition is most accurate for a psychopath.
Psychopaths or psychopathy are not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. They prefer the gentler euphemistic term “Antisocial Personality Disorder. The APA says that these Antisocial Personalities have a “pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others,” and who do at least three of the following things:
- Fail to conform to social norms—they commit criminal acts.
- Are deceitful, lies, use aliases, con others.
- Are impulsive or fail to plan ahead.
- Are irritable and aggressive—fighting, punching, kicking or assaulting.
- Have reckless disregard for the safety of self and others.
- Are irresponsible when it comes to jobs, chores, obligations, or commitments.
- Lack remorse and are indifferent to suffering of others or rationalizes injuries caused to others.
This list may work for those that are not on the front line of dealing with humanity but for those of you that are on the front line, in the trenches, dealing with humanity, many times at its worst you want and need more information.
It doesn’t help us to properly identify these individuals until their acts are so terrible either we, or someone we know, is victimized. You and I must deal with them as neighbors, workmates, spouses, or leaders. And we must deal with them in real time without the expectation that anyone else is going to step in and identify these individuals for us.
These has to be a better way to identify these social predators who do such great harm, who violate rules, know no boundaries, steal or plunder, all without remorse.
Dr. Robert Hare, considered the world’s leading expert on psychopathy has stated; psychopaths are “intra-species predators.” They have the “capacity to do great harm, repeatedly, without remorse.”
Lacking a conscience or remorse, they violate rules, laws, norms, and human rights with no regard for those they offend. And while they can be charismatic, charming, witty, intelligent and good looking, they can also be smelly, ugly, and creepy. They can be the nice looking older couple next door or the good-looking guy going to the gym. What they do have in common is a lack of empathy or concern for you and me.
They are cold and indifferent, almost reptilian in their attitude toward others. They suffer no guilt and are not bothered by socially restraining norms of decency. They hate getting cause, but not committing their offense.
It’s difficult for us to understand why someone would kill a young child and it becomes almost impossible to understand the killing of 30 million people, but that’s exactly what Joseph Stalin, a psychopath, did. Look to at Theodore Robert Bundy, a friend of mine for a number of years leading to his execution in Florida; Wayne Williams the infamous Atlanta child murderer, Ken Bianchi, an inmate I have come to know quite well. Then there is Charlie….Charles Milles Manson, the one psychopath more people ask me about that all others combined even after forty plus year since his rampant crime spree took place.
It’s difficult for us to understand because we aren’t psychopaths. Stalin made the statement, “Kill one person and it’s a national tragedy, kill a million people it is a statistic.” And so he did because he could and that is the nature of the psychopath. They get away with as much as they can.
When Ted Bundy was on Florida’s death row and facing the electric chair in less than twenty-four hours his question to a corrections officer was, “how does my hair look?” This was as he was about to begin the standard press conference given to a condemned inmate the day before his or her execution.
Some of these individuals live in our neighborhoods and it’s up to us to try to identify them, not law enforcement because they don’t have the manpower and police officers can’t be everywhere. Some of these psychopaths work with children or even as church leaders. A case in point is Jack Walls III the Lonoke, Arkansas, Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year, son of a prominent Chancery Judge, strong church worker and Boy Scout Troop Leader.
Of course not all psychopaths kill in brutal ways. Sometimes their need for power, control, and God-like dominion over others can be exercised in more subtle ways. We must be prepared to look for clues because the police can’t do it alone, and the people who do these kinds of crimes are psychopaths.
And then there are the parental psychopaths, these are the ones that main, torture, humiliate, degrade, or kill their own children. Some do it slowly over the years, breaking bones, burning them, binding them to poles and there are others who do is swiftly as a matter of convenience.
FBI HIGH RISK REGISTER
- Alcohol abuse
- Drug abuse
- Psychiatric history
- Criminal history
- Sexual problems
- Physical abuse
- Psychological abuse
- Dominant father figure
- Negative relationship with male caretaker figures
- Negative relationships with both natural mother and/or adoptive mother
- Treated unfairly
- Head trauma
- Demon seed
Lee (1988) also created a variety of labels to differentiate killers according to motive. Serial murderers generally fall within “power or domination.” Lee’s label listing includes:
1. Profit
2. Passion
3. Hatred
4. Power or domination
5. Revenge
6. Opportunism
7. Fear
8. Contract killing
9. Desperation
10. Compassion
11. Ritual
A serial killer is typically defined as an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time (a “cooling off period”) between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Other sources define the term as “a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone” or, including the vital characteristics, a minimum of at least two murders. Often, a sexual element is involved with the killings, but the FBI states that motives for serial murder include “anger, thrill, financial gain, and attention seeking.” The murders may have been attempted or completed in a similar fashion and the victims may have had something in common; for example, occupation, race, appearance, sex, or age group.
Don’t walk in front of me,
I may not follow.
Don’t walk behind me,
I may not lead.
Walk beside me
And just be my friend.
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- § In 2009, the estimated number of violent crime offenses was 1,318,398, a decrease of 5.3 percent over the 2008 estimate.
- § All violent crime offense estimates decreased in 2009 when compared with the 2008 estimates. Robberies decreased 8.0 percent; murders decreased 7.3 percent; aggravated assaults decreased 4.2 percent; and forcible rapes decreased 2.6 percent.
- § The 2009 violent crime rate was 429.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, a decrease of 6.1 percent when compared with the 2008 violent crime rate.
- § When compared with 2008 rates, violent crime rates in 2009 declined in all offense categories.
- § In 2009, the murder rate was 5.0 per 100,000 inhabitants, an 8.1 percent decrease when compared with the rate for 2008.
- § The estimated number of property crimes in 2009 was 9,320,971, a 4.6 percent decrease from the 2008 estimate. The 2009 property crime rate, 3,036.1, was down 5.5 percent when compared with the 2008 figure.
- § The estimated number of motor vehicle thefts decreased 17.1 percent and larceny-theft and burglary decreased 4.0 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
Criminology is not always serious, at least when it comes to property once owned by infamous murderers. Let me give you a few examples. The 1972 Chevrolet station wagon pictured above is the infamous vehicle that convicted serial murderer Wayne B. Williams is accused of having used to transport several bodies onto the Jackson Memorial Parkway Bridge slowing down only long enough to dump a single body into the Chattahoochee River. Williams was convicted of having killed two of a large number of young black children in the late 70′s and early 80′s and is considered on of the nation’s most infamous serial murderers.