Casey Anthony and her ilk

“The wicked ones, who are constantly being born amongst us, are often distinguished by appearing as angels of light and wit and intelligence, charming and fascinating beyond usual mortal endowments, apparently loving and always exciting love even among those who are of a usually cynical nature. In truth, they appear most lovable and amiable, for it is their diabolical genius to be all things to all men, grave among the grave, gay among the gay, sympathetic in the company of those of sensibility, never openly hostile or belligerent; flexible of temperament, of an open countenance and invariably possessed of great magnetism. –More of these wicked ones are born in each generation than we know of, but those who are unfortunately of their blood know that they entertain a demon, and not unawares. May God preserve you and me from encountering one such in marriage or among our children!”

~ Marcel Proust

For some odd reason I woke up with a mild urge to comment on the Casey Anthony murder trial. I thought well, if I’m going to I ought to do it now because a verdict should be in after the holiday.

Though as affected as any other decent human being by this, I don’t share the obsessive interest much of the public seems to have in this sad spectacle. It is no surprise to me that evil exists in the world. Nor do I share the career-minded journalists’ delight in covering such a juicy story. I’ve covered a child murder story, and it about killed me.

But for what it’s worth here’s my opinion. From everything I’ve seen of the story on the news, all evidence points in one direction.

Casey Anthony is guilty. She killed her adorable little girl because she found her inconvenient. She could have given her up for adoption, or just dumped her with her grandparents. Instead she smothered her and buried her body in the woods, after leaving her in the trunk of her car long enough for advanced decomposition to set in, just like the prosecutor said.

The defense is offering a series of wildly improbably scenarios, including not one, but two variations of the notorious “Plan B”: Blame somebody else, and blame childhood sex abuse (the Menendez defense.) One can hardly blame them, they’ve got bupkiss to work with – though I sometimes wish there were sanctions for defaming the innocent to defend the guilty. (I believe there are in military trials, at least when defaming an officer.)

Testimony has shown beyond dispute that Anthony is a serial liar and fantasist. Not just in this case, but as part of a long history of lying. Moreover, she lies in a particular way. An example from news reports: she told her parents she had a cool job at Universal Studios, and actually took them there, talked her way past security and only copped to the lie in the corridor of a building at the last possible moment the lie could be maintained. And that’s only one example, not related to the web of lies concerning the case itself.

I know this pattern.

Yes, her parents have been caught in lies and contradictions. The difference is, there is a straightforward comprehensible motive in their case. They know their daughter is guilty, but they don’t want to see her die.

Casey Anthony is something I’ve seen before. To be precise, in the brother of an old girlfriend, the wife of a close relative, and in a martial arts colleague I had only passing acquaintance with. I’ve also had the opportunity to discuss the type with a cop who’d studied the type at the FBI school, and a social worker who had an interest in such.

I used to call the type a “sociopath.” I’ve had arguments with people who say the correct term is “psychopath.” Now I find the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders says both are wrong and the correct term is “Anti-social Personality Disorder.

I rather like the old British legal term “morally insane.”

The DSM has this to say about it (thanks Wikipedia):

A) There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three or more of the following:
1. failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;
2. deception, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
3. impulsiveness or failure to plan ahead;
4. irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;
5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others;
6. consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;
7. lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another;
B) The individual is at least age 18 years.
C) There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years.
D) The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or a manic episode.

New evidence points to the fact that children often develop Antisocial Personality Disorder as a cause of their environment, as well as their genetic line. The individual must be at least 18 years of age to be diagnosed with this disorder (Criterion B), but those commonly diagnosed with ASPD as adults were diagnosed with Conduct Disorder as children. The prevalence of this disorder is 3% in males and 1% from females, as stated from the DSM IV-TR.

One important disagreement, I flat don’t believe that 3% males and 1% females figure. In my entire life I’ve met precisely three individuals I was sure of, with perhaps a few borderline cases. There are lots of other ways to be screwed up than this, some of which have some of the same characteristics, but even 3% plus 1% would stand out far more.

Some personal observations:

* These people appear to be born this way, and by “this way” I mean born without what we call a conscience. In all cases known to me, their families have seen this since the earliest age.

* They can be very charming. Having no sense of embarrassment can evidently enable one to be a master manipulator.

* By seeing what effects the lack of a conscience has, it appears that conscience is somehow related to the ability to imagine the future as real, i.e. to understand the idea of consequences.

It’s been years since I’ve read it, but in a book called “Powers of Mind” (1982) by a financial writer who used the pen name “Adam Smith” there was a description of an experiment allegedly performed on both normal people and ASPD’s serving hard time in prison.

Note, I can’t confirm this at present, and I believe this experiment could not be replicated under current protocols for experiments on human subject. Then again, neither could the Milgram Experiments.

What the author claimed was, an experimental subject would be strapped into a chair with his/her hand on an electrode, then given a painful shock. They were then told they’d get an even more painful shock in X seconds (I believe it was from 30-60 seconds but don’t remember) – or they could push a button and get it over with now.

The alleged result was, most people nerve themselves up for a few seconds and push the button. The ASPD/sociopath always, as in always, waits and gets it when the time’s up.

As I said, I can’t find this, but it jibes with my experience.

What would you say about a person with above-average intelligence who tells a lie that is certain to be discovered within a short period of time, to gain a relatively trivial advantage? Who takes an airplane across the country to cover a hot check with another hot check? (When asked for something more substantial than his word and a check, the individual drew himself up in high dudgeon and said, “What kind of man do you think I am?” The receiver of the check found out, within 24 hours.)

I believe it was also Smith who said in prison interviews with this type, the prison shrinks are sometimes discomfited when probing for early life experiences when they hear offhand remarks like, “That was the time I smothered my bratty little brother with a pillow. Parents thought it was crib death.”

* No remorse, for sure. The then-wife of a close relative at a family gathering once swiped a diamond ring belonging to a guest at the house they were staying in. She was found out when her husband picked up her jeans and it fell out of a pocket. Confronted she just shrugged, “Big deal.”

* Acting on impulse, ditto. This can make them very good at stealing. If you or I for some reason decided we had to snatch something, how good do you think you’d be at it? Likely blow it I’d guess. You’d try to nerve yourself up, get over your hesitation and choke when it came down to it. You’d have to practice hard to be a good thief. The way it works for these people is: see it, want it, take it.

My Gung Fu brothers and I called this the “Wu-wei of stealing.”

* If you’re not careful they can always be a step ahead of you in their thinking. I was visiting with one of my relatives when she got a phone call from a telephone operator, saying a friend was stuck somewhere and asking permission to charge a long-distance call to her. (Remember when you could do this? Can you still, or has this gone the way of party lines?)

We resumed our conversation for a few minutes when it struck us, “Hey, wait a minute! Why didn’t she call her parents?” Phoned the alleged caller. Nope, she wasn’t stuck anywhere. It was the ex-in-law of course, just a few minutes ahead of us.

* There is no therapy that has any effect on the true sociopath. My relative used to say of her in-law, “Her family isn’t getting her the help she needs!”

I told her, “There is no help, and they know this.”

I once asked my old gf’s grandmother about her grandson, “I don’t mean to intrude, but have you considered taking him to a psychologist.”

“We did,” she said, “they said there’s nothing wrong with him.”

A friend who’d been a research psychologist said shrinks don’t have a lot of experience with the type, because they don’t generally see them in their practice – they see their victims. On the rare occasions they do, such as in prison settings, the reaction they get is, “There’s nothing wrong with me, it’s all the no-good $#!+s around me.”

* What my cop acquaintance told me was that it’s been observed sociopaths (that’s the term he favored) may tend to grow a conscience around middle age. Unfortunately by that time they’re usually doing hard time in the slammer. It is thus an open question of whether they’ve actually developed a conscience or just learned to fool the shrink.

* An interesting thing the social worker told me was, there is such a thing as a “well-adjusted sociopath.” (He also preferred that term.) They have enough smarts to stay out of prison and find a niche where their… talents, can actually benefit them in a more-or-less legitimate way. In particular, he said they tend to gravitate into two professions.

One is lawyer. But you guessed that already, didn’t you? Care to guess the other?

High-pressure salesman. The kind who can pour on the charm to sell you something you don’t need at a price you can’t afford.

I have to say I think these are heading into the only marginally legal cons these days. Most businesses have discovered that high pressure sales is counterproductive in that the customers may buy, but tend not to return.

* One of my Wu-wei Gung Fu brothers came up with the most perceptive diagnostic tool for the laymen wanting to identify ASPD.

He said, “Look out for someone who has no old friends.”

This was incredibly perceptive I thought. If you or I have lived in a certain place for 20 years, we’re going to have some friends we’ve known about that long.

Sociopaths usually have lots of friends and admirers, it’s that charm thing. But they have to constantly replenish their supply, because people do catch on and drift, or run, away.

“May God preserve you and me from encountering one such in marriage or among our children!”

Note: There are two classic literary treatments of the ASPD child that probably gave birth to the “evil children” genre of horror fiction. One is “The Bad Seed,” (1953) by William March, subsequently made into a play with a screenplay by Maxwell Anderson, and a movie in 1956.

The other is a lesser-known book by Taylor Caldwell, “Wicked Angel” (1965) which begins with the quote from Proust above. “The Bad Seed” is about a little girl, “Wicked Angel” about a little boy.