Saturday, December 27, 2008

How much blame psychopaths deserve ? (No Country for Old Men (2007))

I think classical psychopaths, like Anton, deserves less blame for what they do than people who act against their own ethical instincts when breaking laws and hurting other people.

Like a colorblind person wouldn't possible understand the difference between red & green, a full psychopath wouldn't understand the difference between right & wrong when it comes to other people. A psychopath is incapable to feel sympathy for other people. A psychopath genuinely believes he is the center of the universe, and other people & animals can be used and abused with impunity for his personal gain or pleasure.

Punishing a psychopath in an effort to condition him not to repeat his actions might be difficult, if not impossible, since as someone without receptors for physical pain, tends to traumatize himself inadvertently, even at his own peril, someone without "receptors" for ethical/emotional pain, will tend to traumatize others , even at his own peril.

Prisons are full of psychopaths. And I believe we should clinically test prison's population, and separate psychopaths from non-psychopaths. Non-psychopaths should be allowed to enter back the society as soon as they finish their sentence. While psychopaths, who previously committed violent crimes, should be transferred from prison to a highly secured apartments and kept there in a lifetime civil commitment.

True psychopaths are as much victims to their own nature, as other severely mentally ill patience, and I believe we should punish & judge people for what they do, not for who they are. And since psychopaths deeds stem from the nature of their being, we should not judge or punish them. Neither we can rehabilitate them, at least yet. Thus, lifetime civil isolation of violent psychopaths is the most ethical decision the society can make in regards to psychopaths.

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