CHARACTERIZING THE ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER
Antisocial behavior alone is not sufficient for the diagnosis of antisocial personality
disorder. Such behavior would merely qualify as "adult antisocial
behavior," which in DSM-II1 is ruled out as a mental disorder.
In order to qualify as a personality disorder, the antisocial behaviors must meet three
criteria.
First, the behavior has to be longstanding. There should be no period
of more than five years in which antisocial behavior has not occurred.
Second, current diagnostic criteria require substantial evidence of antisociality
before the age of fifteen. Such evidence can include habitual lying,
early and aggressive sexual behavior, excessive drinking, theft, vandalism,
and chronic rule violation at home and at school. Third, the present antisocial
behavior must be manifested in at least four classes ofbehavior, among
which are: inconsistent work performance; irresponsible parenting; unlawful
behaviors such as theft, pimping, prostitution, dealing drugs, or other felony
convictions; inability to sustain a relationship with a sexual partner;
repeated aggressiveness; recklessness that endangers others; repeated lying;
and failure to honor financial obligations.
The antisocial personality disorder...
then is defined by sustained antisocial behaviors that, having begun by
adolescence, continue in a variety of areas during adulthood.
These behavioral criteria make clear who can be diagnosed as having an
antisocial personality disorder and who cannot. What personality characteristics
are reflected in such behaviors? Hervey Cleckley, a lifelong student
of these behaviors and people, described some of their characteristics in The
Mask 0/Sanity (1964). Cleckley lists sixteen features of the sociopath's personality.
These sixteen characteristics can be reduced to three broad categories:
inadequately motivated antisocial behavior, the absence of a
conscience and sense of responsibility to others, and emotional poverty.
Inadequately Motivated Antisocial Behavior Crime "makes sense" for normal criminals.
We understand what they are doing and why, and so do they. They want to get rich-quick-and they may want status.
These are motivations we can understand, however much
we disapprove of the behaviors. But the crimes of sociopaths often seem
aimless, random, and impulsive. We do not understand why they did what
they did, and neither do they understand it. They seem not to be motivated
by any rational purpose, but rather seem perversely impulsive.
On October 7, 1976, Gary Gilmore was sentenced to death by a Utah court
after a seemingly purposeless crime spree, and On January 7, 1977, he became the
first person to be executed in the United States since 1966. During a psychological
evaluation to determine whether Gilmore was competent to stand trial, it was determined
that he suffered an antisocial personality disorder. Gilmore's activities
provide an interesting example ofcrime without understandable motives.
Gilmore had been released from prison only six months earlier, after serving
time for armed robbery. He promptly violated parole by leaving the state. His
probation officer gave him another chance. But shortly thereafter, following a
heated argument with his girlfriend, Gilmore stole a stereo. Once again, he persuaded
the policenot to bring charges. Gilmore himselfdescribed the next events:
"I pulled up near a gas station. I told the service station guy to give me all of his
money. I then took him to the bathroom and told him to kneel down and then I
shot him in the head twice. The guy didn't give me any trouble but I just felt like I
had to do it."
The very next morning, Gilmore left his car at another service station for minor
repairs and walked to a motel. "I went in and told the guy to give me the money. I
told him to lay on the floor and then I shot him. I then walked out and was carrying
the cash drawer with me. I took the money and threw the cash drawer in a
bush and I tried to push the gun in the bush too. But as I was pushing it in the
bush, it went off and that's how come I was shot in the arm. It seems like things
have always gone bad for me. It seems like I've always done dumb things that just
caused trouble for me."
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