Even as neuroscientists aim for new treatments, many psychiatrists remain resistant to the idea that psychopathy should be identified as a disorder. It is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which instead used a more general broad, term “anti-social personality disorder.” This frustrates researchers like Dr. Kiehl, who says it is time for the medical community and the criminal justice system to see it as a brain disorder like other mental illnesses. “Everyone understands if you have a child with low IQ they aren't as responsible and don't make the same choices. What about a child that has an emotional IQ in the same low range?”
But Stephen Porter, a psychologist at the Centre for the Advancement of Psychological Science and Law at the University of British Columbia, argues the opposite position – that, in fact, the ability to feel no emotion, makes them more able to react rationally, and has no impact on their ability to understand right from wrong. “They are every bit as rational as any human being, if not more so, because they don't have the noise of human emotion,” says Dr. Porter. In his research, he has studied psychopaths in Canadian prisons, analyzing their crimes. He found that while psychopaths committed thefts and assaults without much premeditation, they were far less likely to kill in passion. Their murders were almost always carefully planned and executed. He describes them as “selective impulsive,” that is, they carefully weigh the costs and benefits of their deeds – the likelihood of being caught, the steeper punishment of life in prison for murder if they are careless. He points as well to research that has shown they are more than twice as likely to be granted parole. “They can put on Academy Award-winning performances for the parole board,” he says. And for juries.
Though never officially diagnosed as a psychopath, Mr. Williams appears to fit the profile. The way he toyed with his victims like playthings, unable to offer mercy: “Have a heart,” one pleaded, as he unflinchingly duct-taped her nose to suffocate her. The singular attention with which he catalogued photos and video of his crimes. The fleeting shows of remorse. (He feels “disappointed,” he tells police in his confession, about what he's done.)
All the while, he wore the mask of sanity, in place for so long and so well, that he tortured and killed, and then went to work to discuss whether the military should buy a new aircraft transport. That's also the measure of a cunning psychopath: He's often the last guy you'd ever suspect.
However, Mr. Williams is a curiosity in some respects – for his apparent late start into heinous crime, the quiet worry he expressed, upon realizing he was caught, for his wife (and her shiny new floor that might be scratched in a police search of their Ottawa home), even his ability to hide himself in an environment that required taking orders without protest. Read what you will into his tearful statement of regret at his court sentencing on Thursday.
By some estimates, as many as one per cent of men are psychopaths working and living among us. “Many of us will come across a psychopath at some time in our lives, and you really have to know how to defend yourself against these perfect actors,” says Dr. Porter. “We have to have some kind of ammunition.”
When asked about his past early in his confession, Mr. Williams told police, “it will be very boring.” That's one statement science has clearly revealed to be a lie.
