Criminal Psychology part 1

[Preety_India]

My life long dream was to be a criminal psychologist and join the field of forensics. 

That's not possible for now at least since I feel ill prepared for it. 

I have applied for psychology classes and they will schedule for the spring semester this year. 

But that's general psychology. I wanted to major in criminal psychology however currently there is no offer for it. The course administrators told me that they can hold courses if there are enough students wanting to enroll for criminal psychology. 

So that's that. Anyway I have decided to do my own private research in this area. 

One of the administrators told me that it is possible to enroll for classes in fall semester if they get a minimum number of students by then. So I can  still try my luck later this year. 

Till then I'm left to researching things on my own. However having a professional degree helps a lot in case I want it as a full on career or if such a career opportunity even exists in my place. 

So anyway, I'll use this journal to record my important insights and ideas that I gather throughout my research and study. 

I'll use well known criminal cases and internet resources for my case studies that I can use as presentations if I strike luck and join a course. 

Here I go..... 

 

 

 

[Preety_India]

In this part I'll be researching and discussing narcissism, Psychopathy and sociopathy which are basic branches of grasping criminal psychology.. 

I dreamed of becoming an FBI profiler but that's just a pipedream right now because without a formal degree I can't do much. 

 

[Preety_India]

My resources that I'll gather are mostly from YouTube and the internet and I can say I'm lucky. I have already browsed through and studied copious amount of material. 

Yet I want to explore it in great depth. 

That's my goal. Is to get a firm grip on whatever I'm learning. 

 

 

 

[Preety_India]

For narcissism I have mostly relied on Richard Grannon and Sam Vaknin although I don't like the delivery of Vaknin. It can be a bit longer than necessary. 

Grannon and Dr Ramani are good at explaining. Grannon has a goldmine of information on the subject. So it's Kinda hard for me to go through it at all. 

I'll be assimilating the information slowly and gradually.

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

Grannon's material is quite profound on this subject. 

For example, one of his videos that I really appreciate in terms of psychological insights is this one. 

He speaks to the point without making it too long. 

 

 

My prime focus in this journal is going to be on 

• Narcissists
• Psychopaths (primary and secondary) 
• Sociopaths 

This is a good one. 

https://youtu.be/XdBgp7XS1BA

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

I will use this criminal case study for explaining and exploring psychopaths.

 

[Preety_India]

@Marcel

......................................................

 

 

 

 

One can notice a complete demeanor change in the suspect. The suspect is being highly self protective.

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

I'll have a scale for Psychopaths. A 10 point scale. Points 1 to 5 for lower levels. Points 5 to 10 for moderate and high levels of psychopathic behavior. 

 

I'll place Stephen McDaniels at score 8 on the psychopath scale. 

To me he is exhibiting extremely high levels of psychopathy. 

How did I reach this conclusion? 

• His complete change in demeanor. 180° degree. Indicative of chameleon behavior observed in psychopaths. 
• Extreme and bold faced lying - psychopaths are experts at lying effortlessly. 
• Don't crack under pressure 
• Ability to stare - hard cold stare that can make anyone nervous. See the detective stops looking at Stephen McDaniels and looks away at the table because of his constant staring. 
• No display of emotions 
• Non chalant attitude towards his friend's death 
• His over acting and feigned emotions during an earlier interview to the media 
• His callousness 
• Psychopaths are highly self protective. This can be both a good as well as a bad trait. Good because it's very much needed for survival. Bad because it can be used stealthily against others. Here a complete demeanor change in McDaniels is frightening and extremely self protective in order to prevent himself from confession or any information leakout to the interrogators. He is making himself anxiety proof as much as possible. He wants the investigators to basically get nothing out of him, this is a strong predatory trait, he is secretly enjoying the confusion and helplessness of the investigators who simply cannot arrest him despite knowing that he had something to do with the disappearance of the victim. 
• Him collecting underwear and knives is an indication of both psychopathy and sociopathy. 

 

 

Common signs of psychopathy

socially irresponsible behavior.

disregarding or violating the rights of others.

inability to distinguish between right and wrong.

difficulty with showing remorse or empathy.

tendency to lie often.

manipulating and hurting others.

recurring problems with the law.

 

I can see that the traits highlighted in bold are very generously visible in Stephen's behavior. He had no regard for the rights of the victim to the point that he felt entitled to take her life and justified this action in his mind.

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

I'll post some videos here for future reference and study. 

 

[Preety_India]

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

 

 

 

 

 

[Preety_India]

 

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/XdBgp7XS1BA

 

 

If I'm unable to categorize a specific behavior or profile as narcissist, psychopath and sociopath then I'll categorize it as GCB or general criminal behavior. 

In some examples I get a bit confused as to how you should classify the suspect's behavior. 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

What a coincidence! 

I happened to browse through YouTube and clicked on a video that described a horrific old case of a young girl murdered by a group. I was checking through her memorial pages and then checked today's date and suddenly realized that today, January 13 is the 30th anniversary of her death, that's a huge psychic coincidence. I happened to click on her case and learn about it right on the day she died 30 years ago. RIP Shanda Sharer. May you rest in peace and may you get justice one day. 

This case has baffled me and left me in deep trouble. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason that is beyond explanation, I felt deep pain and empathy and sorrow for the last 5 hours when I watched this and throughout it I could sense the pain of the girl the way I have never felt before. I could actually feel physical pain that this girl went through. I felt a psychic connection with her and her suffering. I felt a strange kind of pain and sadness very personally. I bless her soul, heart and spirit that she finds peace through suffering. Her spirit is liberated from the pain she went through and it seems her spirit is already at peace. The killers could not kill her soul. And I hope the killers face karma. 

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

I'll talk about the Shanda Sharer case later, not on her death anniversary. 

 

[Preety_India]

 

This is a good discussion on this topic. 

 

 

[Preety_India]

When I'm learning criminal psychology I am inadvertently developing sympathy for criminals. 

I feel like crying for them. 

 

I can finally understand victim shaming and blaming and why it happens 

Why is society so blind to the suffering of people who are hurt? 

Why do we jump to point a finger at a criminal and then completely forget underlying factors? 

I used to hate criminals. I don't love criminals now, of course there is no reason to love them. But I feel very different from what I used to feel before. 

There are always two sides to a coin. And I think this is the approach we need towards crime. 

If you truly want to end crime or at least minimize it, then you need to stop being judgemental. 

You need to step into the shoes of the criminal and think from their side. Why they did what they did? 

You have to get to the bottom of it. 

We say psychopaths are bad. We say narcissists are bad. But who is creating these people? 

Isn't society not responsible at all why crimes happen? 

We want to place blame. We want to point the finger. We want the witch hunt. We want someone to rot so we can feel justified 

 

Yes crime is bad and criminals are wrong but maybe, just maybe we can think for a moment, about the circumstances that lead to it, instead of solely focusing on the criminal. 

 

 

[Preety_India]

Yesterday I went through so many videos on the Chris Watts crime. 

And I saw so many videos of Shan (I'll just call her that). 

And there were so many similarities between her and my mom. 

I absolutely agree with some of the YouTubers when they talk about her behavior with her kids. It's so not normal. 

I mean that's how my mom was. That resulted into me completely becoming unstable emotionally. 

I just watched this video. 

 

I think that Shan was a narcissistic mother.. I feel bad for her kids. And many users pointed out the exact same thing. 

When I was growing up, my mom would laugh at me if I was scared. Instead of being worried. 

I was given the best clothes to wear. She would spend literally every thing my father earned. 

She was the boss who decided everything. 

It was terrible because everyone's Job was to appease my mom, everyone's job was to follow her command. 

It was always all about her. 

She would constantly shame me for every little thing. 

Everything was either my father's fault or my fault. 

The woman speaks the truth. 

 

So i read this comment and it makes perfect sense. 

 

 

 

 

 

This sounds so much like me. 

 

 

I can describe all of this. 

When I was growing up (and also when I was In a relationship with Joseph), I went through similar things described in the comment. 

 

• I was put down and ridiculed
• I was always told what to do 
• I was always supposed to be the caretaker 
• My needs were never given a priority 
• Groomed to feel special through helping. Joseph particularly did this specific behavior. He would constantly reward me whenever I helped him.. I was "wonderful," "special" and "big hearted" whenever I helped him. Yet when I wanted to do something I wanted to do and not available for him, then I was suddenly "bitch," "pathetic woman", "useless," "fat," "loser", and all sorts of horrible things in the world. I was being groomed to think that I was good only when I did something for him. Other times I was bad. If I was busy I was a bad person. If I was feeling tired and slept I was "bad and lazy."....... Yup that is something my mom would do all the time.. 

I was the bad child if I didn't discard my needs and do her work.. I was a very good child if I completely abandoned myself and only paid attention to her needs all the time. 

• Out of touch with their own needs. This happened a lot around Joseph and my mom.. My needs were always on the back burner. Their needs were first. I lost touch with who i was.. Even the day I came back from the hospital, I wasn't given time to focus on my own health issues.. I was supposed to care for Joseph even on that day. Any permission to ask for time for myself would be frowned upon and looked as "uncaring or selfish".... Did I not have an identity? Was I not a human being with my own needs? Did I even exist??? 
• I didn't think I deserve better. I still don't think I deserve better. It's extremely hard to convince myself that I deserve better. Why????????? Because narcissists make you feel hollow and undeserving. They make you feel worthless. 
• Are willing to play dumb. I had to do this with Joseph. I had to play dumb. Why?? Because he had to win the argument. If he called the earth flat I had to call it flat as well.. If he said he knew more than me, I had to agree with a nod.... I had to act silly so that his Highness would forgive me for a small mistake that would be made into a crime. I had to play dumb all the time or else he wouldn't feel good. If I said any thing intelligent, I would be met with dismissal and humiliation. 
• Dislike and avoid confrontation. Yes yes yes. I would avoid confrontation with Joseph because those confrontations were ugly. I would fear them.. He would act like a total boss and own every conversation. Even my truths were muted. I would dread any confrontation with him. Also I not only dreaded him confronting me, I dreaded confronting him as well. For example if he was acting nasty or clearly telling me a lie, I would not want to question him about it out of fear. I would rather let it go than confront him. This happened too many times that I lost count. I felt an absolute sense of fear if I wanted to ask him anything about anything because that meant enduring his rage, anger. If I ever said anything even slightly, the next few days were going to be torture, anger, abusive words, accusations and verbal assault. It was impossible to object to anything at all. He would make it absolutely clear that any objection would be disaster. In fact my mom would do this on several occasions. She would approach me like a gangster. Any refusal or objection to her would mean "hell" for me. It's like an indirect threat. 
•  
•  

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

Continued from above... 

• Afraid of arguments..I have no idea how many times I denied medical help and hospitalization simply because my mother would get angry. It was the major cause behind my father's death. For some reason if any family member needed medical help no matter how urgent, my mother's first reaction would be "NO." she would be angry if someone fell ill. Nobody was supposed to fall ill because it meant the family income would be used. She wanted all the money for her own needs so if anyone fell sick except herself, she would feel absolutely angry that she would need to spend money on that member and not have enough to herself. 

So whenever my father fell sick, she would curse him and tell him to die instead of trying to help him. If I fell ill and asked for medical help, she would tell me to forget it. 

This happened once and I needed just 1 dollar to buy medicine. It was just an over the counter OTC medication that I needed for my infection. It was costing only 1 dollar and that was extremely cheap for her to buy. I was in my teens and I had no money. I was attending school. I begged my mother for 1 dollar to get the medicine. It was urgent because I was fainting and mostly unwell. She refused which made my infection much worse and permanently damaged my organs. 

I remember that moment very well when I was crying and begging her for money for a simple medical assistance and she kept refusing. 

She also refused treatment to my father that eventually led to his death. I will never forget that. That's what narcissism and narcissistic abuse does. 

She would control my father's money that he had earned and saved. 

 

And why didn't my father stand up to my mother? 

and why didn't I stand up to my mother? 

Because we both were afraid of arguments. 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

Continued from above 

• Enable and forgive abuse 
• Are insecure. 
• Lack emotional intelligence 
• Feel responsible for the narc's happiness and basic survival 

Yes yes yes. 

I forgave Joseph and my mom every fucking time. Guess what I was always supposed to be the forgiver meanwhile they get to do what they want. 

• Are insecure - I was insecure of losing my mom's approval and validation. Because she had brainwashed me as a child into thinking that without her validation I was a zero. 
• Lack emotional intelligence—I lacked emotional intelligence to recognize signs of abuse. 
• Feel responsible for the narc's happiness and survival — yup.. I absolutely felt responsible for Joseph's happiness. My job was to constantly keep him in a happy mood. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Preety_India]

This video is also on point. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Preety_India