Communicating with psychopaths in law enforcement settings

Abstract Psychopathy is a complex, multifaceted construct expressing itself in affectively cold, interpersonally deceptive, behaviorally reckless and often overtly antisocial behavior. Psychopaths can be described as intra-specific predators who resort to charm, manipulation, intimidation and violence to control others and achieve immediate satisfaction of their desires. However, labeling the psychopath as a pathological liar can prove problematic in criminal justice settings, namely in the intervention of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) when confronted with a psychopath. There is a wide range of possibilities in which a police officer can interact with a psychopath, whether performing frontline police duties as a patrol officer or at the level of criminal investigation. Probably the markedly communicational contexts in which this social interaction is most likely to occur are police negotiations and the investigative interviewing. This chapter analyses both contexts (i.e., the investigative interviews and the crisis and hostage negotiations setting), by analyzing the interplay between police officers and psychopathic suspects. We can conclude that ethically based approaches to interpersonal interactions are associated with a greater likelihood of obtaining the desired outcomes. Even with psychopaths, only a human rights-compliant interpersonal interaction is acceptable and tends to lead to positive results.