Psychopathy and the Violation of Human Rights

Source: Photo by K. Ramsland

In recent news featuring Russia’s assault on Ukraine, we’ve heard numerous allegations of human rights violations. U.S. Senator Steve Daines visited Kyiv suburbs and observed that there is “indisputable evidence of Putin’s war crimes everywhere. The images of shallow mass graves filled with civilians, women, and children are heart-wrenching. America and the world need to know about Putin’s atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine now.”

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has launched an investigation. Its report from March 15 to April 5 describes incidents of rape, torture, extrajudicial killing, and targeting of hospitals and public shelters. The possible use of chemical weapons raises more concerns.

We might fairly wonder what percentage of those giving the orders have no concern for human welfare or a sense of accountability. It turns out, there’s a recent study that addresses this—“the first study to use a validated clinical/forensic measure of psychopathy among army and police officers convicted of a particular form of State terrorism, crimes against humanity” (CAH).

Hare et al (2022) had access to a sample of such offenders from the despotic Pinochet regime in Chile. In 1995, the Chilean government had constructed a prison specifically for men convicted of CAH under Pinochet. Of the 120 inmates, 101 (84.2 percent) agreed to participate. Their mean age in 2016, the year of the study, was 71. About two-thirds had been in the military and the rest were in the police force. Around 65 percent had been high-ranking officers, 12 of which had been generals. They’d all had reputations for being ruthless in their duties. Around 45 percent had convictions for murder.

Expert clinicians rated each individual with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), the instrument that measures the clinical construct comprised of such key traits and behaviors as deception, manipulation, blunted affect, and a lack of remorse. In some cases, they used a derivative assessment, the Self-Report Psychopathy–Short Form (SRP-SF). They also had PCL-R ratings for samples of general offenders (209) in the area, and of community participants (101).

Hare has pointed out that among the most devastating features of psychopathy are a callous disregard for the rights of others and a propensity for predatory and violent behaviors. Without shame, psychopaths charm and exploit others for their own gain. They lack empathy and a sense of responsibility, and they manipulate, lie, and freely con others. It would probably surprise no one that clever psychopaths can rise quickly in rank within totalitarian regimes.

The results show more than just a total score. The PCL-R organizes around two primary factors, each of which has two facets. Factor 1, interpersonal and affective components, includes traits like grandiose, callous, manipulative, and lacking remorse. Factor 2 refers to lifestyle and antisocial behaviors, such as being aggressive, impulsive, irresponsible, and sensation-seeking. The factor structure offers a more nuanced look at tendencies and behaviors.

Total psychopathy score results for CAH candidates in the study matched those of the general offenders, with both groups being more psychopathic than ordinary individuals in the community sample. “However, the CAH group had extraordinarily high scores on the Interpersonal/Affective facets yet relatively low scores on the Lifestyle/Antisocial facets.”

Most men guilty of CAH were in the Callous-Conning category. The PCL-R scores of those who seemed comfortable violating human rights were “consistent with an extreme disposition for self-serving, callous, and ruthless treatment of others, without guilt or remorse, and in the absence of a prior documented history of severe antisocial behavior.” So, they hadn't been criminals beforehand. They were grandiose, manipulative, callous, and remorseless without a background in delinquent or antisocial behavior. They'd been chosen for their position because they’d seemed well-suited for “suppressing and eliminating enemies of the state.”

The Factor 1 psychopath shows distinct neurological deficits and emotional blunting. They lack fear, guilt, and anxiety. This could be congenital, in contrast to Factor 2, which appears to develop in reaction to environmental influences like deprivation and abuse. This latter type shows an early onset of misconduct, greater substance use, more mental health problems, more anxiety, and greater impulsivity.

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The study found that a significant percentage of high-ranking leaders in the research group had little concern for protecting human rights. “The higher the military rank, the more psychopathic the member.” Their self-serving goals come first. They offered justifications for their CAH and expressed no remorse or concern about the victims.

Although the researchers acknowledged that a key limitation was the lack of a controlled comparison from a contemporary group of CAH actors, it's highly possible that we're be watching such people in action right now. So far, no military leaders in Russia have recognized or apologized for the CAH atrocities documented in the past few weeks.