Lately, I've been hearing a lot about psychopaths. I think it all started Jarred Loughner and his deadly shooting rampage at Rep. Gabby Giffords constituent outreach event. Loughner sits in prison and said to be mentally ill with psychopathic tendencies, thus he is unable to stand trial. Then, I heard an episode of This American Life called The Psychopath Test and learned that one of the common traits of psychopathy is lack of empathy and remorse. This test - the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) - asks a series of questions about a person’s history. Through the responses one is supposed to be able to tell whether or not a person is a psychopath. This test is often given to criminals involved in murder cases. If the test results show that the person is a psychopath, their chances of ever getting parole are greatly diminished. There is a belief (with some supporting evidence) that those who score high on the PCL-R have no chance of recovery - they cannot change their destructive and un-empathetic behaviors because they were born with them. I got an eerie sensation when I realized the PCL-R was very similar to the Voight-Kampff test in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – a former Dead Authors Book Club pick. It is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel that asks a seemingly simple question "what does it mean to be a human?" In the same way, our criminal justice system gives the PCL-R to possible psychopaths, the police and bounty hunters in Electric Sheep give the Voight-Kampff test to potential androids.
