Whilst I was doing my Master’s degree in psychology, I was given the opportunity to interview/talk to several convicted sex-offenders, as part of a research project that one of my lecturers was engaged in. Most of them were serving long sentences, with little chance of parole, and I wasn’t privy to any rewards/benefits that they might have received for taking part in the interviews, so I was surprised that any wanted to take part, but a good number did. At the time, the prison was a “Category A” Prison – meaning that it held convicts whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public. Further, within the UK prison system, those offenders in “Category A” Prisons, are divided into three groups: Standard, High, and Exceptional Risk, based on their likelihood of escaping. Most of the interviewees, were classed as High and Exceptional Risk. This was the first time – and one of the few – where I was to meet such individuals face-to-face. At the time, I seriously wondered whether I’d have been better off pursuing a different academic route, rather than trying to understand the causes and motivations of violence, amongst a population where treatment programs at the time were close to non-existent, and had yielded little quantifiable proof of being successful in preventing the risk of recidivism.

The fear of fear is always worse than fear itself, and although none of these offenders posed a direct risk/threat to me, when you think about talking to people who have committed the unspeakable, such as sexual violence against a two-year old, the unpredictability of such an individual’s ability for violence starts to get questioned e.g. if they are able to, and prepared to commit such violent acts against a child, what other violent acts are they capable of?

Any research involving sex-offenders is beset by issues, especially when their victims and those they target are children – these people know how the public perceives them, and how society judges them, so to get them to speak openly about their crimes is difficult. Most that I interviewed downplayed their role, blaming stress and alcohol, for causing them to make poor decisions; that it was a “dark time” in their life, etc. They would claim to now realize/understand their wrongdoings. Despite these general tendencies, I spoke to one man who was very open about his crimes, and even went into great detail about them. After the interviews, I asked my lecturer about this, and was told by him, without any irony or humor, that I’d just been that predator’s latest victim.

There are moments in life when you realize that you’ve been played, that you’ve been shown to be naïve, foolish, etc. The person I’d interviewed was a sadist, somebody whose pleasure and sexual gratification is based on the pain and suffering they cause to others; in a prison setting, with the opportunities to cause physical pain restricted, a sadistic offender will settle for emotional pain and distress, instead. It is not uncommon – so I was told – for sadists to agree to be interviewed about their crimes so as to feed off the discomfort of the interviewer, as they describe in great detail, and with specifics, the things they made their victims endure.

Sadists will often try to make out that they are unable to read human emotions and responses, that they are oblivious to their victim’s pain and suffering, etc. The truth is that they are acutely aware of the things that their victims fear the most, probing and testing them, to find out exactly what it is that they fear the most, and which causes them the greatest pain. These are individuals who understand psychological and emotional responses to their actions and behaviors all too well – enough that they can feed off a 22-year old graduate in an interview room. I like to think I gave them nothing, but I know that this wasn’t the case; somebody who has lived their life 24x7 feeding off the discomfort of others will recognize a pause, a hesitation, or a look - however brief - for what it is. Fortunately, sadists are a rare form of predator, however they tend to be those that commit the most heinous and horrific crimes, extending the agony of their victims for the longest times, before growing bored of their suffering or deciding to end it; not because of any merciful considerations, but to experience death as the greatest form of pain – few are satisfied with this ultimate high, and go on to commit other killings in order to experience the emotions they fantasize about.

Psychopaths are different to Sadists, in that they don’t experience empathy for their victims; they are unable to “feel” or “associate” with what their victims went through. This was something that many of the rapists, who sexually assaulted adult victims, exhibited. A good percentage of those interviewed in the study I was involved with didn’t see that what they’d done as wrong, or if they did agree that it was “wrong”, they’d judge that the punishment that they’d received was unfair and disproportionate to the crime they’d committed. Many believed that their victims were simply over-reacting to what had happened to them. Psychopaths do, and can, experience excitement, but it is the excitement of engaging in something that is antisocial, rather than something that is drawn from the victim i.e. the individuals they target are merely pawns in a larger game, and have no significance as individuals. Unlike the sadist, the psychopath isn’t attuned to the suffering of their victims – they simply don’t care, and/or pick up on it. The driving force of psychopathy is entitlement; they can act how they want, without consideration for the effects their actions and behaviors have on others.

Not all psychopaths engage in criminal activities – you may in fact work for/with one. If they genuinely don’t care about anyone’s feelings, take big risks, and don’t care for the status quo, etc., they may pass the Psychopathy Test with flying colors (Yes there is a test, a simple google search will bring you to it). I have found there is a lot of confusion between Psychopaths and Sadists (this article is in response to a conversation I overheard yesterday), and I hope after reading, people understand the distinction between these two personality disorders.