The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

by Kevin Dutton

Contrast this with just a 20 percent hit rate for psychopaths. In addition, this 20 percent minority punches well above its weight. Around 50 percent of the most serious crimes on record—crimes such as murder and serial rape, for instance—are committed by psychopaths, and continue to be committed by psychopaths. Studies comparing the recidivism rates among psychopathic and non-psychopathic prisoners reveal that the former are up to three times more likely to reoffend than the latter within a period of just one year. If we factor violence into the equation, the curve gets even steeper. The psychopath emerges as anything up to five times more likely to beat, rape, kill, or mutilate his way back behind bars. More accurate is to say that the relationship between ASPD and psychopathy is asymmetrical. For every four people diagnosed with ASPD, you may also have a psychopath on your hands. But every individual presenting with psychopathy will also, by default, be presenting with ASPD.