In an excellent blog on The Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-chaltain/empathy-for-a-killer_b_1702350.html?utm_hp_ref=james-holmes author Sam Chaltain dares to ask: Is it possible to feel empathy for a person capable of such senseless violence such as James Holmes?
Our usual, knee-jerk reaction is to categorize these kinds of people as psychopaths, aberrant, or crazy (whatever that means). Mr. Chaltain points out that the real person behind the story and the crime are often much more complicated.
In my 30+ years as a Public Defender, I’ve represented serial killers and many extremely violent people. Nothing will ever excuse their actions or what James Holmes is accused of doing. And there are a certain percentage of violent people who are psychopaths without any conscience–who are not all that complicated and aren’t who I’m writing about.
But the majority of even violent criminals have more complicated situations:
1. Chemical use/abuse. In my experience, many homicides, for instance, occur when chemicals are involved–by either the killer or both the killer and victim. People who otherwise are able to control themselves, get drunk (or high) and those controls snap-off. This seems particularly common in the most violent actions actually, between close friends, husband/wife.
2. Low self-image. As Mr. Chaltain points out, it’s not necessarily anger at the victim that leads to violence, rather, it’s anger/self-loathing that causes these people to lash-out at others.
3. Anger issues. I know…as you’re reading this, you’re thinking: Duh!! I mean anger that’s caused often by abuse to the criminal: physical/emotional abuse by parents, sexual abuse as a child, etc. Lacking insight or healing, people snap and let the rage out–against a victim.
4. Spur-of-the-moment actions. Often, a criminal intends to commit a minor crime and in the process of doing it is triggered to act violently. When I’ve interviewed clients like this and ask them, why did you do it? they often blink their eyes and say, “I don’t know; it just happened.”
Where does James Holmes fit in here? I don’t know for certain but it’s possible he may not be a psychopath. We may not be able to be empathetic, but understanding some of the sources for violent actions may help us to prevent it from happening in other people.
