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Defense Against

The Psychopath

A brief introduction to human predators

From the book, The Art of Urban Survival

By Stefan H. Verstappen

S. Verstappen

Toronto, Canada

Cover Design: S. Verstappen

All Illustrations by S. Verstappen

ISBN 978-0-9869515-2-7

Defense against the Psychopath

Surviving Predators

Life is nothing but a competition to be the

criminal rather than the victim.

Bertrand Russell

In the urban environment, criminals fulfill nature’s role of

predators. While the strategies criminals use vary widely, there

is an important distinction between two types of criminal, the

psychopathic, and the non-psychopathic.

The non-psychopathic criminal is the type most familiar to the

public. For these criminals, crime is a survival mechanism

anthropologists call the Cheating Strategy . The Cheating

Strategy simply refers to the advantage cheating provides in

terms of survival. For example, a person may spend eight

hours a day working to earn a certain amount of money, but a

thief could spend only a few minutes to gain what another

spent eight hours to acquire. The thief’s cheating strategy is

cost effective – the gains far exceed expenditures.

However, man is a social animal and cheaters are seldom

tolerated in a reciprocal society wherein everyone works

together for common benefits and equal share in the fruits

thereof. Society evolved the institution of revenge and

punishment as a counter to the cheating strategy. While some

question the effectiveness of punishment as deterrent, on a

survival level, punishment factors into the cost/benefit analysis

of those considering a cheating strategy. A thief who steals

another’s wages may be acting cost effectively, but if the thief

is subsequently caught and forced to serve five years in prison,

he will find the costs now far exceed the benefits.

S. Verstappen

Therefore, crime prevention requires that we make the costs of

using a cheating strategy greater than the benefits by forcing

criminals to work harder, and increasing their chances of being

caught.

The cheating strategy is often used when people are at a

disadvantage. Poverty, low intelligence, and poor education

are the root causes of much criminal behavior. Most crime

safety and self-defense literature focuses on this type of

criminal activity, defense against a mugger, preventing theft,

home defense and so forth. This type of crime is logical. One

person has something another does not, and so the latter cheats

to acquire it. While you cannot condone the methods

employed, you can understand the motivation for the actions.

Another type of criminal behavior committed by non-

psychopaths are crimes of passion. These acts of violence stem

from emotional turmoil and our primitive instincts. Many

otherwise average people are capable of committing assault,

rape, and murder in the heat of passion especially if fueled by

drugs and alcohol. While the acts they commit are

pathological, they are not themselves necessarily psychopaths.

However, when it comes to the second type of criminal the

underlying motivations become surreal. While psychopaths

will certainly use the cheating strategy, it is seldom necessary

to their survival. A millionaire psychopath would readily rob a

starving child. Obviously, the millionaire’s survival is not at

stake. There is no obvious logic to what motives could underlie

such behavior. Psychopaths often elude justice for this very

reason. In criminal trials, the prosecution is required to ascribe

a motive to the defendant. However, in the case of

psychopaths, their motives are so bizarre and alien that even if

Defense Against the Psychopath - A Brief Introduction to Human Predators by Stefan Verstappen (2011).pdf

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