Profiling Predators





In an earlier post, I described how child molesters, as a group, intersect with psychopaths and non-psychopathic predators; and how some can’t be considered predators at all. Almost all child molesters are predators. For the most part, they are a subset of the larger group as you can see in the illustration.

Predators Venn Diagram

It’s one thing to know this and another to be able to identify who they are. To do so, we need to be able to identify the common and distinguishing characteristics of these groups, as well as the characteristics of those who would be considered safe people—characteristics that could be called protective qualities. As I mentioned above, the driving characteristic of predators is narcissism. But it’s not enough to know just that. What is significant about the relationship between narcissism and predatory behavior is that the more self-serving people are, the more a host of other undesirable characteristics begin to surface in them. Simultaneously, qualities that can be considered safe or protective, begin to diminish. Identifying predators, profiling predators, requires that we look at a whole constellation of factors.

This sounds more complicated than it is. Essentially we look for patterns, something our brains were designed to identify. Once we know what patterns to look for, and once we’ve collected enough information, recognition almost becomes automatic. Once you’ve see a photo of a Grizzly Bear, or just a drawing, you won’t have any trouble recognizing the beast in the wild. The same is true for recognizing human predators. The following are the characteristics useful in distinguishing between predator and protector:

Predatory-Protective Scale
The predatory characteristics on the left are generic terms drawn from Robert Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). There are more that could be used, but these provide enough points of reference to make a reasonable assessment. The protective qualities are the opposing generic virtues, drawn from ancient sources including the bible, which have been generally accepted for millennia to be necessary for civilized society to thrive. Each dimension should be viewed as a sliding scale. The issues are, what quality is dominant, how dominant, and how persistent?

The challenge is to collect sufficient observations of a person to make a reasonable judgment about which side of the continuum is dominant. Remember, even the most self-sacrificing person can be self-serving now and then. But is that characteristic dominant?

Any dimension—for example deceptive to truthful—can fall anywhere on the continuum, but when trying to identify who might be a threat, clinical precision is not necessary (if there is such a thing as “clinical precision”). What’s important in deciding who has a greater likelihood of being safe around children is, which side is dominant? In the PCL-R, Hare rates people as 1) having the characteristic, 2) maybe having the characteristic, or 3) not having the characteristic. He assigns the score of 2, 1 or 0 respectively. When using this scale I recommend using the same method of determining which side is dominant—yes(2), no(0) or maybe(1). Scores on the left are negative values, on the right, positive values.

Over 16 years ago, I took Dr. Hare’s training on using the PCL-R. The training had rigorous standards for assigning a value to an element, even to the point of what records could be used, how to conduct the interview, etc., so I don’t know if Dr. Hare would approve of evaluating people in the way I am recommending. But the formality he insisted upon in using the PCL-R was necessary to achieve as much clinical or forensic precision as possible.

Our purpose is to identify potential threats in order to take greater protective measures for ourselves and our children, not to determine who to lock up and for how long. Profiling is a fuzzy exercise. But it is essential as a tool to make evaluations and decisions. The problem comes in when you use too few characteristics in your evaluation (like only race or sex—which can be relevant in some circumstances), or use the wrong characteristics (like what day of the week a person was born).

This brings me back to the issue of narcissism. While all predators are narcissistic, not all self-centered, self-focused people are predators. Most are. Another reminder is that not all predators engage in criminal acts. Some confine their damage to wreaking social havoc and exploiting others for their benefit in ways that fall short of criminal (For more insight on this, read the book “Snakes in Suits” by Robert Hare and Paul Babiak, although the focus of that book is on psychopaths, i.e. predators on steroids).

The reason narcissism is important when trying to identify predators is because it’s relatively easy to recognize and, thus, serves as a signal to be alert. It should trigger our closer examination of the narcissist’s character. It should be like hearing a growl coming from the underbrush as you’re walking through the woods. Don’t ignore it. Pay closer attention.

In future posts I will describe how to do that for each element of the scale to help achieve at least some consistency in the ratings from one profiler to the next. After fully explaining the assessment scale, I will focus in on how to determine which predators might be child molesters.


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3 thoughts on “Profiling Predators

  1. This is an important issue that everyone needs to be aware of. Not just those entrusted with protecting children, but anyone concerned about keeping themselves safe from the predators all around us. We are constantly making decisions about who we can trust, who to associate with and who to do business with. We need to develop skills in making judgments about people, and forget about being “nonjudgmental” which never was a good idea anyway. Instead of making considered judgments most people are too ready to ignore the warning signs and fall prey to the charm and attractiveness of predators when choosing who to care for our children, who to date or who to repair our cars. The consequences of our failure to do “due diligence” can be devastating.

  2. Fascinating !

    Just this week i was sent an excellent article about the Legion of Christ .
    Some readers of your blog may remember that the Order’s Founder Marcel Maciel was revealed to be a horrendous predator .His original young seminarian victims brought this fact and his drug addiction, to the attention of the Vatican decades ago.

    Thanks to the revelations of investigative journalist Gerald Renner (RIP), who was later joined by the reporter Jason Berry , the world was made aware of what Maciel was!

    Finally in his mid eighties, the Vatican exiled the prolific yet financially profitable predator , to a life of “penance and prayer”. There is a video clip of Maciel on his death bed, in his luxury “penitential” home in Jacksonville , Florida.
    Surrounded by priests , he is alleged to have refused the Catholic Sacrament of Extreme Unction aka Last Rites, and wanted only one of his long time female concubines and their grown daughter at his bedside. The male children he beget during his double life also accuse him of sexually abusing them during their childhood.

    Maciel NEVER publicly or privately ( that we know) repented of his sexual perversions and rampant child abuse.
    Always the supreme narcissist, he imbued the same values into his Order and it’s lay group Regnum Christi.. Even after his death some years back, and the Vatican’s public acknowledgement of his life of debauchery, this most recent article reveals the extent of that narcissistic indoctrination which continues on today amongst the members of his so called “reformed” Order and their Lay counterpart Regnum Christi.

    ‘On a roll in the Holy Land, Legion compares Maciel to Magdalene’

    ONLY after the article above was circulated on the internet earlier this week by enraged victims of the Legion ,did this apologetic article suddenly appear.

    One has to wonder though, what is being said privately to those who are brainwashed enough to still remain as Legion of Christ /Regnum Christi adherents.

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