Geoffrey P Moore Writes

Mystery writing has opened up many areas of research and knowledge that just do not figure in project management or technology business operations.

What could be stranger than sitting in Kates Mystery Books shop, with a mixed audience of perhaps 20 adults listening to accounts of female sexual predators and violence and psychopathic behavior towards each other and men. Nothing, is the right answer

Dr Prentky, is a most eminent former Chief Psychologist and Director of Research at Massachusetts Treatment Center for Sexually Dangerous Persons and holder of a page full of distinguished achievements that can be found at the MWA New England Chapter site.
He speaks softly, but not apologetically of his data based research, that in his own words deals with people and their actions that are "off the curve" in terms of anti-social, callous and indifferent behavior towards the welfare of other human beings.

Dr Prentky, a researcher and specialist for 25 years, eschews violence as entertainment, does not read, watch or listen to homicide or sexual violence in any form for entertainment. He simple does not find it entertaining, unlike a large majority of the public, including females who are fascinated by the subject, which is more acceptable the more remote it is.

This did not stop him discussing zoophilia, necrophilia, and even a combination of the two (sex with dead animals).

He believes the current media trends dull the edge of what is acceptable to the point where a level 3 sex offender is not considered deviant. Public perception is that men do terrible things, but it is not part of our psyche to recognize that women also do dastardly things. The reality is that they do, just not as frequently as men do. In 25 years of research, Dr Prentky has evaluated or supervised the evaluation of 2000 cases, of which only between 30 and 50 were women. Of these, 15 to 20 were inmates in MCI Framingham a women's prison, and evaluation was instigated because of an incident in the prison. He considers this an incredibility small sample, but Dr Prentky shared a few cases.

In one case, a female inmate, described as a 'crop haired neo Nazi', was to be interviewed about a violent attack on another inmate in which she systematically took her apart in the showers using her teeth. Immediately on entering the room, she jumped up on the table and with one foot on the table and the other on the back of the chair, proceeded to perform pelvic thrusts at the doctor, who was seated with his back to the wall, a position he prefers. The motive of the attack on the other inmate was as a warning to others and revenge for making sexual advances to the attackers 'bitches'.

Female children, who suffer the same abuse and hardship as males, develop the same injurious behaviors. Evidence suggests that they internalize the effect, resulting in self-abuse, self-mutilation, eating disorders, drug use and prostitution. This is known as the cafeteria-style approach, where behaviors are 'picked and mixed', a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The majority of males who become psychopathic externalize their behavior and assault others.

Psychopathic males and females exhibit the same outward traits. They are cunning, manipulative, pathological liars, are shallow, have charm, but it is only microns thick. Scratch it and it is gone. They have a remarkable absence of empathy and a total disregard for welfare of humans or animals. They simply don't give a shit. It takes a lot of hurt at an early age to produce this level of emotional detachment from all human beings, which reduces this attachment to the same level that they would have for a garbage can.

Dr Prentky gave some tips on writing true crime stories and suggested that most people in the field are prepared to help if approached correctly, particularly if the case is over and guilt proven.