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CHAPTER ONE Psychopathy and Its Relevance to Crime and Justice I would have liked him at some point in the pro­cess to take responsibility, to show remorse. . . . ​ We ­ didn’t get any of that tonight. —­Bob Meyers, ­ brother of Dean Meyers, one of 10 victims of the 2002 DC sniper shootings committed by John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ­after witnessing Muhammad’s execution (“D.C. Sniper John Allen Muhammad Executed,” 2009) Psychopathy is one of the best-­validated clinical constructs in the realm of psychopathology, and arguably the single most impor­tant clinical construct in the criminal justice system. —­Robert D. Hare (1998, p. 189) In 1993, Richard Allen Davis kidnapped 12-­year-­old Polly Klaas from a slum- ber party at her home in California. Polly had been playing a game with friends while her ­ mother and ­sister ­ were sleeping in a room down the hall when Davis abducted her at knifepoint. Her body was found two months ­later 25 miles from her home ­ after Davis, arrested for drunk driving, confessed to her murder when his fingerprints ­were identified as ­those of the kidnapper. At the time of Polly Klaas’s murder, Davis was on parole ­ after serving 8 years on a 16-­year sentence for a prior kidnapping. On August 5, 1996, a jury deci­ ded that Richard Allen Davis should be executed. Following the guilty ­ verdict, Davis turned to the courtroom audience and TV cameras, and with a glaring smirk, gestured with his ­middle fin­gers without a flicker of remorse. ­Later, Polly’s ­father, Marc Klaas, said in a tele­vi­sion interview that he hoped the verdict would send a message to “all of the other psychopaths out ­there” (King 5 News, 1996, August 5). Davis now sits on San Quentin’s death row seeking pen pals through his personal website.1 1 Davis’s website is provided through the Canadian Co­ali­tion against the Death Penalty and has gener- ated much controversy. It is available at http://­www​.­ccadp​.­org​/­richarddavis​.­htm.