Apparently Peterson lived a “reasonably normal” life prior to his plan to whack Laci and their unborn baby.
I can understand a crime of passion…murder 2…but
what physiological or chemical brain changes occured that would lead a person to plot a death to both mother and unborn child.
Do you think he was always just a hair short of the “melting point” all his life and then went off the deep end?
Obviously none of us know the answer. But what are YOUR thoughts on this?
Boy, if I could understand stuff like this…I don’t think I’d want to.
Bear in mind, I’m posting this as an idiot who reads a lot. Most of this is pulled out of my brain or ass.
Best guess, he felt trapped. He was mildly successful in his business and had a relationship he was comfortable with. She gets pregnant and things get locked in really fast. In the case of a divorce, he get’s hit with child support whereas before it would’ve been a property split worst case scenario. That could put a crimp on his lifestyle for around 18 years.
Most importantly, he thought he could get away with it. There have been quite a few high profile cases lately where the waters get muddied enough that people walk or never get arrested in the first place. To him, the chances that he would either not get arrested or get off were enough to justify it to him. It almost worked too. If the body had never surfaced, he likely would’ve walked even if he had been arrested
As far as changes in changes to the brain, I don’t think there were any. Scott Peterson lacked something important from the get-go. Not enough to where it would’ve showed before, though the affair is an indicator of his feelings for Laci, but just enough to give if pushed a bit.
He had plans. She didn’t fit in those plans.
He got rid of what he saw as a problem.
Nothing sociopathic about it.
Look at it as a business decision. With awful consequences.
I hope he burns.
Took the words out of my mouth. Please don’t abuse words like “sociopath” by using them outside of their proper definition. A sociopath is “one who is affected with a personality disorder marked by antisocial behavior.” It is a psychological diagnoses with a treatment plan and all that.
Being a murderer does not make you a sociopath - and more importantly being a sociopath does not make you a murderer.
Welcome to the world of a struggling voice for people with mental disorders.
From what I understand of the case (I’ve been trying to avoid it as much as possible), he was anything but sociopathic, wink wink, nudge nudge.
But why did he get married in the first place? He is young, physically attractive, and reasonably affluent. Moreover, people who have antisocial personality disorder are extremely adept at using charm in a manipulative manner. As a result of this, they receive unlimited amounts of attention from the opposite sex. He could have easily lived the life of a single playboy—why did he burden himself with the responsibility of marriage?
… what?
Because it never occured to him that the marriage could be permanent. He likely figured he could get out if he wanted to. Sure, he might lose half his stuff, but he could get it back eventually. The kid was the complication. Divorce there equals child support and a load of other slaps since he was having an affair.
Many of us have been in situations similar to S. Peterson in that we “wished someone would just disappear” and make life easier.
But no matter how upset we are, killing that person(s) is something we wouldn’t plan and accomplish.
A “within the range of normal” person would not and could not in reality plan and perform the killings.
Secondly, if Scott P. planned this so critically, then he would have appeared to have been “tormented” by the loss of his wife and child…he demonstrated exactly the opposite. This is inappropriate behavior for a well-planned murder.
Woah now. I’m calling bullshit on all of you. Sociopathic behavior is locking yourself in a room and posting on debate forums all day, not lacking knowledge of right from wrong.
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make, or if you’re attempting some sort of tongue-in-cheek joke, or if you have sociopathy confused with some other mental disorder such as social phobia. The term ‘sociopath’ is an old school term used by psychiatrists to describe somebody who does not possess a consciousness. The most common description found in the abnormal psych texts is ‘a person whose behavior adversely affects society, and that person does not care’. The term ‘sociopath’ fell into disuse about 30 years ago I think, and the DSM III and IV refer to the disorder as ‘antisocial personality disorder’. About half of all incarcerated criminals in the United States have this mental disorder.
What are you talking about? If you are serious, then you are 100% wrong in your definition.
Here is a quick profile of sociopathic behavior.
Yes—excellent synopsis of the disorder. Some other telltale characteristics are a tendency to dress flamboyantly, and, curiously, an extremely exaggerated concern for the welfare of animals. (Hermann Göring is frequently cited in the abnormal psych texts as a classic example of these two characteristics).
Er, no. From the DSM-IV:
Many sociopaths are superficially some of the most charming, charismatic people you will ever meet. Think Ted Bundy or Charlie Manson.
There you have it…the description Shagnasty gave fits Scott Peterson almost in its entirety.
He was married and unhappy. Laci got pregnant. He realized he would rather hit a new piece of ass every night than be a man and deal with his responsibilities.
He needs a date with a needle, and although I’m cheered that the jury convicted him for both murders, I’m not holding my breath.
I agree, something certainly is missing in this man. He was, from all accounts, an exceptionally charming character-when he met his future mother-in-law, he presented her with a bunch of long stemmed roses. Everybody liked him-he was captain of his golf team at colege. The very fact that he chose to seek out another woman while his wife was pregnant…that doesn’t argue very highly for his moral character.
I’d say yes, society is better off without this guy…but I hope (for the sake of Scott’s parents) that the jury doesn’t order the death penalty (they would lose whatever they have left on appeals). A good long stretch in prison…that might bring some remorse into this bum’s mind…maybe.
Folks, it seems like at least once a week there’s a story on the news about a man killing his wife, whether it’s a murder-suicide, a man hunting his wife down at choir practice where she was the organist, then leading the police on a chase, or a respected school principle being killed by her husband because she wanted a divorce. The first and last of these three stories happened this fall. The church organist was killed last year. The only difference between Scott Peterson and these men is better planning and more publicity. Are they mentally ill? I don’t know, although I do have to wonder about someone who kills his wife rather than letting her go. Losing half your stuff may be bad, but surely spending years in jail is worse. I’ll leave off now. One of these days, I’ll probably start a Pit thread about this.
CJ
I think the point is that people like him don’t feel remorse about anything other than getting caught.
He isn’t a sociopathic killer- he’s just a cold blooded scoundrel that wanted to get out of his marriage on the cheap. He wanted to be free from his wife and have sex with a variety of people. It appears he will succeed beyond his wildest dreams.
And, in spite of what they and the lawyers may think, making them do hard time for the rest of their life may be a way of hammering it into them every single day that they have been caught, and that all they sought to obtain through their crime is being taken away from them.
Agreed.
He’d be someone who went along with being a functional member of human society as long as things were going his way, and that would have been in him all along.