A psychologist about working with the worst criminals. How to recognize evil?
In Germany in the so -called 609 people stay preventive detention – two women, and the rest are men (as of March 2023). People go there who, even after serving a sentence, still pose too much a threat to society. People who have proved in the past that they cannot be rehabilitated and have repeatedly committed serious crimes. Giebel is a psychologist and heals such people. For six years in preventive detention she was dealing with people who others know only from messages or detective stories. Based on her assessments, external experts decided to free the criminal. Currently, she wrote her experience in her book « Impulsive ».
Welt: What people did you work with in preventive detention? What crimes did they commit?
Gilda Giebel: It is estimated that 75 percent people in preventive arrests committed rape or harassment of children. Others tried to make murder or serious injury, and some also committed other crimes.
Welt: Your book is, among others, about « bad ». How do you define it at all?
Giebel: Ultimately, of course, no one is just bad. But the crimes committed by the men I worked with are. These activities had bad intentions and did not take into account the victims or their families. It was about satisfying your own needs. In my opinion, the closest to evil is a person who is a psychopath combined with criminal tendencies.
Welt: How to recognize a bad person?
Giebel: It’s difficult because psychopaths hide behind the mask of normality. Their lack of conscience and soullessness are, so to speak, masked. They can pretend and even are very charismatic and charming. The stories they tell are often very exciting and diverse. Psychopaths are fearless and do not feel remorse, guilt or shame. Then, sometimes I ask exactly how a person reacted in a situation that others would be afraid, or if there is something that a person regrets in his life. Some of my clients also barely blinked. But the most important thing is your feeling.
There are studies that show that respondents expose psychopaths as such in video sequences lasting only a few seconds. Psychopaths do not talk about their actions in movies, but about something else. This means that you have this sense, but you also have to save it. This, of course, depends on the context: if I have a feeling that if I meet someone lonely on the street in the evening, I should not think and run twice. But when I’m at a party, I can take a closer look at this person.
Welt: What if someone doesn’t have a good premonition?
Giebel: We all have a radar detecting people who are not good to us. The problem is that we ignore this feeling. We notice it in the first five seconds, but we often don’t want to listen to it. This is also because we don’t really want to accept anything bad. We feel quite safe thanks to the police and social authorities. We no longer stand on the prairie, we just gathered something and suddenly we have to run away to save lives. This means that we do not really want to admit that we can be in danger and we try to calm down quickly when we have such premonitions. But everyone probably found themselves in a situation where he had bad or strange premonitions and avoided this situation. Of course, in retrospect, you can’t know what would happen if you didn’t leave. Perhaps a long time ago you would get into much worse situations, but you listened to your instinct.
Welt: You were dealing not only with psychopaths, but also with narcissists – how do they differ from each other?
Giebel: Narcissism coincides with psychopathy a bit. For example, psychopaths also have a sense of greatness. The difference is that narcissius have a whole spectrum of emotions. Narcies are very easily offended, which does not take place in the case of psychopaths. Although Narcissius take care of themselves and their own benefits, they have a conscience.
Welt: Psychopaths are considered masters of manipulation. How did you manage to make sure that you are not still cheated?
Giebel: With all the statements I had a question mark in my head, I wrote everything down and checked if the client did not repeat his statements elsewhere. Because he finally has to remember his lies with all the details. I checked it very often. For example, the client once told me crying that his son had died. The situation seemed strange because he cried so quickly, and then suddenly stopped. Then I found out her son’s name and I looked for him on the internet – he just posted his photo on Instagram and certainly lives. And even if I was cheated: it’s not like I didn’t see the fraud today, and the next day a criminal was released from the preventive custody.
Welt: Can these people really cure?
Giebel: Studies show that there is no real therapy for psychopaths. Some even say that therapy makes them even more dangerous because it teaches them better adaptation and greater empathy. But you just have to offer therapy and that’s why try out many things.
Welt: It sounds frustrating.
Giebel: Honestly, I don’t know any alternative. Closing someone forever and leaving him unattended is unconstitutional. Not all prisoners have high psychopathy indicators and are therefore more susceptible to change. In addition, the perpetrator’s therapy itself is of course the best protection for victims. If you were to offer the victim of rape that a) you will take advantage of therapy yourself or b) we will turn back time and you will never be raped – probably everyone would choose b). In addition, it is never only therapy, but also the assessment of the situation – and of course I have repeatedly documented: « This man is still dangerous », after which this person remains in preventive detention.
A psychologist about working with the most dangerous criminals: there are women who like this extreme form of masculinity
Welt: You also checked partners’ preferences. Why do some women attract criminals?
Giebel: Criminals are considered to be Hypermęski – They absolutely enforce their needs, even if they use violence for this purpose. There are women who like this extreme form of masculinity. However, compared to relationships with very dominant guys who could have had earlier, a man in prison cannot hurt them or control them in everyday life. Many of these women are very romantic. The way of communication is completely different than the one we are used to today (the psychologist points to the smartphone -on -ed.). These men write love letters – you can see many romantic ideas in them. There are also narcissistic women who attract such men. They have rescue fantasies, e.g. « This man had a difficult childhood and was never loved, but if I love him, he will be a better man. »
There are also very altruistic women who are religious and care for a man rejected by society, thanks to which he is less lonely. You write a letter, a correspondence relationship is developing, which can also lead to a romantic relationship. For them, there is a huge contrast between how a man shows them love and empathy, and the crimes that he committed a crime. Many people cannot put it together and see that the crime was something special or that the man was innocent at all.
Welt: Did you also observe such cases during the preventive custody?
Giebel: Yes, in these long -term lecture halls, women often visited men and children were born there. Of course, women were previously informed about what crimes their new partner committed. Such cases can also end very tragically. The case I met during the preventive custody was that at a party in the field a man lured a disabled nine -year -old girl to the field, raped her and buried her. In prison he met a woman and became a couple. Although the woman had a disabled daughter of the same age as the victim, she thought he was a good man and his act was a one -time mistake. When the relationship between them fell apart, he killed her during a visit with a knife, which he somehow smuggled with himself.
Welt: How was it to work with such people? And how did men react to you?
Giebel: It was always very exciting and at the beginning I felt uncomfortable. I knew how dangerous these people are and of course that they did not have much contact with women. So I went into it, knowing that I could become the object of his sexual fantasy. I tried not to fuel it – I didn’t wear dresses or shoes with bare fingers, instead I wore neutral, long clothes. Some men behaved lustfully, improperly or aggressively verbally. To be honest, I wasn’t afraid of this impulsive aggressiveness. If so, I was afraid that something could happen to me that happened to the psychologist in Straubing, which was raped. It was well planned and much more dangerous than impulsive action. However, my clients behaved correctly towards me and of course they also knew that I assessed them.
Welt: At the end of your book, you ask yourself whether years of contacts with narcissues, psychopaths and sadists have made you more dangerous. What kind of conclusion did you come to?
Giebel: Probably a bit. Psychopaths fascinated me. Despite their actions, you can pick out good pages: focus, clarity, the ability to tell stories and win people – it must be great for interviews or lectures (laughter). I think that these six years have definitely influenced me – for example, I do not bet so often the needs of others above my own.
The article was based on the translation of the text from Welt.de. Its author is Johanna Lauscher
This article was released on 01.10.2024 for the first time on the website
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