The Psychopathic Development Of Paul Bernardo

519 Words3 Pages
In the late 1980’s Paul Bernardo sexually assaulted and raped various women in the city of Scarborough, Ontario (Williams, 1996). His crimes later escalated to a higher degree of violence more violent degree after having met after meeting Karla Homolka, the woman he eventually married (Williams, 1996). Together they raped and murdered three school age girls (Williams, 1996). Growing up, Bernardo was known as the perfect boy with an angelic face (Pron, 1995, p. 52 ). Girls adored him for his looks and charm while his parents loved him for his manners and academic ambitions (Pron, 1995). His criminal life can be explained using both Gerald Patterson’s coercion theory and Robert Hare’s theory of psychopathology. Patterson’s theory states that when parents enforce discipline through an authoritarian model of strict obedience (to authority) at the expense of personal freedom, thus children are more likely to develop maladaptive behaviour which is later maintained and diversified by daily social interactions with peers (Bartol & Bartol, 2011, p. 151). On the other hand, Hare combines a series of psychopathic behaviours to explain the development and continuation of criminal offending (Bartol & Bartol, 2011, p. 174). Coercion theory can best explain Bernardo’s childhood and how he developed no hishis psychopathic traits while Hare’s theory expands on how those traits interacted to create a serial rapist and murderer. ****Reader may be confused by writing those instead of being direct about psychopathic traits****** Growing up, Bernardo’s aversive experiences with his parents contributed to his antisocial behaviour which was later reinforced through deviant peer interaction (Pron, 1995). From birth, Bernardo’s parents were constantly arguing and redirecting their anger at him.the anger they had towards each other at him (Pron, 1995, p. 50). His father was the classic
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