The Promethean #23: Explore the dark side with top experts -- evil, murder, and mysterious deaths

The anatomy of a cold-blooded murderer's psyche can be measured on a scale of 22 gradations -- from justifiable killing in self-defense to torture-killing with torture as the primary motive -- according to renowned clinical psychiatrist Dr. Michael H. Stone's groundbreaking "Gradations of Evil Scale".

Even the most infamous, most horrific murderers such as Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacey are categorized on this scale, as defined in Dr. Stone's The Anatomy of Evil, which explores the personality traits and behavior that constitute evil across a wide spectrum. Dr. Stone, former host of Discovery Channel's Most Evil, takes a clarifying scientific approach to a topic that for centuries has been inadequately explained by religious doctrines.

Basing his analysis on the detailed biographies of more than 600 violent criminals, Dr. Stone has created a 22-level hierarchy of evil behavior -- the "Gradations of Evil Scale" -- which loosely reflects the structure of Dante's Inferno. He traces two salient personality traits that run the gamut from those who commit crimes of passion to perpetrators of the worst crimes: sadistic torture and murder. One trait is narcissism, as exhibited in people who are so self-centered that they have little or no ability to care about their victims. The other is aggression, the use of power over another person to inflict humiliation, suffering, and death.

Below: Dr. Michael H. Stone's "Gradations of Evil Scale" from The Anatomy of Evil

"Stone, with decades of experience as a psychiatrist
and educator in forensic psychiatry, brings careful scholarship and unflinching attention to the problem of evil -- a world that most of us know about only from the tabloids," says John M. Oldham, MD, senior vice president/chief of staff, The Menninger Clinic and professor/executive vice chair, Menninger Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine. "This unique and remarkable book requires the reader to sit up straight, not look away, and participate in trying to understand the unimaginable in human behavior."

Dr. Stone discusses the various factors that, singly or intertwined, contribute to pushing certain people over the edge into committing heinous crimes. They include heredity, adverse environments, violence-prone cultures, mental illness or brain injury, and abuse of mind-altering drugs. All are considered in the search for the root causes of evil behavior.

Listen to Dr. Stone on NPR's "The Diane Rehm Show"

Most of the murders and other crimes of violence that get called evil are committed by persons -- mostly by men -- whom psychiatry defines as psychopaths or sadists, according to Dr. Stone. A few are committed by mentally ill persons with conditions like schizophrenia. All these terms are explained in a very understandable way in The Anatomy of Evil, which also includes more than 200 vivid case descriptions of men and women who have committed evil acts including murder, sexual assaults and torture.

Below: Clinical Psychiatrist Dr. Michael H. Stone

"In this fascinating and compelling work, Dr. Michael Stone leads the way on a dark and irresistible journey. Down each path and around every corner the Face of Evil is ever changing -- everything from the fresh 'innocent' faces of the seemingly benign Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo... to the malicious and haunting faces of Charles Manson and Richard 'Night Stalker' Ramirez.... ," said Carol Rothgeb-Stokes, author of Hometown Killer and No One Can Hurt Him Anymore.

In recent years, neuroscience has a good deal to say about the brain patterns in antisocial and psychopathic persons. The Anatomy of Evil explains in easy-to-understand language what some of these patterns are, and how they contribute to the kinds of violent crimes that the public then labels evil. Dr. Stone also discusses how an increased understanding of the causes of evil will affect the justice system. He predicts a day when certain persons can safely be declared salvageable and restored to society and when early signs of violence in children may be corrected before potentially dangerous patterns become entrenched.

"The fluid, articulate style of this studious yet accessible volume attests to the impressive breadth and depth of Dr. Stone's knowledge about the people who've committed the world's most evil acts," said Dr. Katherine Ramsland, professor of forensic psychology and chair of social sciences, DeSales University; author of Inside the Minds of Serial Killers and The Human Predator. "Using psychology, religion, philosophy, and neuroscience, he dissects this complex concept in the form of case study and presents a concise and profound analysis.... It's everything you ever wanted to know about evil but were too afraid to ask."

Watch Dr. Stone on Fox & Friends discussing the recent murder of a popular Florida couple

Michael H. Stone, MD is professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is the author of ten books, most recently Personality Disorders: Treatable and Untreatable, and over 200 professional articles and book chapters. The host of the Discovery Channel's former series Most Evil, Dr. Stone has also been featured in the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, New York Post, London Times, Newsday and Psychology Today, and on NPR, CNN, BBC, ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News, among many other media outlets.