There are jobs where psychopaths and sociopaths can be productive helpful members of society. There’s a neuroscientist (James Fallon) who was studying brain scans of psychopaths, only to realize that HE was a psychopath (both his brain scan and his behavior; low empathy, motivated by power, isn’t bothered by manipulating others, etc). Jobs can be positions like green Berets, Navy Seals, surgeons (some times you need to inflict pain to get the job done). We need a strong support system around them, but that can be said of most positions (think government checks and balances or police body cams).
For the intentionally malicious (which can be an entirely separate group of people) I imagine two steps:
A system of early identification. Probably starting with mental health discussions being common place, like brain scans being as common as getting the chicken pox vaccine. E.g. find the serial killer when they’re 17 years old and killing cats for fun, provide help and monitor instead of doing nothing and waiting till they’re 56 and have been a recluse for 10 years.
Creating systems of least-restriction and gradually-increasing restriction; Serial killers and phedophiles can still garden, write, paint, build, etc. And its better for everyone if they contribute to society in some way instead of rotting in a cell. E.g. restrict phedophiles from ever being around children, restrict serial killers to remote work. Its a matter of ensuring they have no opportunity to do harm. This isn’t just a system for serial killers, but ideally would be a culture-encouraged movement of limiting the damage of people’s flaws; we keep the junk food out of sight when a friend who is trying to loose weight comes over. We help people identify if they have sesonal depression, and recommend places to live that have the shortest (or non-existant) winter season, have workplaces that keep emails, phone calls, and other interruptions at a minimum for those who have ADHD, etc. It just happens that those who demonstrate malicious intentions get forced accomodations instead of optional ones.
There are jobs where psychopaths and sociopaths can be productive helpful members of society. There’s a neuroscientist (James Fallon) who was studying brain scans of psychopaths, only to realize that HE was a psychopath (both his brain scan and his behavior; low empathy, motivated by power, isn’t bothered by manipulating others, etc). Jobs can be positions like green Berets, Navy Seals, surgeons (some times you need to inflict pain to get the job done). We need a strong support system around them, but that can be said of most positions (think government checks and balances or police body cams).
For the intentionally malicious (which can be an entirely separate group of people) I imagine two steps: