Signs that suggest Amanda Knox is a psychopath

The narcissism and the nonchalance are both indicators, says The First Post’s psychoanalyst

LAST UPDATED 5:19 PM, DECEMBER 9, 2009

Through 11 months of court appearances in Perugia, Amanda Knox's behaviour ranged from composed to flamboyant. Only after Judge Giancarlo Massei read out the jury's decision late on Friday night, and sentenced her to 26 years in jail for murdering her housemate Meredith Kercher, did she show signs of distress, shouting out, "No, no, no!" as she was led to the prison van by her guards.

There is considerable dispute about the strength of the evidence presented against Knox and about the prosecution's insistence on highlighting Knox's sexual history. An entry from the American girl's diary listed seven sexual partners, three of whom she met after she had moved to Italy, excluding her co-defendant, Rafaelle Sollecito. She had had sex with one of the men on the train as she was travelling to Perugia.

After inviting Knox, a Jesuit-educated student, to live with her and two other English students in their cottage, Meredith Kercher soon began having reservations about Knox, particularly about her bringing "strange men" to the house.

Knox’s behaviour does not indicate that she was sexually dysfunctional

The prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, claimed that it was Knox's sexual activities that provoked Kercher's criticism and inflamed Knox to the point of murder. According to the prosecutor's reconstruction, Knox returned home on the evening of November 1, 2007 accompanied by Sollecito and Rudy Guede - the Ivorian who has already been convicted of murder in a separate trial - and encountered Kercher.

Guede has admitted his attraction to Knox. The prosecution suggested that the two men were vying for her attention and, incited by Knox, began to attack Kercher sexually. The violence soon spiralled out of hand, ending in Kercher being fatally stabbed in the neck by Knox.

So, the prosecution's story implies that the murder was a result of a sexually perverse scenario that went tragically wrong. However, the facts of the case and Knox's behaviour following her arrest and during her trial do not indicate that she was suffering from a sexual perversion or was sexually dysfunctional.

Professor David Canter, director of the centre for investigative psychology at Liverpool University, has argued: "Most bizarre murders, particularly those with a lot of sexual activity and if there are drugs involved, come out of a lifestyle that's pretty dysfunctional in which there's some build-up. So it's unusual for apparently capable and functioning youngsters to get caught up in all this."

Knox comes from a stable family, she has lots of friends and is highly intelligent. During her remand in prison, she continued her language studies in Italian, German, Russian and

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Of course, being a psychopath doesn't make her guilty. How about a story on the evidence that proves she did the crime?

Posted by bobk at 2:30pm on December 7, 2009

Hard to believe that Coline Covington is really a psychoanalyst. Surely any practising psychoanalyst doesn't categorize people as pyschopaths without having interviewed them, let alone subjected them to analysis. Much of Amanda Knox's behaviour seems normal in her circumstances - whether she is guilty as the court decided or not

Posted by Allan Massie at 4:50pm on December 7, 2009

Was she allowed out to go shopping or did she wear the clothes bought by family and friends. Did she behave as her lawyers told her to? "Narcissistic pleasure at catching the eye of the media"? They had eyes for no one else. "At no point...until the verdict...fraught with anxiety"? You must have missed the news those many times. I'm not suggesting she is innocent, just the conviction makes it easy to see things.

Posted by TomNightingale at 7:01pm on December 7, 2009

Forget the evidence, lets just judge her by putting the most psycho looking photograph we can find with the article, and then higlight a spurious reference to Nazi war criminals next to another unflattering photograph. Trial by sub-editor.

Posted by Fred Smith at 9:46pm on December 7, 2009

Having studied Amanda Knox during the broadcast trial proceedings, it does seem that Amanda shows classic psychopathic tendancies.

Posted by Dr Norman Webster at 9:50pm on December 7, 2009

More rubbish from Covington purporting to be in depth analysis. Was she there? How can she tell all this (what little there is) without an in depth examination of the subject. Twaddle. First Post - why do you continue to publish this nonsense, is Covington well connected in the Dennis Publishing empire?

Posted by The Anti-Pawn at 10:08pm on December 7, 2009

A yankee Senator has already claimed the verdict is "Anti-American" and is lobbying Billary Clinton to intervene. Because yankees always claim different rules apply to them.... Probably Knox will be freed because she's a yank.

Posted by Neil McGowan at 10:34pm on December 7, 2009

Agree , Neil, but sometimes the British exhibit these same traits, especially when it is a poor third world country which is trying the culprit. Whether it is because there is a belief ( and some of us know that this is not the case!) that the UK or US system of justice is better or superior to that of other countries, is open to debate.

Posted by Yolande Agble at 8:18am on December 8, 2009

I have no idea whether Knox is innocent or guilty but if the First Post continues publishing drivel such as this article, it will lose my subscription.

Posted by Alan Dawes at 10:57am on December 8, 2009

Actually Mr. Smith she was photographed at a Holocaust memorial posing with a machine gun and a grin on her face (and has been known to laugh at a Jewish friend, saying "My people killed your people") Of course that in itself does not make her guilty. But the mounds of evidence and her changing alibis and the staged cleanup and more- all determined her guilt of committing the rape and murder. As for the Yankee senator claimed by Mr. McGowan , Ms. Cantwll, well I hardly think she has any rights to interfere in Italian courts. And finally in response to Mr. Massie, her behavior under the circumstances- buying sexy lingerie and canoodling with her boyfriend the day after the murder; turning cartwheels at the police station; grinning and basking in the limelight throughout the trial; displaying cold and unemotional behaviors after the discovery of MK's body; I hardly call these reactions those of a normal 20 year old innocent girl.

Posted by LReik at 1:48pm on December 8, 2009

all is learned behaviour....we do what we see or what we are told!...we are stupid ! we are creatures of habit whether they are short term reactionary behaviours or whether they are long term reactions to circumstance! trouble is, some are more prone to short term thinking while others see the bigger picture. who knows anything really? the world is ever changing, ever evolving into something new from its present! maybe our circumstances evolve faster than our psychology/physiognomy! #:) think about that!

Posted by rum &coke at 5:36pm on December 8, 2009

btw....i feel distaught that people so young can be associated with any kind of perverse emotional dynamics!!!!!!! there has been some recent controversy in the British media about immigrants involvement in crime and here is yetanother example!? what is the problem and what is the solution? i am at odds with myself to identify any solution after the mess we are left with by our current political situations!? btw...i didnt see any mention of the khan-salita fight ! any news please! #:)_

Posted by rum &coke at 5:50pm on December 8, 2009

Since posting earlier I have read an extensive article on the case by Alex Wade, The Times (UK) today (8th Dec). It offers some balance to some of the above. I'm not offering an opinion on who didi it; just pointing to a calmly written article.

Posted by TomNightingale at 6:27pm on December 8, 2009

I presume the Italian court did its job and, if there was a problem, I'm sure an Italian appeal court will address it. My problem is more with the tabloid style use of photos to suit the headline - now she's sexy, now she's evil, now she's ... whatever. And I guess I also have a problem with trial by media. I like courts to be accountable, but I also like them to be the one making the decision.

Posted by Fred Smith at 7:14pm on December 8, 2009

But, Mr Reik, would you call these the reactions of a 20 year old guilty girl, normal (whatever that is) or not?. Apparently cold and unemotional behaviour after the discovery of MKs body might equally be evidence of shock. And did she grin and "bask in the limelight" throughout the trial, or only occasionally? I don't know. Do you?

Posted by Allan Massie at 7:36pm on December 8, 2009

Most importantly the majority of psychopaths don't murder their victims, prefering instead to go into jobs that give them the power to accomplish their two favourite methods of torturing their victims; impoverishing them and humiliating them. Westminster is full of these lunatics. Great Britain and the British people are being racially humiliated and ritualistically impoverished, through the mass importation of third worlders who we are being forced to pay for, all aided by smirking financiers, who are also cold blooded bullies. Is there anyone left out there who seriously believes that these perverts of power give a good God damn about this country or the welfare of the British people?

Posted by Jerome Peter at 10:13pm on December 8, 2009

Smiles like a psycho, looks like a psycho, acts like a psycho... I prefer my gut feelings.

Posted by foolonthehill at 1:57pm on December 9, 2009

How dare you, how very dare you convict an American. Get a life... Next ...

Posted by Georges Samara at 2:11pm on December 9, 2009

The narcissism and the nonchalance of Coline Covington's irrational writing are psychopathic indicators.

Posted by eyebeat at 9:37pm on December 9, 2009

According to Coline Covington, Amanda Knox "...seemed disconcertedly dissociated from the gravity of what was going on" and insufficiently "fraught with anxiety". However, there was a legal case years ago in Australia where a similarly stoic young woman was convicted of murdering her baby largely because she did not display the emotions expected of her by others. Both the woman and her husband went to prison, the mother's claim that a Dingo ate her baby ignored in spite of the fact that the couple had been camping in an area infested by the wild dogs when their child went missing. Reading this latest article about Knox by a professional psychoanalyst makes me think of the similarities that the Knox case shares with the Australian case of the last century. Knox does not behave the way people think that a criminal defendant should behave, so she must be guilty! What I find especially troubling is that this highly educated psychoanalyst, along with press commentators in the UK and elsewhere, fails to consider the many similarities in the press treatments of the Australian couple and Amanda Knox. Perhaps after the hysteria dissipates, sober consideration of the facts of the case will begin, and like the Australians, Knox will be freed?

Posted by Erwin at 6:03am on December 10, 2009

Erwin. There's no connection, the two cases ate totally different. There was no evidence forensic or otherwise in the dingo case, there was plenty in this one. And given all the signs, you don't have to be a psychoanalyst to see she is creepy, weird, and displays totally inappropriate facial and body language. Was the dingo woman [Cindy?] turning cartwheels hours after her baby disappeared? Was she giggling? Was she smiling throughout her court case? The dingo case was clearly a miscarriage, this one isn't.

Posted by foolonthehill at 12:50pm on December 10, 2009

Speaking of dingos: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/8606,news-comment,news-politics,a-flashback-to-dingo-baby-case

Posted by Holly Cox at 1:14pm on December 10, 2009

Most psychopaths I've met know how to fake empathy well enough to pass for normal until they go out and kill a bunch of people (George Bush, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair etc.). As for narcissism, that's one of the defining characteristic of youth.

Posted by Chehalis Thurston at 2:26pm on December 10, 2009

What a load of crap. Amanda Knox is socially inept. She isn't very good in social situations. Coline Covington, open your eyes. THERE IS NO F**KING DNA EVIDENCE linking her or Sollecito to the crime! Mignini the prosecutor is unbalanced and thinks it's a satanic rite.

Posted by John Prentice at 9:28am on December 11, 2009

Well at least she will get the benefit of participating in a wonderful Italian language immersion program! I bet upon release she will be speaking like a native.

Posted by bruce scheer at 12:56pm on December 11, 2009

BOBK - hits the nail on the head of this analyst. Different people react to extreme situations differently. Is it necessary to be constant in your behaviour for two long years during a trial to convince that you are a normal person. So many mood changes occur during the course of a single day even in the so called normal people..and to expect Amanda to be fixed in her mood is a giveaway of a deliberate and fixed show to gain sympathy for a judgement in her favor. I guess she is as normal as we all arte but not being remorseful of what happened is another matter for consideration. What is important is to see if the evidence leads to a fair trial and conviction for murder. It is not a judgement of her personality. How many normal people have committed dastardly acts of crime...are they all psychopaths????

Posted by Nilamal at 3:59pm on December 11, 2009

Thank you for this article. Writing from the U.S., many Americans believe this young woman to be narcissistic personality, and very likely sociopathic, as evidenced by the lack of empathy, emotions inappropriate to a given situation, a reveling in her celebrity status (very clear from her prison diary) and pathological lying. (To my knowledge, her prison diaries were never mentioned in the U.S. media, along with much of the actual evidence that pointed to guilt). I suspect the murder was a result of narcissistic rage, which can indeed turn murderous, coupled with the effect of drugs and alcohol. Something as minor as a perceived interest by Sollecito in Meredith could have set it off. These personality disorders are very successful in convincing others of their internal reality (witness the family's approach to heads of state; when there was American consular presence throughout the trial). I sincerely hope the Italian court remains firm in its conviction. Let us hope it does not take the life of another person before her family comes to terms with her disorder, and the terrible consequences of its expression.

Posted by JMH27 at 2:20am on December 13, 2009

And the slander continues, why don't we burn the witch? How about a look at the evidence (or lack thereof) in this case. Take away the innuendo, and stick to what you can prove and this case falls apart. What a horrific case this is. You want to see evil? look at this article.

Posted by captcorajus at 7:39pm on December 18, 2009

This is mere tabloid-style sensationalism. Most murders are committed by otherwise normal people who are intoxicated, desperate, stupid, emotionally out of control or otherwise driven to an extreme state. Psychopathy is something different. Here you have drink/drugs, knives and non-consensual violent sex: a terrified victim and three inexperienced perpetrators feeding off each others' emotional energy. This is a bad bad combination. The consequences probably never appeared to any of them. You cannot realistically categorise someone as evil on this basis even though their acts have tragic and catastrophic consequences, though I expect it is easier to do so in a Catholic country.

Posted by John Kemp at 8:28pm on January 13, 2010