Last week, a book club had invited me to speak to their group.  One of the questions about my work as a criminal defense lawyer was intriguing:  How many people have you represented who were truly evil?

I had to think for a moment.  Although I’ve represented thousands of criminals over the years, how many were actually evil?  By evil, I think the book club member meant a person without a conscience, without any human feelings of compassion and sympathy.  Although many people and the media often portray most criminals as evil, in the experience, it’s rare.  In all the years I’ve met only a handful of truly evil people.

What’s it like to work with these people?

I represented a serial killer years ago who was also accused of several rapes.  When I met with him in the jail cell, several things jumped out at me:

1.  The first impression I got was his distrust.  He glared at me and his distrust continued through-out all the cases in which I represented him.  If he couldn’t even trust  his lawyer that said a lot about his view of the world.

2.  The criminal justice process was a game to him.  When I reviewed the evidence the government intended to use against him, he responded by denying everything and challenging each piece of proof.  He acted as if the case was a game–could the government produce enough evidence to convince a jury that he was guilty?  Or was he clever enough to beat the charges?  I’m sure he knew that the government’s case was strong, but he never admitted it.

3.  Whenever I was the small jail cell with him, I felt as if there were a vacuum in the room.  A body sat across the table from me, but it was hollow.  There wasn’t any human being living in it.  All the humanity and compassion had been sucked out of the body, leaving a calculating and cunning mind but nothing more.  I never felt physically threatened, but felt the emptiness as unsettling.

4.  The client acted in a totally narcissistic manner.  He couldn’t even imagine the pain the victim or the family of survivors suffered.  Everything he talked about was himself and how the case revolved around him and the problems it posed for him.  He was unable to have any empathy for other people.

Even though many criminals are mean and violent–itself bad enough–I haven’t met many who were truly evil.  Thankfully!