Criminal Minds

Quick: what do politicians and serial killers have in common?

Using his law enforcement experience and data drawn from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, Jim Kouri has collected a series of personality traits common to a couple of professions.

Kouri, who's a vice president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, has assembled traits such as superficial charm, an exaggerated sense of self-worth, glibness, lying, lack of remorse and manipulation of others.

These traits, Kouri points out in his analysis, are common to psychopathic serial killers.

But - and here's the part that may spark some controversy and defensive discussion - these traits are also common to American politicians.

Yup. Violent homicide aside, our elected officials often show many of the exact same character traits as criminal nutjobs, who run from police but not for office.

by Brett Rogers, 6/15/2009 9:23:33 AM
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