Castro's statement: Classic signs of a narcissistic sociopath, experts say, 'Most of the sex ... was consensual': Castro's blame-the-victim act all too familiar, abuse experts say, Thousands protest freeing of Spanish pedophile in Morocco

Castro's statement: Classic signs of a narcissistic sociopath, experts say 

By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News 8/1/2013

Ariel Castro’s rambling 20-minute statement in court Thursday, in which he repeatedly said, “I am not a monster,” showed signs of a criminal sociopath whose narcissism doesn’t allow him to express remorse, experts say.

Sure, Castro apologized to the three Cleveland women he kidnapped, raped and held captive for a decade, but he spent most of his statement denying personal responsibility.

In opening remarks, Castro’s defense attorney Craig Weintraub said his client suffered from “significant undiagnosed mental illness” that did not rise to the legal definition of insanity.

That may be true, but Dr. Mark Levy, a forensic psychiatrist in California who frequently testifies at criminal trials, told NBC News Thursday that Castro is showing classic signs of sociopathic behavior....

“Many, many people in prison have the diagnoses of antisocial personality. They’re people who have limited, if any conscience and are very narcissistic," noted Levy. “They see the world through their own eyes and have an exploitive view toward interpersonal behavior.

“The kinds of statements he’s making are antisocial. He won’t take ownership. He’s paying lip service to an apology. Everything  is self-serving and self-gratifying,” Levy said....
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/01/19823989-castros-statement-classic-signs-of-a-narcissistic-sociopath-experts-say

'Most of the sex ... was consensual': Castro's blame-the-victim act all too familiar, abuse experts say
Maggie Fox NBC News   Aug. 1, 2013

Ariel Castro’s words at his sentencing hearing on Thursday are almost jaw-dropping. Given a chance to speak before he was sentenced to life in prison, plus a thousand years for aggravated murder and for holding three young women captive for 11 years, he repeatedly blamed his victims.

He denied he raped and beat Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, claiming instead that they asked him for sex and that his sexual addiction was to blame. He even said the abuse couldn't have been that bad because DeJesus "looks normal." While many onlookers were astonished, abuse experts said they hear that kind of language and justification every day.

NBC News asked them to weigh in on specific comments Castro made:

"Most of the sex that went on in that house, probably all of it, was consensual," Castro said. "These allegations about being forceful on them -- that is totally wrong. Because there was times where they'd even ask me for sex --many times. And I learned that these girls were not virgins. From their testimony to me, they had multiple partners before me, all three of them."

The denial and rationalization comes as no shock to experts on rape and abuse. In fact, they say, it’s typical that men who rape or batter women will deny they did anything wrong, and even that the victim was "asking for it"....

“I was taken aback [by Castro's statements] but at the same time not shocked by it,” says Jennifer Marsh, vice president of victim services for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. “It’s somebody who was not willing to accept that what they did was wrong and who may have convinced themselves that what they are doing is not wrong or justified. It read like the way that a perpetrator thinks.”

According to RAINN, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States every two minutes, and only three out of every 100 rapists ever spends any time in jail....

"Until society decides this is unacceptable, it will continue to happen," says Flowers. "People really have to move from colluding with battering behavior. They have to interrupt the silence."
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/most-sex-was-consensual-castros-blame-victim-all-too-familiar-6C10821794


Thousands protest freeing of Spanish pedophile in Morocco (PHOTOS)
August 03, 2013

Riot police broke up a rally in Morocco where thousands of people protested a decision by the country’s king to pardon a Spanish pedophile who raped 11 local children. The pardon came at the request of Spain's King Juan Carlos.

Spanish citizen Daniel Fino Galvan, 64, was jailed for 30 years in 2011 by a court in the city of Kenitra, some 40 kilometers north of the Moroccan capital, Rabat, for raping 11 children, aged between 4 and 15. He was convicted after the videos he made of his crimes were used as evidence.

Moroccans infuriated by the pardon gathered in their thousands to the center of Rabat on Friday, where they clashed with police in front of the parliament building. Dozens of protesters, including reporters and photographers, were injured in clashes after police were ordered to disperse the rally....
http://rt.com/news/morocco-pedophile-pardon-protests-991/