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Psychopaths usually do not get along well with each other. But sometimes there are occasions when this happens. According to preeminent psychopathy expert Dr. Robert Hare, “Occasionally, psychopaths become temporary partners in crime—a grim symbiosis with unfortunate consequences for other people.”1 One psychopath acts while the other abets and enables the other.

Badlands, an enduring film

The 1973 film, Badlands,2 written, produced, and directed by Terrence Malick, is a graphic example of how this interaction can work. Badlands was inspired by the 1958 killing spree of 19-year-old Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate.3

The film depicts a partnership in crime when Kit Carruthers, 25, meets Holly Sargis, age 15. The movie begins in the fictionalized, sleepy town of Fort Dupree. Kit leaves his job as a garbage collector and introduces himself to Holly. The two strike up a friendship, and Holly becomes Kit’s “girl.” Holly’s father disapproves, and Kit kills him in Holly’s home, shooting him in front of Holly, who offers no resistance to her father’s murder. Kit then plans their getaway, after first creating an audio recording in which he........

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