Most Evil is an American forensics television program on Investigation Discovery, first aired in 2006, presented by forensic psychiatrist Michael H. Stone of Columbia University during the program's first three seasons, and by forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie during its fourth season.INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY REVEALS WHO IS MOST EVIL WITH LEADING FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST DR. KRIS MOHANDIE -- ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7 On the show, the presenter rates murderers on a scale of evil that Stone himself has developed. The show features profiles on various murderers, serial killers, and mass murderers of various degrees of psychopathy. The series initially ran for three seasons, from 2006 to 2008, and was later revived for a fourth season, from 2014 to 2015.
Episodes
Season 1 (2006)
Season 2 (2007)
Season 3 (2008)
Series return On December 7, 2014, Investigation Discovery began airing new episodes with a new host, Kris Mohandie.
Season 4 (2014)
Scale and criminals Stone researched hundreds of killers and their methods and motives to develop his hierarchy of "evil". The scale ranges from Category 1, those who kill in self-defense, to the Category 22, serial torturer-murderers. Stone described the categories of the scale in his book The Anatomy of Evil, published in 2009.Michael H. Stone. The Anatomy of Evil (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2009). In a follow-up book, The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime, published in 2019, he and co-author Gary Brucato, a clinical psychologist and researcher, break down the individual categories of the scale in detail.Michael H. Stone & Gary Brucato. The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2019).
Neurologists, psychologists, and other forensic psychiatrists are interviewed on the show in an attempt to examine and profile the minds of notorious killers. Partial re-enactments are shown along with news footage, evidence, and reports from locals. Neurological, environmental, and genetic factors are examined to help determine what drives a person to kill. Background history and pre-meditation are considered when placing an individual on the scale of evil. The show indirectly deals with the concepts of morality and ethics.
Only criminals profiled on the show to be included below
CategoryCriteriaPeople01 Those who have killed in self-defense, and who are not murderous.02 Jealous lovers who committed a crime of passion, though egocentric or immature; they are not psychopaths. Samuel Collins, Jean Harris03 Willing companions of killers: submissive personality, impulse-ridden, with some antisocial traits. Leslie Van Houten04 Those who have killed in self-defense, but caused the aggression to themselves.05 Desperate persons who killed relatives or other people, lack significant psychopathic traits and are genuinely remorseful.Martha Ann Johnson, Elmer Wayne Henley06 Homicidal, impetuous and hotheaded individuals who acted impulsively, but far from psychopathic. Robert John Bardo, Billy Wayne Sinclair, Coy Wayne Wesbrook, Daniel Nieto, Doyle Kelley07 Highly narcissistic or psychotic persons who kill out of jealousy or hatred. Marybeth Tinning, Mark David Chapman, Armin Meiwes, Diana Dial, David Dowler, Clara Harris, Michael Owen Perry08 Non-psychopathic individuals filled with rage, who ended up killing when they lost control. Charles Whitman09 Jealous lovers with marked psychopathic traits, such as tendency to violent behaviour. Betty Broderick, Ron Luff, Robert Lopez10 Killers of people in the way, such as witnesses. Extremely egocentric, but not distinctly psychopathic. Rod Ferrell, Susan Smith, Darci Pierce11 Psychopathic killers of people in the way, specially close friends or family members. Ismael Cisneros12 Power-hungry psychopaths who killed so they could escape with their power intact. Ervil LeBaron, Angela Sanford13 Inadequate, rageful psychopaths whose rage or psychosis are the reason for their killings. Ed Gein, Herbert Mullin, Martin Bryant, Karla Faye Tucker, Latasha Pulliam, Richard Angelo, Maksim Gelman, Yusef Rahman14 Ruthlessly, self-centered schemers with machiavellian and psychopathic traits who kill to benefit themselves. John List, Richard Farley, Diane Downs, Sylvia White, Herman and Paul Petrillo15 Psychopathic cold-blooded spree killers or mass murderers which may or not be suicidal. Andrew Cunanan, Charles Manson, Charles Starkweather, Susan Atkins, Charles "Tex" Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Colin Ferguson, Michael McDermott, Dorothea Puente, Archie McCafferty, Billy Wayne Coble, Benjamin Atkins, Paul Devoe, Jones' accomplices16 Psychopaths committing multiple vicious acts, including depraved acts. Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood, Karla Homolka, Myra Hindley, Terry Driver, Theodore Kaczynski, Shoko Asahara, Michael Swango, Joseph Paul Franklin, Richard Hooten, Kendall Francois, Heriberto Seda, Levi King, Gerald Atkins, Eric Beishline, James McVey killers17 Sexually perverse killers: Psychopaths prone to commit rape followed by murder. Torture is not their main interest. Ted Bundy, Arthur Shawcross, David Berkowitz, Richard Chase, Aileen Wuornos, Wayne Adam Ford, Henry Lee Lucas, Gerald Stano, George Russell18 Torture-murder psychopaths, sadistic but more focused on murder than torture. Nathan Bar-Jonah, Gary Ridgway, Jerome Brudos, Keith Jesperson, Harvey Miguel Robinson, Terry Caylor, Glenn Helzer, Lipstick killer19 Psychopaths driven to terrorism, subjugation and sadism in general.20 Psychotic murdering torturers who subject at least one of their victims to a fairly brutal torture. Joseph Kallinger21 Psychopaths obsessed with torture, they do not kill their victims but seek to abuse them in the worst way possible.22 Psychopathic torture-murderers, where both sexual and non-sexual sadism are the primary motive. Tommy Lynn Sells, John Wayne Gacy, Dennis Rader, Theresa Knorr, Charles Ng, Leonard Lake, Paul Bernardo, Ian Brady, Gary Heidnik, David Parker Ray, Westley Allan Dodd, George Hodel, Jeffrey Lundgren, Edmund Kemper, H. H. Holmes, Adolfo Constanzo, John Edward Robinson, Andrei Chikatilo, Jeffrey Dahmer, Gerard John Schaefer, Judith Neelley, Richard Kuklinski, Daniel Conahan, Dean Corll, Ronald Gene Simmons, Jack Owen Spillman, David Elliot Penton, Robert Ben Rhoades, Jim Jones
References
External links
Personality Disorders Institute