The picture is further clouded by legal issues. Usually a defendant with a personality disorder can use that as a defense. But not in the case of NPD (in the United States). This is because a narcissist's behavior is premeditated and volitional.
How do we know this? Because she is the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. She often goes to much trouble to pick out and set up a victim first. She attacks only the vulnerable and only on the sly. Then she steps out the door, mocking the world with an ironic angel-face that portrays her as the very opposite of what she is. For example, if she has beaten someone, she will project an image of herself as exceptionally gentle and abhorred by violence.
That's the damning evidence: covering up something proves that you know it's wrong. And you don't get off on a mental plea when you know that what you're doing is wrong.
Furthermore, a narcissist's calculated, predatory behavior is often diabolical. For example, he behaves anti-narcissistically when courting a woman, idealizing her and showering attentions on her. Then, when the honeymoon is over and he has cunningly distanced her from her family, he immediately begins treating her like dirt.
He is not responsible for the feelings inside that drive him to such conduct. But that conduct itself shows that he can control it: if he could control it before the honeymoon was over, he can control it afterward too. This proof that he can control his conduct is proof that he is absolutely responsible for it.
So US law classes NPD as a character disorder, which is no defense.
You may hear some narcissists defending themselves by saying that NPD is just a personality disorder, not a character disorder. They are mistaken. One cannot confuse the doctor's office with the courtroom and just pick which label he or she prefers.
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