Psychopathy and Violent Crime - Article Example

Psychopathy and Violent Crime Heilbrun, A.B, Jr. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1979 Purpose: The purpose of the article was to determine the relation between psychopathy, violent and impulsive nature that had influenced the criminal behavior of a sample of white prisoners using intelligence as a moderate variable. Method The study included 76 white prisoners with a mean age of 30, educational attainment of 10 years, and a mean IQ of 105 with sixth-grade reading ability. The level of psychopathy was measured using two psychometric scales: Pd and socialization scales. A non-verbal IPAT culture-free intelligence test was used to assess the intelligence levels. The above tests were conducted as part of parole investigation. The violent or non-violent nature of the crime was determined based on the system adopted by the federal bureau of investigation. The impulsivity ratings of the criminals were taken from two prior studies and they were ordered according to the specific type of crime. Discussion and Limitation The psychopaths and nonpsychopaths were grouped into four experimental groups based on their IQ scores. The violent or non-violent crimes committed by the prisoners falling under these four groups were then analyzed. The results showed that psychopaths with low intelligence committed impulsive and violent crimes compared to psychopaths with higher IQ who were involved in premeditated violent crimes. However, in the case of non-psychopaths those with a higher IQ were more violent compared to prisoners with lesser IQ, but, however, they were less impulsive as the majority of the crimes committed were premeditated. The study found a direct relation between general cognitive intelligence of a criminal and the violent and impulsive nature of the crimes committed by the person as only those with lower intelligence were associated with more violent and impulsive crimes compared to the intelligent psychopaths. A limitation of the study is the lack of a statistical tool to exactly quantify the cognitive intelligence variable in the prediction process. Psychopathy in Instrumental and Reactive Violent Offenders Dewey G. Cornell, Janet Warren, Gary Hawk, Ed Stafford, Guy Oram, and Denise Pine Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1996 Purpose: The purpose of the article was to distinguish between violent offenders who had committed crimes due to instrumental aggression and violent offenders who had committed acts due to reactive aggression on the basis of their violent criminal behavior and level of psychopathy in two different studies. Method The first study examined offence characteristics and psychopathy of the 106 male offenders. Based on the institution records of their previous crimes independent raters grouped them as non-violent if they had not committed any violent offences, instrumental offenders if they had committed at least one violent crime with a clear purpose and reactive offenders if their crime was a result of dispute or conflicts. The inmates were scored for their psychopathic characters using the revised Psychopathy checklist. In the second study 50 non-prison inmates were clinically evaluated for 2 to 3 days and the interview was videotaped, the offence history of the participants was reviewed and they were evaluated using a recent Psychopathy checklist Screening Version. The Discussion The results of the study indicate that there is no absolute distinction between instrumental and reactive offenders, however, based on a set pattern of characters it is, in most cases, possible to identify offenders belonging to one of the two categories. While the instrumental offenders were identified to have a clear goal, reactive offenders were more impulsive and perceived their victims to have provoked the violence. Almost all instrumental offenders were found to be reactive and hence only those who also exhibited certain instrumental aggressive acts were grouped under instrumental offenders. Instrumental offenders also lack feelings of concern or respect for others and together with an impulsive mind leads them to commit aggressive acts in order to fulfill their instrumental desires. Based on the psychopathy checklist the instrumental offenders were found to be more manipulative and impulsive compared to the other groups. A major limitation in the first study was the use of institution records to complete the psychopathy checklist. Is Criminal Behavior a Central Component of Psychopathy? Conceptual Directions for Resolving the Debate. Jennifer L. Skeem and David J. Cooke Psychological Assessment, 2010 Purpose: The purpose of the article was to determine whether criminal behavior is a component of psychopathy and whether the Psychopathy Checklist- Revised can be considered to be equal to the theoretical construct of psychopathy Method An analysis of three PCL-R models is provided in the study and while two factor model studies provide direct indices for criminal behavior, they cannot provide a clear understanding as to whether criminal behavior constitutes an important feature of psychopathy. Further the article identifies certain conceptual and empirical problems in the PCL- R measures which include imperfections in the measures, the overall PCL structure does not provide a concept or a theory about any construct and finally the measures cannot be used in any other clinical or psychiatric context and hence it does not support the inclusion of criminal behavior as a component of psychopathy. However, as the PCL-R values are useful in predicting violent and criminal behavior the present study proposes certain conceptions that would help to further refine the PCL measures and change it into a useful tool. Discussion The first conceptual direction provided is the need for a refutable theory with a validation hierarchy for the PCL-R factor models which would provide a better understanding about the importance of criminal behavior to psychopathy. The next step is to evaluate the theory using the validation hierarchies and by using extant data the present study found that interpersonal behavior constituted the basic tendencies of psychopathy with criminal behavior being a more adaptive character. And finally exclusive reliance on a single measurement such as the PCL-R should also be avoided as it may also possess irrelevancies and hence cannot be considered to be a perfectly valid measure and the PCL-R measures should be confined to predicting violent and criminal behavior alone if the aim is to provide a better understanding about psychopathy. The major limitation which is identified is the lack of a theoretical construct for the PCL-R measurements References 1. Heilbrun, A.B. (1979). Psychopathy and Violent Crime. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47(3), 509-516 2. Cornell, D.G., Warren, J.,Hawk, G., Stafford, E., Oram, G & Pine, D. (1996). Psychopathy in Instrumental and Reactive Violent Offenders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64(4), 783-790 3. Skeem, J.L & Cooke, D.J. (2010). Is Criminal Behavior a Central Component of Psychopathy? Conceptual Directions for Resolving the Debate. Psychological Assessment, 22(2), 433-445 . Read More