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A group of 12 authors (GA) shared a statement of concern (SoC) warning against the use of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991, 2003) to assess risk for serious institutional violence in US capital sentencing cases (DeMatteo et al., 2020). Notably, the SoC was not confined to capital sentencing issues, but included institutional violence in general. Central to the arguments presented in the SoC was that the PCL-R has poor predictive validity for institutional violence and also inadequate field reliability. The GA also identified important issues about the fallibility and inappropriate use of any clinical/forensic assessments, questionable evaluator qualifications, and their effects on capital sentencing decisions. However, as a group of forensic academics, researchers, and clinicians, we are concerned that the PCL-R represents a psycholegal red herring, while the SoC did not address critical legislative, systemic, and evaluator/rating issues that affect all risk assessment tools. We contend that the SoC's literature review was selective and that the resultant opinions about potential uses and misuses of the PCL-R were ultimately misleading. We focus our response on the evidence and conclusions proffered by the GA concerning the use of the PCL-R in capital and other cases. We provide new empirical findings regarding the PCL-R's predictive validity and field reliability to further demonstrate its relevance for institutional violence risk assessment and management. We further demonstrate why the argument that group data cannot be relevant for single-case assessments is erroneous. Recommendations to support the ethical and appropriate use of the PCL-R for risk assessment are provided.

Objective: To test the four-factor model of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist -Revised (PCL-R) empirical construct of psychopathy in a Chilean prison population by using instruments that supply different types of data. Methods: Two hundred and nine male inmates of the Prison of Los Andes, Chile, were evaluated. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out with the PCL-R and the Self-Report of Psychopathy -IIIShort Form (SRP-III-SF). Conclusions:The results obtained with the PCL-R and the SRP-SF showed adequate fit to the empirical four-factor model of psychopathy and support this model. As foreseeable, fit was better for the PCL-R, which combines several sources of information.

While reviewing the present study, research work was published that contributed to a better understanding of the association between pathological gambling and criminality and went further into their complex relationship and the formulation of explanatory models related to impulsiveness.

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Perpetrators of sexual homicide act in response to various motivations, and their victims are diverse. They are not necessarily affected by psychosis. They take advantage of their victims' vulnerability or of favourable circumstances in order to take control of the situation. The characteristics of 16 persons accused of sexual homicide in the Judiciary Department of La Plata, Argentina are described in this article. The cases presented show that homicidal sexual violence is an instrumental behaviour used to attain differing objectives and is not necessarily perpetrated for sexual purposes. It is suggested that further research is necessary to improve the existing classifications.

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(média = 0,97; intervalo de 0,60 a 0,99). Conclusão: A confiabilidade entre os avaliadores da versão brasileira da escala HCR-20 Assessing Risk for Violence foi similar aos resultados de estudos em outros países.