Does psychopathy predict institutional misconduct among adults? A meta-analytic investigation.

Abstract

Narrative reviews have raised several questions regarding the predictive validity of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 2003) and related scales in institutional settings. In this meta-analysis, the authors coded 273 effect sizes to investigate the association between the Hare scales and a hierarchy of increasingly specific forms of institutional misconduct. Effect sizes for Total, Factor 1, and Factor 2 scores were quite heterogeneous overall and weakest for physically violent misconduct (r-sub(w) = .17, .14, and .15, respectively). Moderator analyses suggested that physical violence effect sizes were smaller in U.S. prison samples (r-sub(w) = .11) than in non-U.S. prison samples (r-sub(w) = .23). Findings are discussed in terms of the utility of the Hare measures for decision-making in institutional and other contexts.

The habitual female offender inside: How psychopathic traits predict chronic prison violence.

“…Prior research suggests that psychopathy is one of best predictors of misconduct in men Guy et al, 2005;Walters, 2003aWalters, , 2003b, and our findings show that this is generalizable to female offenders. Since there has been a rise in female incarceration rates (Carson, 2014;Glaze & Kaeble, 2014) identifying valid risk assessment measures is critical to the treatment of female offenders (McKeown, 2010;Steiner & Wooldredge, 2014).…”

“…Psychopaths emerge as inmate leaders and habitual criminal offenders (Schrag, 1954), and exhibit the most aggressive types of behavior (Campbell, French, & Gendreau, 2009;McDermott, Edens, Quanbeck, Busse, & Scott, 2008). Even statistically controlling for other well-known predictors of violent and nonviolent misconducts (e.g., sentence length, previous convictions, age [Hare et al, 2000]), psychopathy remains as one of the most robust predictors (Edens, Poythress, Lilienfeld, Patrick, & Test, 2008;Guy, Edens, Anthony, & Douglas, 2005;Walters, 2003aWalters, , 2003b.…”

Interpersonal characteristics of male criminal offenders: Personality, psychopathological, and behavioral correlates.

“…For example, in a recent meta-analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 2003), Guy, Edens, Anthony, and Douglas (2005) reported mean weighted correlations of .13 and .10 between total scores on this scale and general and aggressive misconduct, respectively, in U.S. prison studies. Similarly, use of the MMPI and MMPI-2 to predict prison misconducts has generally produced fairly weak effects, with meta-analytic procedures producing an aggregated effect size (r w ) of only .07 (Gendreau, Goggin, & Law, 1997).…”

Punishment and psychopathy: a case-control functional MRI investigation of reinforcement learning in violent antisocial personality disordered men

“…3 By contrast, men who have antisocial personality disorder without psychopathy are characterised by emotional lability, mood and anxiety disorders, and reactive aggression. 4 Although the two phenotypes emerge early in life, those who develop antisocial personality disorder with psychopathy begin off ending at an earlier age, engage in a broader range and higher frequency of off ending behaviours, 4 and respond less well to treatment in childhood 5 and adulthood 6 than those without psychopathy. The two groups show distinct diff erences in brain structure 7 and functional responses to empathy-eliciting scenarios 8 and emotional stimuli when engaged in goal-directed behaviour.…”