Paraphilias with co‐morbid psychopathy: The clinical and legal significance to sex offender assessments

Saleh, Fabian M.; Malin, M.F.T. H. Martin; Grudzinskas, J J D Albert; Vitacco, Michael J.

doi:10.1002/bsl.933

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Harris et al (2003) and Rice and Harris (1997) report significant main effects for psychopathy with sexual recidivism, as have others (see Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2004). It should be noted, however, that other researchers have found that psychopathy is not related to sexual recidivism (e.g., Murrie et al, 2011) and that psychopathy plays a role in explaining behavior in only a minority of sex offences and that most sex offenders, including those who recidivate, do not score high on the PCL-R (Saleh, Malin, Grudzinskas, & Vitacco, 2010). These latter authors conclude that the PCL-R provides only minimal information in the assessment of risk for sexual reoffence, especially for child molesters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Does Consideration of Psychopathy and Sexual Deviance Add to the Predictive Validity of the Static-99R?

Looman

Morphett

Abracen³

2012

Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol

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The Static-99 is the most commonly used actuarial risk assessment tool for the prediction of sexual recidivism. In addition, the use of psychopathy and sexual deviance has been common in assessing sexual offenders, based on research suggesting that these factors have predictive validity. It has also become common practice to modify risk assessments based on the Static-99/99R because of the presence of psychopathy and indicators of deviant sexual interests, although to date there has been no research validating this procedure. The current research was conducted to fill this gap in the literature. Using a sample of 272 sexual offenders, the extent to which psychopathy, sexual deviance, and their interaction added to the predictive validity of the Static-99R was examined. Analyses were conducted using the whole sample as well as subgroups of rapists and child molesters. It was found that although the Static-99R predicted sexual recidivism, adding psychopathy and sexual deviance in a Cox regression analysis did not improve the prediction. This held true for child molesters when examined on their own. For rapists, although psychopathy and sexual deviance did not contribute to the prediction of sexual recidivism, for serious (i.e., violent including sexual) recidivism, the inclusion of psychopathy added to the prediction. Results are discussed in terms of implications for practice.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Does Consideration of Psychopathy and Sexual Deviance Add to the Predictive Validity of the Static-99R?

Looman

Morphett

Abracen³

2012

Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol

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“…Despite using a mental health label in these legal categories, they were not necessarily tied to specific diagnostic categories in the traditional sense of the term psychopath (e.g., Cleckley, 1941). As such, various authors (e.g., Edens & Petrila, 2006; Saleh, Malin, Grudzinskas, & Vitacco, 2010) have argued that it is important for mental health experts to avoid conflating legal definitions with traditional diagnostic labels and seminal theoretical formulations of psychopathy (e.g., Cleckley, 1941).…”

Section: Psychopathy and Sexual Predatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role and reliability of the Psychopathy Checklist—Revised in U.S. sexually violent predator evaluations: A case law survey.

DeMatteo¹,

Edens

Galloway

et al. 2014

Law and Human Behavior

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The civil commitment of offenders as sexually violent predators (SVPs) is a highly contentious area of U.S. mental health law. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is frequently used in mental health evaluations in these cases to aid legal decision making. Although generally perceived to be a useful assessment tool in applied settings, recent research has raised questions about the reliability of PCL-R scores in SVP cases. In this report, we review the use of the PCL-R in SVP trials identified as part of a larger project investigating its role in U.S. case law. After presenting data on how the PCL-R is used in SVP cases, we examine the reliability of scores reported in these cases. We located 214 cases involving the PCL-R, 88 of which included an actual score and 29 of which included multiple scores. In the 29 cases with multiple scores, the intraclass correlation coefficient for a single evaluator for the PCL-R scores was only .58, and only 41.4% of the difference scores were within 1 standard error of measurement unit. The average score reported by prosecution experts was significantly higher than the average score reported by defense-retained experts, and prosecution experts reported PCL-R scores of 30 or above in nearly 50% of the cases, compared with less than 10% of the cases for defense witnesses (κ = .29). In conjunction with other recently published findings demonstrating the unreliability of PCL-R scores in applied settings, our results raise questions as to whether this instrument should be admitted into SVP proceedings.

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“…Even though mixed offenders are defined by a combination of sex offenses that includes child and adult victims, their profile distinguishes them from child sex offenders and rapists. For instance, some have proposed that mixed offenders are characterized as thrill-seeking individuals who are prone to boredom and other psychopathic features (Porter, Campbell, Woodworth, & Birt, 2001; Saleh, Malin, Grudzinskas, & Vitacco, 2010). According to Cann, Friendship, and Gonza (2007), individuals who offend against a variety of age groups demonstrate a more general lack of empathy that goes beyond their treatment of women and children.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated Psychopathy Scores Among Mixed Sexual Offenders

Brown

Dargis

Mattern

et al. 2015

Criminal Justice and Behavior

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Past research has revealed a relationship between sexual offending and psychopathy. Notably, offenders who sexually assault a minor as well as an adult (mixed offenders) score higher on the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R) than child sex offenders, rapists, and nonsex offenders. Moreover, both PCL-R Factor 1 (interpersonal-affective traits) and PCL-R Factor 2 (impulsive-antisocial traits) scores have been implicated in explaining these higher psychopathy scores. Using data from 2,514 male prisoners, focusing on a subset of 40 mixed offenders, we attempted to replicate and clarify these findings. As predicted, mixed offenders scored higher on PCL-R total and Factor 1 than other offender groups. Given this distinctive profile, greater understanding of the association between these psychopathic traits and mixed sexual offending may be crucial for evaluating and treating sex offenders as well as for reducing victimization.

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Paraphilias with co‐morbid psychopathy: The clinical and legal significance to sex offender assessments

Cited by 15 publications

References 26 publications

Does Consideration of Psychopathy and Sexual Deviance Add to the Predictive Validity of the Static-99R?

Does Consideration of Psychopathy and Sexual Deviance Add to the Predictive Validity of the Static-99R?

The role and reliability of the Psychopathy Checklist—Revised in U.S. sexually violent predator evaluations: A case law survey.

Elevated Psychopathy Scores Among Mixed Sexual Offenders

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