Psychopathy and Predatory Violence in Homicide, Violent, and Sexual Offences: Factor and Facet Relations

• NCJ Number: 238087
• Journal: Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2012 Pages: 59-74
• Author(s): Frederic Declercq; Jochem Willemsen; Kurt Audenaert; Paul Verhaeghe
• Date Published: February 2012
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

In testing the theory that there is a relationship between psychopathy and predatory violence, this study examined the violence mode (predatory or affective) and its relationship with psychopathy on factors and facets pertinent to violence associated with homicides, physical assaults, and sexual offenses.

Abstract

Of the facets of psychopathy with which predatory violence is linked (affective, interpersonal, life-style, or antisocial), only the interpersonal facet was positively related to predatory violence. This facet of psychopathy is characterized by the following personality characteristics: grandiose, arrogant, callous, dominant, superficial, and manipulative. In contrast, the antisocial facet of psychopathy was negatively associated with predatory violence. This facet of psychopathy is characterized by being irresponsible, impulsive, rule-breaking behavior, and a tendency to ignore or violate social conventions and mores. The subsidiary hypothesis was not confirmed, i.e., sexual violence was not differentiated from homicide and assault offenses by violence mode (affective or predatory violence). The very small percentage of affective sexual assaults apparently confirms Cornell's (1996) thesis that almost all sexual offenses are inherently predatory. The offenders in the current study were essentially motivated by obtaining sex and control/power over their victims. In providing further evidence of the importance of the personality features of psychopathy in understanding predatory violence, this suggests that a risk analysis of future predatory violent behavior might benefit from the inclusion of the assessment of the personality facets of psychopathy instead of focusing only on the antisocial behavior. Study participants were 82 male inmates convicted of a violent crime, a sexual crime, or a homicide. Psychopathy was assessed with the Hare PCL-R2, and the violence mode was assessed with Cornell's Aggressive Incident Coding Sheet based on interviews with the offenders and a review of the official records. 5 tables and 50 references