NCJ Number
181518
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 24 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2000 Pages: 45-58
Editor(s)
Richard L. Wiener
Date Published
February 2000
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article examines psychopathy as a predictor of violent recidivism among criminal offenders with schizophrenia.
Abstract
Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) was used to test the hypothesis that psychopathy predicts violent recidivism.It was applied to a cohort of 202 male schizophrenic violent offenders subjected to forensic psychiatric investigation. Psychopathy was assessed with retrospective file-based ratings. Mean follow-up time after detainment was 51 months. The base rate for violent recidivism (reconvictions) during follow-up was 21 percent. Survival analysis revealed that psychopathy was strongly associated with violent recidivism. Cox regression analyses revealed that other potential risk factors could not equally well or better explain violent recidivism in the cohort than psychopathy as measured by PCL-R. The strong relationship between psychopathy and violent recidivism among schizophrenic offenders found in this study calls for an extended assessment of psychopathy in forensic clinical settings. In the short-term prediction of violence, symptoms of illness might be more important than psychopathy for the accuracy of prediction. In the long-term prediction, if based on both psychopathy assessment and clinical knowledge, information on risk factors is derived from situational factors (clinical) and relatively stable traits in the personality (psychopathy). Findings from assessment of psychopathy or other checklists should influence the planning and implementation of treatment in specific ways (e.g., anger control training, extended surveillance in community if the individual is prone to an unstable lifestyle). Figure, tables, references