NCJ Number
187924
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 45 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2001 Pages: 183-197
Date Published
April 2001
Length
15 pages
Annotation
A study of 127 adult males who had been remanded to a secure forensic psychiatric facility or an outpatient clinic in Western Canada sought to determine the usefulness of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) for forensic assessments.
Abstract
The PAI is a relatively new self-report inventory that has become popular in correctional and forensic settings. The research included all the males in the inpatient facility and the outpatient clinic over a period of approximately 2 years. The 49 individuals remanded to the secure facility underwent assessments of fitness to stand trial or were detained in this facility after having been found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder. The other 78 persons were referred to the forensic outpatient clinic in the same geographic region for purposes such as court-ordered sentencing assessments or treatment. The research used theoretically relevant PAI scales and subscales as predictors of criterion variables of violence, lifetime diagnosis of psychosis, and lifetime diagnosis of personality disorder. Results revealed modest support for the validity of the PAI, in that theoretically relevant PAI subscales tended to predict criterion variables, and theoretically unrelated subscales tended not to predict criterion variables. Findings indicated that the PI appears to be able to distinguish major conceptual dimensions in a forensic setting. Tables and 27 references (Author abstract modified)