Chapter 11 - Psychopaths (Lecture and Textbook)

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A personality disorder defined by a collection of interpersonal,
affective, and behavioural characteristics, including manipulation,
lack of remorse or empathy, impulsivity, and antisocial behaviour.
Psychopathy
Is a genetic predisposition with environmental influences.
Psychopaths are dominant, selfish, and manipulative; can be
violent and intimidating; engage in antisocial and impulsive acts.
16 features (EG: positive features [good intelligence, social charm,
absence of anxiety], emotional-interpersonal features [lack of re-
Hervey Cleckley made one of the most comprehensive definitions
morse, untruthfulness, unresponsiveness in interpersonal rela-
of psychopathy, containing:
tions], behavioural problems [unreliability, failure to follow a life
plan, inadequately motivated antisocial behaviour], etc)
The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) (Robert Hare
Most popular method of assessing psychopathy in adults
1991, 2003)
- 20-item rating scale that uses a semi-structured interview and a
review of file information to assess interpersonal (grandiosity, ma-
nipulativeness), affective (lack of remorse, shallow emotions), and
The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised behavioural (impulsivity, antisocial acts) features in psychopathy
- Features are rated on a 3-point scale: from 0 (not applicable) to
2 (definitely applicable)
- Total score ranges from 0 to 40
- Factor 1 (combination of interpersonal and affective traits):
more strongly related to predatory violence, emotional-processing
deficits, and poor treatment response
Factor Analysis of the PCL-R has found two correlated factors to
psychopathy:
- Factor 2 (combination of unstable and socially deviant traits):
strongly related to reoffending, substance abuse, lack of educa-
tion, and poor family background
Arrogant and deceitful personality style; deficient affective expe-
Cooke & Michie (2001) argued for a three-factor model of psy- rience; and impulsive and irresponsible behavioural style
chopathy: - Splits Factor 1 of PCL-R into two and removes some antisocial
items from factor 2
Arrogant and deceitful personality style; deficient affective experi-
Neumann, Hare, & Newman (2007)'s four-factor model:
ence; impulsive and irresponsible behavioural style; and antisocial
Measures the attitudes and emotions not easily seen by others,
easy to administer, quick to score, relatively inexpensive, don't
have to deal with inter-rater reliability

Some concerns about participants lying, so some tests include

Self Report Questionnaires: Pros and Cons measures of response styles to detect faking good or faking bad

Other concerns: malingering (faking another mental illness), may

not have sufficient insight into themselves to accurately assess
their traits, difficult for psychopaths to report on specific emotions
if they have not experienced them
Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R): 154-item in-
ventory that measures psychopathic traits in offender and com-
munity samples
- Has 8 context scales and 2 validity scales (to check for careless-
ness and positive/negative response styles)
- measures 2 factors: fearless dominance and self-centered im-
Two most common self-report scales: pulsivity

Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP): 64-item self-report mea-

sure designed to assess psychopathic traits in community sam-
ples.
- Has four factors: erratic lifestyle, callous effect, interpersonal
manipulation, and criminal tendencies
Triarchic model of psychopathy with three components: boldness,
- Patrick, Fowles, and Krueger (2009)'s model of psychopathy:
meanness, and disinhibition
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 Chapter 11 - Psychopaths (Lecture and Textbook)
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Had male students pretend they were a mugger and watch video-
tapes of students (who did not know they were being filmed)
SUBCLINICAL RESEARCH:
walking down a hallway and to classify them as vulnerable or not.
Wheeler, Book, & Costello (2009):
- Students with higher SRP scores were more accurate at detect-
ing vulnerable students.
Had students participant in a study with a chance of winning $100.
Researcher sent an email to all participants saying he lost the
contact info of the winner, and that the person who received an
SUBCLINICAL RESEARCH: Paulhus, Williams, & Nathanson
email from him about winning should reply to let him know they
(2002):
were the winner.
- Students with higher SRP scores were more likely to defraud the
experimenter and claim they were the "true" winner
Experimenters were given computerized multiple-choice answers
and seating plans from the instructors of several 'Intro to Psych'
classes. Wanted to determine which personality traits were related
SUBCLINICAL RESEARCH: Nathanson, Paulhus, & Williams
to cheating.
(2006):
- 4% of students identified as cheating pairs (one cheating off
the other). Psychopathic traits measured in the SRP were the
strongest predictors of cheating.
Large sample of students completed an anonymous question-
naire assessing the ownership of types of dog breeds, crim-
inal behaviours, tolerance of animal abuse, and psychopathic
traits. "Vicious" Dogs Breeds were: Pit Bull, Doberman, Rottweiler,
SUBCLINICAL RESEARCH: Ragatz, Fremouw, Thomas, & Mc-
wolf-mix, Akita, and Chow.
Coy (2009):
- Students with "vicious" dog breeds engaged in more criminal
behaviour and scored higher on the primary psychopathy scale
of the Levenson Primary and Secondary Psychopathy Scale; but
were not more tolerant of animal abuse than other students.
A personality disorder characterized by a history of behaviour in
which the rights of others are violated. Symptoms include:
- Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behav-
iours
- Deceitfulness
- Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
Antisocial Personality Disorder (ADP):
- Irritability and aggressiveness
- Reckless disregard for safety of self or others

- ADP symptoms are most strongly related to the behavioural

features of psychopathy and not the interpersonal or affective
features
A label used to describe a person whose psychopathic traits are
assumed to be due to environmental factors.
Sociopathy:
- Rarely used in empirical literature; has no assessment instru-
ments to measure/identify it
- Up to 80% of adult offenders have been diagnosed with ADP, and
between 10% - 25% of offenders can be classified as psychopaths
Prevalence of ADP in offenders
- Nearly all psychopaths meet the criteria for ADP, but most
offenders with ADP are no psychopaths
- Psychopathy and associated constructs are used to make sen-
tencing decisions: to support transferring a case from youth to
adult court, to contribute to dangerous offender hearings, to help
Forensic use of Psychopathy: Associations of psychopathy in the determine parole eligibility, and to assess mental state at the time
Criminal Justice System of offence hearings
- A diagnosis of psychopathy, sociopathy, and ADP is considered
to be associated with a higher risk of violent recidivism, and a lack
of treatment responsivity in dangerous offender hearings.
Psychopathy fulfills the "disease of the mind" aspect, but has
Psychopathy and the Insanity defence never fulfilled the second requirement of not appreciating the
nature or quality of the act or knowing that is it wrong.

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 Chapter 11 - Psychopaths (Lecture and Textbook)
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The tendency for forensic experts to be biased toward the side
(defence or prosecution) that hired them.

Adversarial Allegiance PCL-R scores provided by prosecution experts are higher com-
pared to those provided by defence experts in both real-life cases
and in a simulated study (experts given case files, told what side
they are an expert for, and rated them on the PCL-R scale)
Psychopaths start their criminal career at a younger age and
Psychopathy and Violence: psychopathics vs nonpsychopathic persist longer, engage in more and commit a greater number of
criminals violent offences, engage in more violence within institutions, and
are more likely to be violent after release.
- Type of violence is predatory, motivated by identifiable goals, and
Psychopathy and Violence: Type of Violence is carried out in a callous, calculated manner without emotional
context.
Instrumental Motivation Premeditated violence to obtain a goal
Reactive Violence Impulsive, unplanned violence that is a response to a provocation
- Offenders who engage in instrumental violence score signifi-
cantly higher on measures of psychopathy than offenders who
engage in reactive violence
- Williamson, Hare, and Wong (1987): Psychopaths are more likely
Psychopathy and Violence: Type of Motivation
to target strangers and be motivated by revenge or material gain.
- Woodworth and Porter (2002): Psychopaths engage in more in-
strumentally motivated ("Cold-blooded") homicides than nonpsy-
chopaths
Study looked at 135 Canadian offenders who committed a homi-
Nonpsychopaths: 28% of homicides were instrumentally motivat-
cide, and divided them into three: nonpsychopaths (PCL-R score
ed
under 20), medium scorers (PCL-R score of 20-30), and psy-
Medium Scorers: 67% of homicides were instrumentally motivat-
chopaths (PCL-R score of 30 or greater).
ed
What percentage of nonpsychopaths, medium scorers, and psy-
Psychopaths: 97% of homicides were instrumentally motivated
chopaths committed instrumentally motivated offences?
Psychopathic offenders (sexual and nonsexual offenders) were
given early release from prison more often than nonpyschopathic
- Porter, ten Brinke, and Wilson (2009): Psychopathic offenders
offenders. However, upon follow-up after release, they were less
and early release study
successful than nonpsychopathic offenders
- Impression management: telling people what they want to hear
There is a strong genetic contribution, however the environment
PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS
you grow up in and the experiences you have can influence how
"Psychopaths are born, not made":
psychopathic traits are manifested
While there is moderate to strong stability in psychopathic traits
PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS
across developmental periods, more change is seen in children
"Once a psychopath, always a psychopath":
and youth
PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS Some psychopaths use charm, deceit and manipulation to get
"All psychopaths are violent": what they want instead of violence
PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS- "You either are or are not a psy- It is not an all-or-nothing construct, people vary in the degree to
chopath": which they possess psychopathic traits
PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS
Psychopathy is slightly more common in men
"There are no women psychopaths":
They do overlap, but there are distinct: psychopathy focuses more
PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS
on the interpersonal and affective traits, and ADP focuses more
"Psychopathy and ADP are the same thing":
on the antisocial and behavioural traits
No strong association between intelligence and psychopathy has
PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS- "Psychopaths are all intelligent":
been found.
PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS They are often difficult to treat, however there is evidence, espe-
"Psychopaths are untreatable": cially in youth, that they are amenable to treatment

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 Chapter 11 - Psychopaths (Lecture and Textbook)
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PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS
There is evidence that self-report scales can measure psycho-
"Psychopathic traits cannot be measured via self-report instru-
pathic traits, if used with caution
ments":
PSYCHOPATHY MYTHS
They do know the difference between what is morally right and
"Psychopaths do not know the difference between right and
wrong, but they do not care.
wrong":
Self-report or the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version
(PCL:SV)
Research in community samples often use what measurements?
- PCL:SV is only 12 items, takes less time and does not focus on
criminal behaviours as much.
- Employees with many psychopathic features at the root of some
of a company's problems
- Are skilled at getting info on other coworkers, spreading vicious
Babiak (2000): Study on employees with psychopathic traits
rumours, causing dissension among others, manipulating key
players in the company, and blaming others for their failures
- Are not good at pulling their own weight on the job
- Professionals with psychopathic traits are less likely to be team
players, had poorer management skills, and poorer performance
Babiak, Neumann, and Hare (2010): Professionals with psycho- appraisals.
pathic traits - The more psychopathic professionals were, however, more cre-
ative, engaged in more strategic thinking, and had stronger com-
munication skills
- Psychopathic managers cause more conflict, have counter-
productive work behaviours, and have more negative emotions
Boddy (2013): Psychopathic managers (anxiety, depression, anger).
- "Cause a toxic work environment as evidenced by a culture of
conflict and bullying"
- Males score higher than females, with lifestyle traits (impulsivity,
Neumann, Schmitt, Carter, Embley, and Hare (2012): largest risk-taking) being the most prevalent and antisocial traits (arrest
study to ever study psychopathic traits: looked at sex differences history, violence) being the least prevalent
across the globe - Cultural factors likely play an important role in how psychopathic
traits are expressed
- Talking victim into victimization
- Lying
Kirkman (2005) (only had 26 participants, needs further re- - Economic abuse
search): Experiences of victims who may or may not have been - Emotional abuse/psychological torture
abused by their partner. Eight characteristics of male psychopaths - Multiple infidelities
in heterosexual relationships: - Isolation and coercion
- Assault
- Mistreatment of children
-Psychopathy is strongly associated with violent offences, not so
much sexual offences
Psychopathy and Sexual Violence: -Offenders with many psychopathic traits who also show deviant
sexual arousal are more likely to engage in sexual reoffending
than other offenders
-Brown and Forth (1997): sample of 60 rapists, comparing PCL-R Their PCL-R score was associated with their number of Prior
scores offenses but not the number of Prior sexual offences.
Psychopaths engaged in significantly more violent offenses than
Porter, Fairweather, et al.(2000): Level of violence in psychopaths nonpsychopaths, but engaged in fewer sexual offences.
vs nonpsychopaths - Potential explanation: high rate of sexual offending found in child
molesters, who tend not to be Psychopaths
Sexual homicide Homicides that have a sexual component
Offenders who commit sexual homicides are the most Psycho-
pathic, followed by mixed sexual offenders, then rapists, and child
molesters as the least psychopathic
Level of psychopathy in different types of sexual offenders
- mixed sexual offender: those who sexually assault both children
and adults
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 Chapter 11 - Psychopaths (Lecture and Textbook)
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- 81% of Psychopathic rapists were opportunistic and vindictive,
The Massachusetts treatment Center Rapist Typology (MTC: R3) as compared with 56% of nonpsychopathic rapists
(Knight and Prentky, 1990): "Different types of rapists based on - Nonpsychoapthics report feelings of anxiety or alienation within
motivation and level of social competence": the 24 hour period leading up to the rape, whereas Psychopaths
reported positive emotions
oPorter, Woodworth, Earle, Drugge, and Boer (2003): Levels of Levels of sadistic violence was related to the PCL-R total scores
sadistic violence and with the interpersonal and affective features in psychopathy.
People who are sexually aroused by fantasies, urges, or acts of
Sexual Sadism
inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on another person.
- Mokros, Osterheider, Hucker, and Nitschke (2010): Studied the PCL-R total scores, affective deficits facets, and anti-social facets
association between psychopathy and sexual sadism: were all related to sexual sadism.
Most clinicians and researchers are pessimistic about the treat-
ment of psychopaths, as they suffer little personal distress, see
Treatment of Psychopathy
little wrong with their attitudes and behavior, and seek treatment
only when it is in their best interest to do so.
- Used matched group design: Patients who spent two years in the
treatment program (treated group) were paired with patients who
were assessed but not admitted to the program (untreated group).
- Patients classified based on PCL-R scores as psychopathic or
Rice, Harris, and Cormier (1992) retrospective study on treatment nonpsychopathic
of psychopathy: The effects of an intensive therapeutic treatment - Followed for an average of 10 years after release
program on violent psychopathic and nonpsychopathic psychi- - Violent recidivism rate was 39% for untreated nonpsychopaths,
atric patients. 22% for treated nonpsychopaths, 55% for untreated Psychopaths,
and 77% for treated psychopaths.
* Treatment was associated with a reduction in violent recidi-
vism among nonpsychopaths but an increase in violent recidivism
among Psychopaths.*
Use caution when interpreting this study: Implies that psychopaths
Rice, Harris, and Cormier (1992) retrospective study on treatment are untreatable, however an alternative is that the treatments for
of psychopathy: The effects of an intensive therapeutic treatment psychopaths that have currently been tried so far have not worked
program on violent psychopathic and nonpsychopathic psychi- - May be due to an inappropriate treatment, problems implement-
atric patients. CAUTIONS IN INTERPRETING THEIR RESULTS ing the treatment, inadequate training for those administering it, or
lack of support from management
Although Psychopathic sex offenders who dropped out of treat-
- Olver and Wong (2006): drop out VS finished treatment of psy- ment were more likely to violently reoffend, the psychopathic sex
chopaths offenders we stayed in treatment showed positive treatment gains
and were likely to violently reoffend.
Bill introduced in 1976 after abolition of the death penalty. Allows
murderers to apply for a parole hearing after 15 years in prison
(parole normally is not available for first-degree murderers until
What is the Faint Hope Clause 25 years, and for second-degree murderers after 10 years unless
a judge increased it to up to 25 years)
- Motivation was to provide murderers with an incentive to behave
in prisons and participate in rehabilitation.
Scale used for measuring psychopathy in children. Observer
(parents/teachers) rating scale to assess psychopathic traits in
Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) children using questions they are asked.
- 3-dimentional structure consisting of a callous-unemotional fac-
tor, an impulsivity factor, and a narcissism factor.
Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) Scale designed to measure psychopathic traits in adolescents
- the label has many negative connotations for the public and for
Concerns for the label of "psychopath" and diagnosing chil- mental health and criminal justice professionals.
dren/youth with psychopathy: - This stigma may influence treatment decisions, social service
plans, and juvenile determinations
Stigma of "Psychopath" Studies: Mock jurors were more likely to support the death penalty for
Edens (2003 and 2005): Psychopath vs psychotic vs nondisor- psychopathic defendants than for the psychotic or nondisordered
dered and the death penalty defendants in both adult and juvenile defendants.

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 Chapter 11 - Psychopaths (Lecture and Textbook)
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Described defendant with either psychopathic or nonpsychopath-
ic traits to mock jurors. Mock jurors presented with the psycho-
Edens (2003): Psychopathic vs nonpsychopathic traits and the
pathic traits version were more likely to support the death penalty
death penalty vs intervention
and be less supportive of the defendant receiving intervention in
prison.
Defendants described as psychopaths were rated as less credible
by mock jurors compared to other defendants; were more likely to
Blais and Forth (2013): Psychopathy and credibility with jurors
be found guilty, and were rated as a higher risk for future violence
and recidivism.
- APSD indicates fairly high stability over a four-year period

- Lynam, Caspi, Moffitt, Loeber, and Southamer-Loeber (2007):

Stability of Psychopathic traits in youth
longitudinal study about the stability of psychopathic traits from
youth to adulthood. Found a moderate degree of stability from age
13 to 24.
involved in criminal behaviours at an earlier age, engage in more
Research using the PCL:YV found that adolescents with many violence in institutions and in the community, and are at a higher
psychopathic traits become... risk of reoffending once released as compared to other adoles-
cents.
Campbell, Porter, and Santor (2004): psychopathic traits related were related to delinquency and aggression but not to anxiety or
to what symptoms depression symptoms in male and female adolescent offenders
- compared the treatment outcomes of two groups of incarcerated
youth, both with high PCL:YV scores
- one group given intensive treatment at a juvenile TREATMENT
Calddwell, Skeem, Salekin, and Van Rybroek (2006): Comparing center, one given intensive treatment at a juvenile CORREC-
treatment in correctional vs treatment centers TIONAL center.
- Youth released from the correctional center violently reoffended
at twice the rate in a two-year follow up as compared with youth
receiving the treatment at the treatment center.
Growing evidence suggest a strong genetic contribution to psy-
Nature VS Nurture?
chopathy
Identical twins have much more similar PPI (Psychopathic Per-
Carlson, Krueger, and Patrick (2003): Identical VS fraternal twins sonality Inventory) scores than fraternal twins
psychopathy study - Genetic influence accounted for between 29% and 59% of the
variance for each of the different PPI subscales
- Viding, Blair, Moffitt, and Plomin (2005): Heritable traits of
callous-unemotional traits were moderately to highly heritable
pschopathy
- Studies using retrospective Longitudinal designs have found that
lower levels of parental care (i.e., warmth, attachment)
psychopathic individuals report...
- 40-year prospective longitudinal study of anti-social behaviour
in 411 boys aged 8, followed up until age 48 when they were
assessed using the PCL-SV.
Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development
- The best predictors of adult psychopathy were: having a criminal
father or mother, being a son whose father was uninvolved with
him, having a low family income, coming from a disrupted family,
and experience physical neglect
- Used court records to identify 900 abused/neglected children
prior to the age of 11 and compared them to a control group
matched on age, race, gender, elementary school class, and place
Weiler and Widom (1996): Abused children vs control group and
of residence. The children were followed up after 20 years and
PCL-R scores
assessed on a modified PCL-R
- Children who had been abused had slightly higher PCL-R scores
than the control group
Half of the cop killers they studied had personality and behaviour
Pinizzotto and Davis (1992): Study on murderers of police officers
features consistent with psychopathy

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 Chapter 11 - Psychopaths (Lecture and Textbook)
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- impulsivity manifested at a crime scene by the injury pattern on
O'Toole (2007): crime scene characteristics manifested by a psy- the victim, choice of weapon, and time and location of crime
chopathic violent offender: - charm/manipulation manifested in how they con people to min-
imize the threat they pose when approaching a victim
Different interrogation techniques needed: can't guilt trip them,
Interrogating psychopaths:
must appeal to their sense of grandiosity and need for status.
- Try to outwit the interrogator
- Enjoy being the focus of attention
- Attempt to control the interrogation ("turn the tables" and be the
Quayle (2008): 5 Behaviours psychopaths engage in during inter- interrogator)
rogation: - Will not be fooled by bluffs (too good at conning and may
recognize when they are being conned)
- Attempt to shock (be blatant/matter-of-fact about the way they
treat other people
- Ensuring case familiarity on the interrogator's part
- Convey experience and confidence (atmosphere of authority)
Quayle (2008): 5 Suggestions for interviewing psychopaths - Show liking/admiration
- Avoid criticizing the suspect
- Avoid conveying emotions about the offence/case
AFFECTIVE: Response Modulation Deficit Theory (by Newman,
Brinkleym Lorenz, Hiatt, and MacCoon, 2007)
Two most prominent theories of psychopathy: COGNITIVE: Blair, Hare, Patrick: Psychopaths have a deficit in
the experience of certain critical emotions that guide prosocial
behaviour and inhibit deviance.
A theory that suggests that psychopaths fail to use contextual
cues that are peripheral to a dominant response set to modulate
their behaviour.
Response Modulation Deficit Theory - AKA: if psychopaths are engaging in a specific rewarded be-
haviour, they will not pay attention to other information that might
inhibit their behaviour. This theory has been used to explain why
psychopaths fail to learn to avoid punishment.
first to theorize that psychopaths have a deep-rooted emotional
Cognitive Deficit research on psychopathy: Hervey Cleckley
deficit that involves the disconnection between cognitive linguistic
(1976)
processing and emotional experience
lexical-decision task given to psychopathic and nonpsychopathic
offenders. Presented with emotional words, neutral words and
nonwords (EG cancer, tree, sardf) were presented on a screen
Cognitive Deficit research on psychopathy: Williamson, Harpur,
and participants had to indicate whether the word on the screen
Hare (1991): lexical-decision task
was a word or not.
- Nonpsychopaths responded to emotional words faster than neu-
tral words, but psychopaths had no difference in response time
Children identify the emotions in neutral words spoken with into-
Affective Processing studies: Blair, Budhani, Colledge, and Scott nations conveying happiness, disgust, anger, sadness, and fear.
(2005): Children identify the emotions in words Boys with many psychopathic traits were impaired at recognizing
fearful vocal affect.
compared startle reflexes of psychopathic and nonpsychopathic
sexual offenders from positive, neutral, and negative stimuli.
Affective Processing studies: Patrick, Bradley, and Lang (1993): - Nonpsychopaths: small blink-reaction to positive slides, moder-
Startle reflexes ate to neutral slides, and enhanced to negative slides
- Psychopaths: No difference in magnitude across different types
of slides
- Amygdala regulates expression of emotion and emotional mem-
ory
Blair (2006, 2008): Amygdala Dysfunction Theory - Also linked to brain regions responsible for memory, control
of autonomic nervous system, aggression, decision making, ap-
proach and avoidance behaviour, and defence reactions
- Other researchers have suggested a ___________________
paralimbic
model to explain the emotional deficits seen in psychopaths

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 Chapter 11 - Psychopaths (Lecture and Textbook)
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LECTURE
Woodworth, M., & Porter, S. (2002). In cold blood: Characteristics
Examine the relationship between psychopathy and instrumen-
of criminal homicides as a function of psychopathy.
tality (versus reactivity) of homicides
What was the purpose?
LECTURE
125 homicide offenders from two Canadian federal prisons; one
Woodworth, M., & Porter, S. (2002). In cold blood: Characteristics
in BC and one in Nova Scotia
of criminal homicides as a function of psychopathy.
Mean age: 41.8 years
Mean age at time of current homicide: 30.0
Participants:
- PCL-R (Hare, 1991)
* Total score, Factor 1, and Factor 2
- Continuous
LECTURE
* e.g., 0 to 40 for total score
PCL-R Scoring
- Dichotomous
* psychopath = total score of 30 or higher
* Nonpsychopath = total score of 29 or lower
LECTURE - Coded from official files for most recent homicide
Woodworth, M., & Porter, S. (2002). In cold blood: Characteristics - 4-point rating of violence ranging from purely reactive (1) to
of criminal homicides as a function of psychopathy. purely instrumental (4)
- Also collapsed 4-point scale: primarily reactive (1 or 2) versus
Homicide Coding primarily instrumental (3 or 4)
- Purely reactive (1)
* "high level of spontaneity/impulsivity and a lack of planning..."
- Reactive/instrumental (2)
LECTURE * Both reactive and instrumental violence but "the primary quality
Woodworth, M., & Porter, S. (2002). In cold blood: Characteristics of the violence leading to death had to be reactivity"
of criminal homicides as a function of psychopathy. - Instrumental/reactive (3)
* Both instrumental and reactive violence but "the primary quality
4-Point Homicide Ratings of the violence leading to death had to be instrumental"
- Purely instrumental (4)
* "clearly goal-oriented in nature with no evidence of an immedi-
ate emotional or situational provocation"
LECTURE
Woodworth, M., & Porter, S. (2002). In cold blood: Characteristics
Psychopaths were more likely to have used primarily instrumental
of criminal homicides as a function of psychopathy.
violence (93.3%) than nonpsychopaths (48.4%)
Results:
LECTURE
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of
Evaluate "an intensive therapeutic community for mentally dis-
a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and
ordered offenders that was thought to be especially suitable for
other mentally disordered offenders.
psychopaths"
Purpose:
LECTURE
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of The therapeutic community program "was peer operated and
a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and involved intensive group therapy for up to 80 hours weekly. The
other mentally disordered offenders. goal was to create an environment where patients could develop
empathy and responsibility for their peers"
Treatment:
- Therapeutic community program
LECTURE
* 176 patients who spent at least 2 years in program between
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of
1968 and 1978
a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and
- No therapeutic community program
other mentally disordered offenders.
* 146 forensic assessment cases matched to treated subjects on:
Age at index offence, index offence charge, nonviolent criminal
Participants:
history, violent criminal history, and time charged for index offence
FAILURE: "...any new charge for a criminal offense, or had their
parole revoked or were returned to the maximum security institu-

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 Chapter 11 - Psychopaths (Lecture and Textbook)
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LECTURE tion for behavior that could have, in the judgment of the research
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of assistants, resulted in a criminal charge"
a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and
other mentally disordered offenders. VIOLENT FAILURE: "...any new charge against persons, or any
parole revocation or return to the maximum security institution for
"Failure" and "Violent Failure" Defined as violent behavior"
LECTURE
- 169 of treated and 136 of untreated subjects had opportunity to
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of
reoffend
a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and
- Mean follow-up = 10.5 years (SD = 4.94)
other mentally disordered offenders.
- No significant difference in length of follow-up for treated versus
untreated or psychopathic versus nonpsychopathic
Follow-up length of time
- Any failure
LECTURE
* 57% for treated versus 68% for the comparison subjects; Ç2(1,N
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of
= 305) = 3.87, p < .05
a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and
other mentally disordered offenders.
- Violent failure
* 39% for treated versus 46% for comparison subjects; non-sig-
Recidivism by Treatment
nificant
LECTURE
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of
a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and Divided subjects into psychopaths and nonpsychopaths and com-
other mentally disordered offenders. pared treated versus untreated on recidivism

Psychopathy
TREATED Psychopaths with with any failure: 87%
TREATED Psychopaths with with violent failure: 77%
LECTURE
UNTREATED Psychopaths with any failure: 90%
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of
UNTREATED Psychopaths with violent failure: 55%
a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and
other mentally disordered offenders.
TREATED nonpsychopaths with any failure: 44%
TREATED nonpsychopaths with violent failure: 22%
Results
UNTREATED nonpsychopaths with any failure: 58%
UNTREATED nonpsychopaths with violent failure: 39%

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