Assessment of psychopathy in a population of incarcerated adolescent offenders.

The reliability, validity, and factor structure of a modified version of the Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL—R) for adolescents was investigated, completed using file information only, in a sample of incarcerated Black and White male adolescents. Interrater reliability and internal consistency were high, and confirmatory factor analyses and coefficients of congruence showed that the factor structure in this sample resembled the 2-factor solution found in adults. No significant racial differences were found for reliability or mean PCL—R scores. In addition, relationships between PCL—R scores and psychometric measures and behavioral indicators of maladjustment were similar to those previously found in adult populations. The construct of psychopathy, as defined by the PCL—R modified for use with adolescents, appears applicable to both Black and White adolescent male offenders. The study gives evidence for the structural and substantive validity of the modified PCL—R in this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Carlson Psychological Survey with adolescents: Norms and scales reliabilities.

Examined psychometric properties of the Carlson Psychological Survey by K. A. Carlson (1981) in a sample of 410 male adolescent offenders (mean age 15 yrs). The test's 4 content scales (Chemical Abuse, Thought Disturbance, Antisocial Tendencies, and Self-Depreciation) were found to be internally consistent; reliable over time; moderately intercorrelated; and generally unrelated to age, IQ, or scores on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. The Carlson Psychological Survey is recommended as a personality screening test for young offenders. (French abstract) (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identifying violent offenders using a video measure of interpersonal distance.

73 imprisoned male offenders volunteered to complete a videotaped measure of preferred interpersonal distance (IPD). Prison records were then searched for information leading to the classification of each S as either violent or nonviolent and for data on 17 background variables. A discriminant function analysis (DFA) identified 7 of the variables beginning with current offense and including IPD, as discriminators between violent and nonviolent offenders. Inspection of discriminant scores revealed an optimal criterion score with which 92% of the Ss were correctly identified as either violent or nonviolent. A 2nd DFA, which omitted the variable current offense, showed that IPD was the next best discriminator between violent and nonviolent offenders, and a positive relationship between preferred IPD and violence was clearly demonstrated. Results also support studies that have shown no difference in the shapes of the body-buffer zones of violent and nonviolent offenders, but anticipated differences between the IPD scores of Polynesian and European ethnic groups were not found. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapeutic responses of psychopathic sexual offenders: Treatment attrition, therapeutic change, and long-term recidivism.

The authors examined the therapeutic responses of psychopathic sex offenders (≥25 Psychopathy Checklist—Revised; PCL–R) in terms of treatment dropout and therapeutic change, as well as sexual and violent recidivism over a 10-year follow-up among 156 federally incarcerated sex offenders treated in a high-intensity inpatient sex offender program. Psychopathy and sex offender risk/treatment change were assessed using the PCL–R and the Violence Risk Scale—Sexual Offender version (VRS–SO), respectively. Although psychopathic participants were more likely than their nonpsychopathic counterparts (     

Validity of the MMPI Pd scale among black males.

Conducted 3 studies to investigate the validity of the MMPI Psychopathic Deviate (Pd) and Pd + .4K scales in discriminating levels of social deviance among young black men. Study 1 established that 102 black inmates at a federal correctional institution had significantly higher scores on both scales than 120 culturally deprived black male university students. Study 2, using Ss from Study 1, demonstrated that (a) among the inmates recidivists had significantly higher scores than first offenders, and (b) among the students there were significant differences in the expected directions among subgroups differing in self-reported delinquency. Study 3 showed that the black Ss from Study 1 had higher scores than comparable samples of 60 white male college students and 51 white male prison inmates. It is concluded that Pd and Pd + .4K both validly differentiate levels of social deviance among young black men but that the norms for the scales appear to show racial bias. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of the Self-Improvement Orientation Scheme-Self Report (SOS-SR) among incarcerated offenders.

Review of the behavior change literature reveals that there are several personal, social, and environmental factors associated with a person's potential for change. The Self-Improvement Orientation Scheme-Self Report (SOS-SR) is a 72-item self-report assessment instrument designed to measure various factors of the client motivation construct. The instrument yields a Total Score and scores on 12 subscales that reflect different motivational domains. The present study examined the psychometric properties and criterion-related validity of the SOS-SR among a sample of 132 incarcerated male offenders. The results provided normative data and yielded preliminary support for the psychometric integrity of the instrument. In addition, scores on the SOS-SR were related to offender treatment performance independent of criminal risk. Implications of the findings with respect to theory and practice are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anger as a predictor of aggression among incarcerated adolescents.

This study examined the validity of trait anger as a predictor of aggressive behavior among juvenile offenders. Two standard self-report anger scales were administered to 65 recently incarcerated male adolescents. These youths were followed prospectively for physical and verbal aggression during 3 months of subsequent incarceration. Anger scores were not correlated with participant history of violent offending or staff ratings of anger. However, anger scores from both instruments were predictive of subsequent physical and verbal aggression. For example, the Trait Anger scale successfully classified 66% of juvenile offenders into high and low aggressive groups; receiver operating characteristic analysis obtained an effect size of .72. These results support the predictive validity of self-reported anger in identifying juvenile offenders at risk for institutional aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy screening of incarcerated juveniles: A comparison of measures.

How well do brief screening measures correspond with a full-scale assessment of psychopathy among juvenile offenders? This study compared 3 independent screening measures (the Antisocial Process Screening Device [APSD] Self-Report [A. A. Caputo, P. J. Frick, & S. L. Brodsky, 1999], the APSD Staff Rating [P. J. Frick & R. D. Hare, 2001] and the Psychopathy Content Scale [D. C. Murrie & D. G. Cornell, 2000] on the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory [T. Millon, 1993]) with the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV; A. E. Forth, D. S. Kosson, & R. D. Hare, in press) in a sample of 117 incarcerated male juveniles. Modest correlations (.30-.49) were found between PCL:YV scores and those of the 3 screening measures, and there was moderate accuracy (67%-82%) in identifying youth who scored relatively high (≥25) on the PCL:YV. Although these results support the construct of adolescent psychopathy, they indicate substantial limitations in the use of psychopathy screening measures with juvenile offenders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Violent behavior and differential Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children characteristics.

WISC data were obtained from 18 violent juvenile offenders. Similarities ratio was compared with the score from a random subsample of 18 juveniles from a larger population of 200 offenders. There was a significantly lower Similarities ratio for the violent group when compared with the random subsample. The reported relationship between violent behavior and low Similarities subtest scores in adults did not hold for the violent Ss. However, the general relationship of a lower Similarities ratio for violent delinquent juveniles when compared with the general delinquent population was found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy and Offending From Adolescence to Adulthood: A 10-Year Follow-Up.

This study examined the predictive validity of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV; A. E. Forth, D. S. Kosson, & R. D. Hare, 2003) from adolescence to early adulthood. The authors coded the PCL:YV using file information and collected criminal record information over a 10-year follow-up period on 157 boys, ages 12 through 18, referred to Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services for assessment in 1986. The risk for violence into early adulthood was greater among those with high PCL:YV scores than among those with low scores, even after controlling for conduct disorder, age at first offence, and history of violent and nonviolent offending. These results indicate that the PCL:YV provides meaningful information about young offenders' risk for violence into early adulthood. Clinical implications are discussed, with reference to pertinent ethical issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The revised Psychopathy Checklist: Reliability and factor structure.

The revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) is a 20-item scale scored from interview and file information. Analyses of data from 5 prison samples (N?=?925) and 3 forensic psychiatric samples (N?=?356) indicate that the revised PCL resembles its 22-item predecessor in all important respects. It has excellent psychometric properties, and it measures 2 correlated factors that were cross-validated both within and between samples. Correlations between the original PCL and the revised version approached unity for both the factors and the full scale. We conclude that the revised PCL measures the same construct as the original and that the PCL is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of psychopathy in male forensic populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version and adolescent and adult recidivism: Considerations with respect to gender, ethnicity, and age.

The present study investigated the predictive accuracy of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV; A. E. Forth, D. S. Kosson, & R. D. Hare, 2003) for youth and adult recidivism, with respect to gender, ethnicity, and age, in a sample of 161 Canadian young offenders who received psychological services from an outpatient mental health facility. The PCL: YV significantly predicted any general, nonviolent, and violent recidivism in the aggregate sample over a 7-year follow-up; however, when results were disaggregated by youth and adult outcomes, the PCL: YV consistently appeared to be a stronger predictor of youth recidivism. The PCL: YV predicted youth recidivism for subsamples of female and Aboriginal youths, and very few differences in the predictive accuracy of the tool were observed for younger vs. older adolescent groups. Both the 13-item (i.e., D. J. Cooke & C. Michie, 2001, 3-factor) and the 20-item (i.e., R. D. Hare, 2003, 4-factor) models appeared to predict various recidivism criteria comparably across the aggregate sample and within specific demographic subgroups (e.g., female and Aboriginal youth). The Antisocial facet contributed the most variance in the prediction of adult outcomes, whereas the 3-factor model contributed significant incremental variance in the prediction of youth recidivism outcomes. Potential implications concerning the use of the PCL: YV in clinical and forensic assessment contexts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychometric properties of the Posttraumatic Stress Checklist among young African-American men and women.

Research has demonstrated the validity and reliability of the Posttraumatic Stress Checklist (PCL) in predominantly Caucasian samples. However, there has not been a study that examined the psychometric properties of the PCL specifically for African Americans. The present paper is an examination of the factor structure, internal stability, reliability, and predictive validity of the PCL among a sample of young African American men and women. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated better support for a two-factor model than for a three-factor model reflecting the three diagnostic symptom clusters of posttraumatic stress disorder. High internal consistency and marginal test–retest reliability were observed. The positive predictive power of the PCL in the present study was far lower than that observed in previous studies; several potential explanations for this finding are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act as applied to juveniles: Evaluating the ability to predict sexual recidivism.

The recently enacted Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act will expand and standardize the registration of adolescent sex offenders. To evaluate the effectiveness of this and similar legislation, the authors assessed 91 juvenile males who had been adjudicated for a sexual felony offense and 174 juvenile males who had no history of sexual offending with several risk measures. On admission to treatment, all participants were assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV; A. E. Forth, D. Kosson, & R. D. Hare, 2003). The Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II; R. A. Prentky & S. Righthand, 2003), 3 state-developed risk protocols (from Wisconsin, Texas, and New Jersey), and the tier designation embedded in the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 2006 (SORNA) were coded from the sex offender participants' records. Participants were followed for an average of 71.6 months (SD = 18.1 months) to determine charges for general, violent, and sexual offenses. Results showed inconsistencies in risk designations between the J-SOAP-II, SORNA tier, and state risk measures, and none, except for the PCL:YV, significantly predicted new general, violent, or sexual offense charges. Policy and legal implications concerning the assessment of adolescent sex offenders are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of family functioning to violence among inner-city minority youths.

The relationship between family influences and participation in violent and nonviolent delinquent behavior was examined among a sample of 362 African American and Latino male adolescents living in the inner city. Participants were classified into three groups: (a) nonoffenders, (b) nonviolent offenders, and (c) violent offenders. Families in the violent delinquent group reported poorer discipline, less cohesion, and less involvement than the other two groups. These results were consistent across ethnic groups. However, the factor Beliefs About Family related to violence risk in opposite directions for African American and Latino families. These results highlight the need to look at ethnic group differences when constructing models of risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy in instrumental and reactive violent offenders.

Can violent offenders who commit acts of instrumental aggression for goal-oriented purposes such as robbery be distinguished from those who commit acts of reactive (or hostile) aggression in response to provocation? Because violent offenders often have a history of both instrumental and reactive aggression, this study distinguished between offenders with a history of at least 1 instrumental violent offense and offenders with a history of reactive violent offenses. Two studies tested the hypothesis that instrumental offenders would score higher than reactive offenders and nonviolent offenders on R. D. Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist. The first study sample consisted of 106 violent and nonviolent offenders recruited from a medium-security correctional facility. The second study sample consisted of 50 violent offenders referred for pretrial forensic evaluation. In both samples, instrumental offenders could be reliably distinguished from reactive offenders on the basis of violent crime behavior and level of psychopathy. Group differences could not be attributed to participant age, race, length of incarceration, or extent of prior criminal record. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crime specialization, seriousness progression, and Markov chains.

Sequences of violent and nonviolent offenses by 300 male offenders (mean age 26.47 yrs) were subjected to log-linear analyses of the stabilities and magnitudes of their transition probabilities (TPs). Results show that all patterns resembled a Markov process wherein the TPs were stable. The relative magnitude of these TPs indicated that there was specialization in nonviolent offenses and little tendency toward consistently violent behavior. Seriousness progression from nonviolent to violent misconduct was infrequent; however, there was substantial retrogression from violent to nonviolent offenses. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Violent offender research and implications for the criminal justice system.

Some offenders are at very high risk to reoffend. Research conducted at the author's institution and elsewhere shows that psychopathic offenders are especially likely to be violent, that future violence can be predicted with considerable accuracy among men who have committed at least 1 violent offense, and that treatment programs to reduce dangerousness do not always have the intended effects (i.e., they may actually increase the dangerousness of some individuals). Implications for the criminal justice system pertain to release following insanity acquittal offender sentencing and parole, preventive detention, offender treatment, and program evaluation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Violent juvenile delinquents: Treatment effectiveness and implications for future action.

Traditionally, the juvenile justice system has emphasized the goals of treatment and rehabilitation of young offenders, while protecting them from punishment, retribution and stigmatization. Violent juvenile offenders have posed a challenge to this rehabilitative ideal because of mounting public pressure to ensure societal protection. Juveniles who are perceived as dangerous or persistent in their criminal activity are increasingly transferred to the adult criminal justice system, where they may receive much harsher consequences. Whether violent delinquents can be successfully treated is a key point in the debate regarding the wisdom of this trend in juvenile justice. This article considers the available research to address the policy question of how society should reasonably invest in the treatment of violent juvenile offenders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The validity and reliability of the Violence Risk Scale: A treatment-friendly violence risk assessment tool.

The development of risk assessment tools that use dynamic variables to predict recidivism and to inform and facilitate violence reduction interventions is the next major challenge in the field of risk assessment and management. This study is the first in a 2-step process to validate the Violence Risk Scale (VRS), a risk assessment tool that integrates violence assessment, prediction, and treatment. Ratings of the 6 static and 20 dynamic VRS variables assess the client's level of risk. Ratings of the dynamic variables identify treatment targets linked to violence, and ratings of the stages of change of the treatment targets assess the client's treatment readiness and change. The VRS scores of 918 male offenders showed good interrater reliability and internal consistency and could predict violent and nonviolent recidivism over both short- and longer term (4.4-year) follow-up. The probability of violent and nonviolent recidivism varied linearly with VRS scores. Dynamic and static variables performed equally well. The results support the contention that the VRS can be used to assess violent risk and to guide violence reduction treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)