Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by specific traits such as superficial charm, dishonesty, callousness, and a lack of remorse. Often associated with an increased risk of crime and recidivism, psychopaths can be a significant concern for the criminal justice system. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with "sociopathy," though some experts distinguish between the two based on their origins, suggesting sociopathy arises from environmental factors while psychopathy has a genetic basis.
The clinical understanding of psychopathy was notably advanced by psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley in the mid-20th century, who identified key features that led to the development of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) by Robert Hare. This assessment tool is widely utilized in forensic settings to evaluate psychopathy. Psychopaths can be found in both prison populations and society at large, with some functioning successfully while others engage in criminal activities.
The relationship between psychopathy and violent behavior has implications for criminal justice practices, including parole decisions. While psychopaths may become less dangerous as they age, their core characteristics, such as guiltlessness and callousness, tend to persist. The evolving role of psychopathy in judicial contexts continues to provoke debate, particularly regarding its implications in capital punishment cases.
Subject Terms
Psychopathy
SIGNIFICANCE: Psychopathy is associated with increased risk for crime and recidivism.
Few individuals are of greater concern to the criminal justice system than psychopaths. Such people are also sometimes known as sociopaths—a term introduced by American psychiatrist G. E. Partridge in 1930. Some authorities differentiate between sociopathy and psychopathy, arguing that sociopathy develops due to one's environment or upbringing and that psychopathy is genetic in origin. However, the terms are often used interchangeably.
Clinical Description
The term “psychopathy” has engendered considerable confusion. Psychopathy should not be confused with global mental disturbance (psychopathology) or with psychosis, which is marked by a loss of reality contact. Psychopaths tend to behave rationally, although their behavior often strikes others as outrageous or immoral. Psychopathy should not be confused with violence, either, as in the colloquial phrase “psychopathic killer,” although psychopaths tend toward aggressiveness.
Although psychopathy has been described since at least the early nineteenth century, it was not until the 1941 publication of American psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley’s book The Mask of Sanity that the features of psychopathy were formally delineated. Based on detailed clinical observations, Cleckley outlined sixteen criteria for psychopathy. Among these criteria are superficial charm, dishonesty, undependability, guiltlessness, callousness, failure to learn from punishment, poor foresight, and sexual promiscuity.
Cleckley’s criteria formed the basis for the best-validated instrument for assessing psychopathy: the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), developed in 1991 by University of British Columbia psychologist Robert Hare. Hare’s checklist is a standardized interview that requires access to file information and is used extensively in forensic research. Cleckley correctly observed that psychopathy tends to be more common in male subjects than in female subjects, and that although many psychopaths are found in prison, other psychopaths (whom he termed “subclinical”) function successfully in society.
Implications for Criminal Justice
The concept of psychopathy bears significant implications for criminal justice. A 1996 review by University of North Texas psychologist Randall Salekin and his colleagues demonstrated that high scorers on the PCL-R are at markedly increased risk for violence and criminal and sexual recidivism, including rape. As a consequence of the documented association between psychopathy and recidivism, some prisons have begun to consider diagnoses of psychopathy in parole decisions, although this practice is controversial. There is also some evidence that psychopaths in prisons are at heightened risk for disciplinary infractions, although the findings in support of this possibility are mixed.
The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders includes criteria for antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), which is a broader category than psychopathy. Some researchers have suggested that only one out of five individuals with ASPD is a psychopath. DSM-5 criteria for the diagnosis of ASPD includes impairment in personality and interpersonal functioning, including egocentrisim; self-esteem derived from personal gain or power; goal-setting based on personal gratification; the absence of prosocial internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful or culturally normative ethical behavior; lack of concern for the feelings, needs, or suffering of others; lack of remorse after hurting or mistreating another person; incapacity for intimate relationships; exploitation as a primary means of relating to others, including deceit and coercion; and/or the use of dominance or intimidation to control others. ASPD is further characterized by pathological personality traits such as manipulativeness, deceitfulness, callousness, hostility, irresponsibility, impulsivity, and/or risk taking.
Despite the heightened risk of psychopaths for crime and violence, psychopathy must be distinguished from the diagnostic category of ASPD. Psychopathy also overlaps with alcohol dependence (alcoholism) and other substance dependence disorders. This is especially important because the ingestion of certain substances may further amplify psychopaths’ risk for crimes.
Research suggests that psychopaths may often “burn out” in middle age, meaning that their symptoms become less severe when they reach their forties and fifties. Nevertheless, this decrease is specific to the antisocial and criminal behaviors that sometimes accompany psychopathy, not to the core affective and interpersonal deficits of the syndrome. In other words, as psychopaths grow older, they generally remain guiltless and callous, while they typically become less dangerous.
The application of psychopathy to death-penalty determinations is controversial. Some authors maintain that psychopathy’s well-documented association with recidivism argues for invoking this condition as an aggravating circumstance in death-penalty decisions. In contrast, others maintain that psychopathy’s apparent biological roots argue for invoking this condition as a mitigating circumstance in such decisions. The outcome of this debate notwithstanding, psychopathy seems likely to play an increasingly prominent role in judicial decisions for the foreseeable future.
Bibliography
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Cleckley, H. The Mask of Sanity. 5th ed. St. Louis: Mosby, 1988. Print.
DeAngelis, Tori. "A Broader View of Psychopathy." American Psychological Association, vol. 53, no. 2, 1 Mar. 2022, p. 46, www.apa.org/monitor/2022/03/ce-corner-psychopathy. Accessed 9 July 2024.
Glenn, Andrea L., and Adrian Raine. Psychopathy: An Introduction to Biological Findings and Their Implications. New York: New York UP, 2014. Print.
Hare, R. D. Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths among Us. New York: Simon, 1993. Print.
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Lykken, D. T. The Antisocial Personalities. Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1995. Print.
Mohan, Megha. "What It's Like Living as a Female Psychopath." BBC, 14 Nov. 2022, www.bbc.com/future/article/20221111-what-its-like-living-with-psychopathy. Accessed 9 July 2024.