NCJ Number
189551
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 45 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2001 Pages: 407-420
Date Published
August 2001
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This second article in a two-part series on psychopathy assesses the most pressing forensic practice issues stemming from the complex history of psychopathy’s historical development, particularly the changes in terminology, meaning, social condemnation, and prognosis and their impacts on current understanding of this mental disorder.
Abstract
The discussion focuses on assessment concerns related to the convergence and divergence of the continuum that includes antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and psychopathy and on diagnostic and treatment concerns related to countertransference and misdiagnosis. It also focuses on courtroom testimony concerns related to competent forensic evaluations, particularly in cases involving clinical assessments of sexually violent predators. The analysis explores the limits of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, especially in regard to accurate predictions of violent sexual recidivism. The analysis concludes that two central features of psychopathy are strong reality contact or the lack of psychosis and that these individuals are generally untreatable. Thus, identifying a psychopath can protect the safety of others and prevent the exploitation of the therapist; however, a misdiagnosis may cause the mental health specialist to affect the offender’s liberty adversely. Therefore, the mental health and penal systems need to use more care in identifying these individuals; additional research is crucial to improving the effective identification and treatment of psychopathy. 42 references