Beech Psychopathy Theory

In Chapter 4, we talked about mental disorders and how it was difficult for psychiatrists to figure out criteria that would help them decide which offenders are mentally ill, which is also known as psychopathy (Adler, Mueller, and Laufer 2013, pg. 103).  Hare & McPherson (1984) states that “crimes and behavior of psychopaths are more violent and aggressive than are those of other criminal”. We learned that it is difficult to get reasons that would help determine which offenders are mentally ill. Adler, Mueller, Laufer (2013) stated that, “Some psychologists consider psychopathy to be an artificial label for an antisocial personality" (pg. 104). As we learned many criminals are labeled and it seems interesting to see that psychopaths are very hard to label. In

However, more recently, a study led by King’s College London has claimed that there are differences between the brains of psychopaths and other criminal offenders diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. Dr. Nigel Blackwood who led the research is quoted as saying “We describe those without psychopathy as 'hot-headed' and those with psychopathy as ‘cold-hearted’.” This statement shows a clear distinction between what should be interpreted as a lack of self-control and ability to repress impulses and what should be diagnosed as psychopathy.
The study took MRI scans of 66 men, two thirds of which were offenders who had been diagnosed with antisocial personality whilst the other third were non-offenders considered to not have any personality disorders. Of the 44 offenders, 17 met the diagnosis criteria for psychopathy (ASPD+P) assessed by the guidelines stated in the DSM-IV. Researchers saw that the members of the study diagnosed as psychopaths had notably less grey matter in areas associated with moral behaviour and understanding other peoples’

Psychopathy, in both the mental health and criminal justice systems, has emerged as one of the most important clinical constructs of the 21st century (Hare, Clark, Grann, & Thornton, 2000, p. 623). Where clinically, psychopathy is traditionally described as a combination of inferred socially deviant behaviors and personality traits. Some traits and behaviors a psychopath is seen to possess are commonly known, for example, to being impulsive, selfish, aggressive, lacking remorse, shame, feeling for others, pathologically lying, and having asocial or antisocial behaviors (Hare, & Neumann, 2006, p. 59-60). One of the reasons as to why psychopathy has come to see an increase in the development of its theoretical and applied interest is the

Psychopaths have been around for more than a century, and have found themselves to be able to make the public fear them. Belle Gunness, the Zodiac Killer, and John Wayne Gacy are all examples for the character traits compatible with psychopathy and have been able to provide more reason to the research of psychopaths. Statistically, psychopathy is found in three percent of the male population and in one percent of one percent of the female population. A psychopath’s behavior of exploitation, lying, recklessness, and arrogance has been studied to further understand how their brain structure is different in MRI scans and how they are able to use special abilities to catch its victims. Many research studies have been able to provide more information

Accordingly, there exists a small group of people who exhibit most-to-all of these specific and peculiar characteristics and behaviours. This particular group of predators presents numerous challenges to morality, safety and policy. For instance, because a "psychopath" may display a general coldness toward others, they are more likely to commit criminal acts, and afterward not respond to punishment or deterrent tactics. Hare’s psychopathy checklist when used as a tool to identify psychopaths prevents harmful exposure of non-psychopaths to this dangerous group of offenders. For this tool to work effectively there must not be significant overlap of the specific characteristics used in the PCL-R to identify psychopaths as in the general population of non-psychopaths. In other words, the psychopath must

A Canadian Psychologist Robert D. Hare and his colleagues developed the Revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) in the 1970’s with criminal offenses as its baselines (Cutler, 2008). The PCL-R reiterates the notion that every individual may possess some trait to some extent, but will need to express enough traits to be considered psychopathic (Ogloff, 2006). Thus, although there may be some form of psychopathy in all individuals, it is rare that an individual will score high enough on the PCL-R to identify as psychopathic (Blair & Viding, 2009; Costa and Wildiger, 2002; Strickland et al, 2013) as only about 3-5% of the world’s population are non-negotiable psychopaths (Blair and Viding, 2009).

The concept of psychopathy originated in the 1800s to describe individuals that consistently failed to conform to societal norms and exhibited antisocial behavior that did not fit the concept of mental illness of the time period. While, psychopathy was a common term used to describe individuals suffering from this disorder other descriptions were coined such as “Pinel’s term “manie sans delvie” meaning mania without delirium in the 1700s, to describe patents whose ‘affective faculties were disordered’” or Pritchard’s term “moral insanity” (Ogloff 520). In the 1930’s Partridge argued that psychopathy was a social rather than a mental disorder and proposed that the concept of sociopathy be introduced as a more accurate description. The American Psychological Association adopted Partridge’s term for their Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel in 1952. However, in 1968 the American Psychological Association changed the diagnostic label from sociopath to “personality disorder, antisocial” for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel – II that continued through to the DSM - III in 1980 and the DSM - III-R in 1987 and the DSM - IV in 1994. Today the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel categorizes antisocial personality disorder as a personality disorder and it is named as such. Unfortunately, not much research has been conducted

Throughout this paper, there will be a number of studies done on criminals, offenders, and children in order to determine ways of identifying psychopaths through causes of psychopathy. In the article “Investigations of Criminal and Conditional Release Profiles of Canadian Federal Offenders as a Function of Psychopathy and Age,” Birt and her associates conducted a study on over 300 Canadian federal offenders, with around 90 being identified as psychopaths. They identified the psychopaths through a test called The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised or PCL-R. After identification, they defined whether the crimes were violent and if so, which type of violence (647). To complete their study, they made sure to follow the offenders’ behavior once they

Recent research into psychopathy in Britain and America have conducted studies from scientist who believe that they’re close to discovering the root cause of the condition. They are now able to look inside the brain of a psychopath. This discovery from scientist suggest that psychopaths are born not made. Their condition is the result of a specific malfunction of the brain. The complexity of psychopathy has made it difficult to treat. General public has a perception of psychopaths but are unaware that their psychopaths among them who are non-serial killers. One in every 200 of the population is psychopathic and the vast majority are neither criminal or in prison. Psychopathy who engage in crime,

While the characteristics associated with psychopathy indicate inherent violent tendencies, cross-sectional studies of criminals confirm that a high percentage of psychopaths are involved in violent crimes and are more likely to reoffend. Most serious crime is committed by a disproportionate few of the criminal population. In fact, as evidenced by longitudinal studies, about 5 percent of criminally active subjects are responsible for over half the offenses recorded. To this end, psychopaths appear more prevalent in the criminal community. While psychopaths exist in the general public at an estimated 1 percent, this estimate jumps to a startling 15-25% in the incarcerated population.

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry, by Jon Ronson explores the minds of psychopaths. This nonfiction book, published in 2011, analyses the question of, what is a psychopath? When most people try to answer this question they think of characters in well-known movies and books such as American Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs. They may also think of serial killers like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy. In 1959, the Mental Health Act for England and Wales described psychopaths as a “disability of the mind which results in abnormally aggressive [...] conduct”. (PG 65). Just like many mental disorders such as autism and bipolar disorder are often misdiagnosed, so is psychopathy. As shown through this book, the normal human and even trained psychologist often find it difficult to spot and understand psychopaths. Psychopaths are a broader range of individuals than most people assume; they are serial killers, CEOs, politicians, and of course, the average person. Today, it is believed, that only one percent of humans are psychopaths.

Earlier, in the 1830s, it was referred to as “moral insanity”. Psychologists began to refer to the disorder as psychopathy only in the 1900s. Today, while it is common to refer to the condition as psychopathy or sociopathy, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders puts the two under an umbrella term of “anti social personality disorder”. Many critics argue that there are far too many disorders that may fit under the term and complained that in the attempt to rely only on 'objective' criteria, the DSM (which coined the term “anti social personality disorder”) has broadened the concept to include too many individuals. The category includes people who commit illegal, immoral or self-serving acts for a variety of reasons and are not necessarily psychopathic, although many traits are shared. To measure anti social tendencies, psychologists turn to Robert Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist Revised. This diagnostic method is considered one of the best ways to identify a psychopath and is mainly used for adult male prisoners, criminals is psychiatric hospitals, sex offenders, adolescent offenders, female offenders, and individuals awaiting psychiatric evaluations or trial in other correctional and detention facilities. This method uses a semi structured interview and a review of the subject's file records and history to check for a list of twenty symptoms common in

Psychopathy is a disorder characterized by pronounced emotional deficits, marked by reduction in guilt and sympathy, and involves magnified risk for displaying delinquent behavior. The disorder is developmental. psychopathic traits, notably the emotional part, are comparatively stable from childhood into adulthood. One reason for the attention this classification receives is its strong prognostic utility for institutional adjustment and lapsing (ie, reoffending). people with psychopathy are just about 3 times more likely to reoffend than those with low psychopathic traits, and 4 times more likely to reoffend violently. avowedly, it's the past antisocial behavior, indexed by psychopathy assessments, that's significantly necessary in predicting

The purpose of this paper is to argue, using past literature, that psychopaths do not fully grasp acts as morally wrong and as a result psychopathy should be a mitigating factor in the judicial system. Psychopaths almost always have negative associations with their behaviors and mental states. Why? Psychopaths are known to become criminally violent and have a lack of remorse; a concept which frightens the majority of people. Furthermore, society only rarely sees or hears about psychopaths unless it is through an overdramatized pop culture lens (e.g. The Shinning, Jack Torrance) or a serial killer like Jeffery Dahmer, which is highly unlikely and only accounts for approximately 1% of psychopaths. Zinger and Forth (1998) found that

Psychopaths can seem just like you or me, but when you are not around them this is when their mental disorder kicks in. Psychopaths that have been put in jail committed three times as many crimes per year then non-psychopaths. 97% of convicted psychopathic criminals cause at least one violent crime compared to 74% of non-psychopaths. Psychopaths are shown to be more violence throughout their entire life compared to a regular people. Psychopaths tend to have a greater chance of failing on parole and mandatory supervision and have a faster rate of failing then non-psychopaths. Psychopathy predicts recidivism on conditional release as well as or better than do actuarial risk instruments. Psychopaths recidivate at a rate of three to four times higher than that of non-psychopaths.