Psychopathy Is a Necessary Study for the Criminal System Essay examples

Psychopathy as a mental disorder or construct, although not included in the presently valid classification systems, is gradually fascinating the experts and investigators involved in the field of mental health. Curiosity in psychopathy has mainly grown after the declaration of the new classification system DSM V in which psychopathy is mentioned as a clear diagnosis in the context of six new personality illnesses.

Psychopathy is an umbrella term that is both wide and varied. Much like the spectrum of light, there are numerous groups and subcategories. In this spectrum is Anti- Social Personality Disorder (referred to as ASPD in this essay); this condition unlike psychopathy is a recognized disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (referred to as the DSM). The term psychopathy and psychopath is used in both the media and everyday use as a disorder but this is untrue. Unlike a disorder, psychopathy is more of a series of traits that all individuals have. ASPD and psychopathy are used interchangeably in society, but the diagnosis for ASPD and psychopathy are quite different. Though similar in numerous ways, there are some key

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

Factor 4 has to do with the early appearance of chronic antisocial behaviour. The following fall under this category: previous diagnosis as a psychopath or similar disorder, early behavioural problems, juvenile delinquency, and short-tempered/poor behavioural control. The last factor reflects impulsive and inadequately motivated criminal acts. Acts such as poor probation or parole risk, many types of offences, and pathological lying and deception are grouped in Factor 5. All twenty-two factors in Hare’s checklist are said to be observable in one percent of the population.

Moving forward into the 20th century, Hervey Cleckley made a contribution to the knowledge and research of the psychopathic brain. He wrote a book called, “The Mask of Sanity” (1976) where he described psychopathy as a configuration of interpersonal and behavioral features. He found that not only do psychopaths contain an antisocial behavior, they also have many negative characterizations and traits such as being manipulative, fearless, impulsive and lacking empathy as well as remorse or guilt. He also found that psychopathy is not only in those who show criminal behavior, however psychopathy may be present in those who appear to be successful and socially fit individuals.

Those who suffer from this also have many other issues as well. “The disorder is associated with significant psychosocial impairment, depression, substance misuse, and domestic violence; suicide is an all too common outcome” (Black, 114). Those who suffer from ASPD are commonly considered societies rule breakers. Children who lie, steal, and bully others, as well as adults who abuse their partners or children, sometimes ending up with criminal charges. The personality traits of those with ASPD can vary from one person to another, but the brain chemistry of ASPD is similar throughout all the patients. When the PCL-R is used as a screening tool, it “was possible to find that psychopaths have reduced gray matter in their frontal lobes, increased striatal volume, abnormal asymmetry in the hippocampus, a larger corpus callosum, a lack of structural integrity in the uncinate fasciculus, abnormal activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, and deformations within the amygdala” (Pemment, 2). Gray matter in the frontal lobe of the brain controls your decision making, and thought processing. Psychopaths have a reduced amount of gray matter that makes them less able to evaluate possible rewards and consequences. Introspection is also dependent on how much gray matter you have, the more gray matter, the more introspective you are, thus allowing you to be more self aware of your thinking.

Besides traits, we can also look at the different behaviors of psychopaths, both in respect to lifestyle and in terms of behaviors considered anti-social. Common lifestyle behaviors among psychopaths comprise of stimulation-seeking behavior, impulsivity, irresponsibility, habitually relying on or exploiting others (also known as parasitic orientation), and a lack of realistic life goals. The antisocial behaviors include poor behavioral controls, especially early on in childhood, and possibly along with childhood delinquency. Revocation of conditional release because of failure to meet expectations or requirements and criminal versatility may be factors in psychopathy as well. These demonstrate important characteristics of psychopathic serial murderers and relate to how we can attempt to comprehend their actions and

PCL-R, stands for "Psychopathy Check-List—Revised." PCL-R was created by Robert Hare, a Canadian Psychologist. Hare created PCL-R as a way to measure the twenty personality traits that psychopaths seem to posses. It was a way to test those traits through asking questions to the patients and at the end the score was totaled. The maximum possible score was a 40, but anyone that scored above 30 was considered to be a psychopath. Since there were twenty personality traits to check from, Hare called it a “Check-List.

They presented evidence that showed that many individuals who commit violent crimes are much more likely than others to kill or abuse again. To support their position they measure this potential for recidivism with a structured examination which is called the psychopathy checklist. Part of this test includes an extensive interview where trained medical professionals rate the offenders on a personality test checklist. The individuals who are subjected to this test earn different points depending on the applicability of the listed items. Small scores are found in the general population, while a higher range is found in prison populations and among highly psychopathic offenders or predatory killers. Researchers have found that those individuals who score in the higher ranges are up to four times more likely than other prisoners to commit another crime once released. Almost 100 % of those tested individuals on the top of the hierarchy list qualify as

s that are linked to individuals with psychopathy include aspects related to the antisocial way of life and behaviour, of which include, deficits in responsibility taking, impulsivity, and criminal flexibility (De Brito et al.,

The PCL-R checklist is a tool used to diagnose the rate of an individual’s psychopathic or antisocial tendencies and by determining the present and the extent of an individual’s psychopathy. A person who is considered to be someone who would be a psychopathic predator on others in the form of them using charm, lies and other forms to get what they want. There are several symptoms

Furthermore, psychopathy was considered during the twentieth century, the most widely used term to describe antisocial behavior (Reed, 1996). In the 1980s, the committee who devised the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for the American Psychiatric Association recommended the term antisocial personality syndrome to be changed to antisocial personality disorder (Ellis & Walsh, 2000). Antisocial Personality Disorder Hare & McPherson (1984), were successful in pushing the idea that there is a significant correspondence between violent and persistent delinquent and criminal histories and antisocial personality disorder diagnosis. Acute persistent child conduct disorder behavior symptoms, also known as conduct disorder, have been directly linked to serious criminality and antisocial personality disorder (Ellis & Walsh, 2000). Although criminality and antisocial personality disorder ought not be equated, they should be seen as closely linked behavioral phenomena (Ellis & Walsh, 2000). Vitella (1996) believes that individuals with childhood conduct disorder have a higher than normal probability of being both criminal and diagnosed antisocial personality disorder in adolescence and adulthood, and persons with serious criminal records have a higher probability of being diagnosed psychopathic than those with little or no criminal history. Nevertheless, Ellis & Walsh (2000) in caution pointed out that these

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

“Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by an inability to form human attachment, aggressive narcissism, and antisocial behavior defined by a constellation of affective, interpersonal and behavioral characteristics, most of which society views as pejorative” [1]. Some of these characteristics include irresponsibility, grandiosity, cunning, deceitfulness, selective impulsivity, sexual promiscuity, lack of empathy, etc. People who are psychopathic display not only antisocial behavior but also emotional impairment such as the lack of guilt. They are able to prey on others using their charm, deceit, violence or any other methods that allow them to get what they want. A strong feature of most of the behavior

In Hemphälä and Hodgins (2014) study, utilized different checklists and questionnaires in their clinical interviews with mid-adolescent patients who sought treatment for substance misuse. The researchers wanted to test their hypothesis on whether psychopathic traits could predict criminal outcomes over a 5-year period.