Personality and crime II - research Flashcards
Atwood et al. (2019)
Health and social care professionals are more likely to hold negative attitudes towards people with a diagnosis of personality disorder than toward people with other mental health diagnoses. Negative attitudes have also been found to adversely impact care and service provision. This review sought to systemically evaluate training aimed at improving professional attitudes towards people with a diagnosis of personality disorder. Electronic databases PsychINFO, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and ProQuest were searched, and 19 articles were identified. Results show that training is effective and that improvements tend to be maintained. The results suggest that (1) co-production with people with personal experience of a personality disorder diagnosis, (2) communicating a psychological model to participants, and (3) teaching participants clinical skills for use in their work improve effectiveness. Further research in the form of randomized controlled trials that use validated measures and follow-up participants for at least 6 months is needed.
Tokmic et al. (2018)
Objective: Given the growing public health importance of measuring the change in mental health stigma over time, the goal of this study was to demonstrate the potential for using machine learning as a tool to analyze patterns of social stigma as a complement to traditional research methods. Methods: A total of 1,904 participants were recruited through Sona Systems, Ltd (Tallinn, Estonia), an experiment management system for online research, to complete a self-reported survey. The collected data were used to develop a new measure of mental (behavioral) health stigma. To build a classification predictive model of stigma, a decision tree was used as the data mining tool, wherein a set of classification rules was generated and tested for its ability to examine the prevalence of stigma. Results: A three-factor stigma model was supported and confirmed. Results indicate that the measure is content-valid and internally consistent. Performance evaluation of the machine learning-based classification algorithm revealed a sufficient inter-rater reliability with a predictive accuracy of 92.4 percent. Conclusion: This study illustrates the potential for applying machine learning to derive a data-driven understanding of the extent to which stigma is prevalent in society. It establishes a framework for the development of an index to track stigma over time and to assist healthcare decision-makers with improving the health of populations and the experience of care for patients.
Penney et al. (2017)
The aim of this paper is to (a) provide a framework to understand and formulate the context of therapist stigma towards narcissistic personality disorder (NPD);
and (b) comment on possible avenues for enhancing empathy, treatment outcome, and therapist resilience. In particular, we propose a crucial role for modern integrative forms of therapy, drawing on object relations and emotion-focused approaches that foster understanding of the developmental origins of NPD. This paper argues that increased discourse among clinical psychologists about uncomfortable countertransference would aid the de-stigmatisation of NPD, and likely improve treatment opportunities and outcomes for patients.
Pastwa-Wojciechowska (2017)
The article explores the relationship between theoretical
knowledge of the psychology of personality disorders
and its practical application in the area of justice. There
is agreement in the literature on the relationship between
a diagnosis of personality disorder and the increased risk
of aggressive or violent behaviour, as pointed out by both the research of clinicians and judiciary workers. Nevertheless, the issue of explaining and understanding the relationship between personality disorders and violence has not yet been resolved, due to conceptualisation, diagnostic, methodological, psychotherapeutic and resocialisation difficulties. These controversies stimulate reflection and an attempt to determine whether the relationship between personality disorders and aggression is the same in all types of personality disorders.
Walter et al. (2011)
Personality disorders (PD) and substance use disorders (SUD) lead to high violent criminality. The influence of co-morbidity on recidivism remains unclear. Recidivism of 379 offenders was assessed at 8 years of follow-up. Sixty-nine percent of PD + SUD, 45% of SUD- and 33% of PD- subjects showed any recidivism. However, violent recidivism was highest in the PD- group.
Askeland and Heir (2014)
Objectives Although violent behaviour and psychopathology often co-occur, there has been little research on psychiatric disorders among men in treatment for intimate partner violence (IPV). This study aimed to examine the prevalence of a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders among men voluntarily attending treatment for IPV.
Setting 5 clinics for IPV treatment, located in the east, south and west of Norway, participated in the study. In a cross-sectional design, men attending therapy for violence against a partner went through a face-to-face structured diagnostic interview, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview.
Participants 222 men contacted the clinic during the inclusion period; 12 men did not attend and 13 men were referred to outpatient clinics. Of the 197 men who were offered therapy, 13 did not provide consent to participate in the study, 2 were excluded and 3 men missed the interview.
Results A total of 179 men participated in the study. The majority were ethnic Norwegians (88%). A total of 70.9% of the men fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for at least one ongoing psychiatric disorder. Three categories of disorders stood out with approximately equal prevalences: depressive disorders (40.6%), anxiety disorders (38.5%) including post-traumatic stress disorder (18.4%) and alcohol/substance abuse (40.2%). Antisocial personality disorder was present in approximately 2/10 participants. Comorbidity was high, with nearly half of the men (48.0%) assigned two or more diagnoses.
Conclusions Men voluntarily admitted to treatment for IPV harbour a wide spectrum of psychiatric disorders. Our findings suggest a need for screening procedures for psychiatric disorders as well as adoption of treatment interventions according to different types of psychopathologies and therapeutic needs. Limitations include caution in terms of generalisation to other populations not voluntarily admitted to treatment for IPV, and risk of ignoring symptoms not covered by a clinical structured interview.
Apostolopoulous et al. (2018)
Background: Personality disorders (PDs) have been associated with both violent crimes and homicides in many studies The proportion of PDs among prisoners reaches up to 80% For male prisoners, the most common PD in the literature is antisocial PD. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between PDs and violent crimes/ homicides of male prisoners in Greece
Methods: A sample of 308 subjects was randomly selected from a population of 1300 male prisoners incarcerated in two Greek prisons, one urban and one rural. The presence of PDs was assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatry Interview (MINI) and the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4). Using logistic regression models PD types and PD”Clusters”(independent variables) were associated with”violent/non-violent crimes” and “homicides/non homicides” (dependent variables).
Results: “Cluster A” PDs (Paranoid, Schizoid, and Schizotypal) were diagnosed in 16.2%,”Cluster B”(Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic) in 66.9% and “Cluster C” (Obsessive-Compulsive, Dependent, Avoidant) in 2.9% of the studied population Violent crimes and homicides were found significantly associated with “Cluster A” PDs (p = 0.022, p = 0.020). The odds ratio of committing violent crimes was 2.86 times higher for patients with “Cluster A” PDs than the ones without PDs. In addition, the odds ratio of committing homicides was 4.25 times higher for patients with “Cluster A” PDs. In separate analyses, the commitment of violent crimes as well as homicides, was significantly associated with Schizoid (p = 0.043,p = 0.020) and Schizotypal PD (p = 0.017, p = 0.030).
Conclusions: The majority of prisoners was found to suffer from a PD, mainly the Antisocial “Cluster B”, but the commitment of violent crimes and homicides was significantly associated only with “Cluster A” PDs and specifically with Schizoid and Schizotypal PD
Berrylessa and Wohlstetter (2019)
The current study, using a meta-analytic approach and moderation analysis, examines 22 studies reporting how psychopathic “labeling” influences perceptions on 3 punishment outcomes (dangerousness, treatment amenability, and legal sentence/sanction) for 2 types of experimental studies utilizing vignettes: (a) studies in which a defendant with a psychopathic “label” is compared to a defendant with no mental health diagnosis (psychopathic label vs. no label) and (b) studies in which a defendant with a psychopathic “label” is compared to a defendant with a different psychiatric diagnosis (psychopathic label vs. other psychiatric label). Results show statistically significant or marginally significant (p < .10) summary effect sizes, albeit of different strengths, for the three punishment outcomes studied (legal sentence/sanction: d = 0.17; dangerousness: d = 0.58; and treatment amenability: d = −0.30) for studies comparing a psychopathic label versus no label. Conversely, all summary effects sizes for the three punishment outcomes in studies comparing a psychopathic label versus other psychiatric label were both weak and nonsignificant (legal sentence/sanction: d = 0.09; dangerousness: d = 0.14; and treatment amenability: d = 0.02). This suggests a significant general labeling effect, but not a specific labeling effect, for psychopathy in these studies. Further, these results suggest that the lay public, but not those in the criminal justice system, may subscribe to both general and specific labeling effects for psychopathy when it comes to punishment. This has potential implications for jury sentencing in both capital and, in select states, noncapital cases.
Cox et al. (2016)
Recent research has demonstrated jurors’ perceptions of a defendant’s psychopathic traits may impact their sentencing recommendations in death penalty and sexually violent predator civil commitment trials. Given the increasing media attention on white-collar crimes, the huge economic impact of such crimes on society, and the theoretical relationship between psychopathy and this type of crime, this research sought to investigate how juror perceptions of a white-collar defendant’s psychopathic traits may influence sentencing recommendations. Jury-eligible community members were given a brief description of a white-collar crime and asked to provide the judge with sentencing recommendations. Results largely supported previous findings in that perceiving a defendant to be highly psychopathic, particularly in terms of affective traits, predicted more punitive sentencing recommendations. Specifically, perceptions of the defendant’s remorselessness, lack of empathy, and failure to accept responsibility incrementally predicted harsher sentencing recommendations. These data lend support to the hypothesis that lay perceptions of psychopathic traits influence sentencing recommendations in white-collar criminal cases.
Sedgwick (2017)
Research to date suggests that violent individuals with psychosis do not constitute a homogenous group, and subtypes of offender exist. One proposed subtype consists of people with comorbid antisocial personality traits, who constitute a significant proportion of individuals in forensic
psychiatric services but have attracted little focussed research. This thesis aimed to characterise this comorbid group by examining the neuropsychological characteristics, emotion processing characteristics and clinical outcomes of male patients recruited from high-secure forensic psychiatric hospital, falling into one of the following
diagnostic groups: 1. psychotic disorder (n=15); 2. dissocial personality disorder (DPD; n=17); and 3. comorbid psychosis and DPD (n=26). Clinical groups were compared to each other and to a group of healthy controls (n=30) on measures of neuropsychological functioning, facial affect
recognition, sensorimotor gating and appetitive and defensive responding. In addition, the clinical groups were compared on their historical characteristics (offending, psychosocial, psychopathy) and current clinical outcomes, corresponding to clinician rated clinical progress, risk/violence and engagement with the clinical team. The relationship between the characterisation measures and
outcomes (progress, risk and engagement) was explored to assess the clinical relevance of such indices.
The results supported a distinct subgroup of those with comorbid psychosis and DPD, who were characterised by a poorer sensorimotor gating profile and poorer fearful facial affect recognition than their non-DPD counterparts, with a tendency towards poorer neurocognition. The comorbid
group was more similar to the DPD alone group on experimental and historical measures. The clinical groups did not differ from each other, or healthy controls, on appetitive/defensive responding, and the clinical groups did not differ with respect to outcomes. Measures of memory, executive function and facial affect recognition correlated with indices of outcome, suggesting
that such characteristics may be promising treatment targets within forensic mental health services.
Filone et al. (2014)
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM‐5) workgroup on personality disorders initially proposed several revisions to diagnostic criteria and disorder labels, some of which could have had a direct impact on the perception and sentencing of criminal defendants. The recent publication of the DSM‐5 included these revisions in an appendix for future research, indicating that the revised criteria require additional research before implementation. This study examined how the proposed changes, if implemented, might affect jury members’ sentencing recommendations and perceptions of the defendant. Participants read vignettes in which diagnostic label (antisocial personality disorder vs. dyssocial personality disorder vs. psychopathy) and crime type (white collar vs. violent crime) were manipulated. Results suggest that participants perceived white collar offenders more negatively than violent offenders, and were generally more influenced by crime type than diagnosis. The diagnostic label was most influential on recidivism ratings and participants’ perceptions of violent offenders.
Lewis and Appleby (1988)
A sample of psychiatrists was asked to read a case vignette and indicate likely management and attitudes to the patient on a number of semantic-differential scales. Patients given a previous diagnosis of personality disorder (PD) were seen as more difficult and less deserving of care compared with control subjects who were not. The PD cases were regarded as manipulative, attention-seeking, annoying, and in control of their suicidal urges and debts. PD therefore appears to be an enduring pejorative judgement rather than a clinical diagnosis. It is proposed that the concept be abandoned.
Stone (2007)
Persons committing murder and other forms of violent crime are likely to exhibit a personality disorder (PD) of one type or another. Essentially any personality disorder can be associated with violent crime, with the possible exception of avoidant PD. This includes those described in DSM as well as other disorders such as sadistic PD and psychopathy. The latter two, along with antisocial and paranoid PDs, are the most common personality accompaniments of violent crime. Narcissistic traits (if not narcissistic PD (NPD) itself) are almost universal in this domain, since violent offenders usually place their own desires and urges far above those of other persons. While admixtures of traits from several disorders are common among violent offenders, certain ones are likely to be the main disorder: antisocial PD, Psychopathy, Sadistic PD, Paranoid PD and NPD. Instrumental (as opposed to impulsive) spousal murders are strongly associated with NPD. Men committing serial sexual homicide usually show psychopathy and sadistic PD; half these men also show schizoid PD. Mass murderers usually show strong paranoid traits. With a focus on murder, clinical examples drawn from the crime literature and from the author’s personal interviews reflect 14 varieties of personality disorder. Animal torture before adulthood is an important predictor of future violent (including sadistic) crime. Whereas many antisocial persons are eventually capable of rehabilitation, this is rarely the case with psychopathic or sadistic persons. Suggestions for future research are offered.
Edens and Cox (2012)
Although anecdotal case accounts suggest that evidence concerning Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD), sociopathy and psychopathy is frequently introduced by the prosecution in capital murder trials, to date there has been no systematic research to determine the actual prevalence, role, or perceived impact of such evidence in these cases. Survey data collected from attendees at a national capital mitigation conference (n = 41) indicated that prosecution evidence concerning APD was quite prevalent, with “sociopath” and “psychopath” labels being introduced less frequently. Evidence concerning these disorders, which were assessed primarily via DSM criteria and self‐report personality inventories, was most often introduced by the prosecution in the sentencing phase to address a defendant’s ostensible risk of future dangerousness and/or to rebut mitigating evidence—although it was also introduced frequently in the guilt/innocence phase of these trials to rebut mental health evidence offered by the defense. Survey respondents believed that evidence concerning APD, sociopathy, and psychopathy had a considerable impact on trial outcomes. Also, although defense objections were common, such evidence was rarely ruled to be inadmissible in these cases.
Larsen (2019)
The psychiatric diagnosis of psychopathic personality—or psychopathy—signifies a patient stereotype with a callous lack of empathy and strong antisocial tendencies. Throughout the research record and psychiatric practices, diagnosed psychopaths have been predominantly seen as immune to psychiatric intervention and treatment, making the diagnosis a potentially strong discriminator for treatment amenability. In this contribution, the evidence in support of this proposition is critically analyzed. It is demonstrated that the untreatability perspective rests largely on erroneous, unscientific conclusions. Instead, recent research suggests that practitioners should be more optimistic about the possibility of treating and rehabilitating diagnosed psychopaths. In light of this finding, concrete ethical challenges in the forensic practice surrounding the psychopathy diagnosis are discussed, adding to a growing body of research that expresses skepticism about the forensic utility of the diagnosis.
Kelley et al. (2018)
Objectives
Experimental research suggests that legal defendants described as psychopathic are generally, although not uniformly, judged more negatively and punitively. Understanding the correlates of perceived psychopathy, regardless of exposure to mental health evidence, is an important step towards clarifying divergent findings.
Method
We conducted a quantitative synthesis of ten juror simulation studies (combined N = 2,980) examining the meta‐analytic association between perceived defendant psychopathy and various psychologically important and legally relevant outcomes.
Results
Perceiving someone as being more psychopathic was associated with viewing that defendant as more dangerous (r W = 0.31) and evil ( r W = 0.44). Moreover, perceptions of defendant psychopathy predicted greater support for more adverse consequences in terms of capital sentencing ( r W = 0.22) and sentence length ( r W = 0.27), although not perceived treatment amenability ( r W = 0.09).
Conclusions
These findings highlight the importance of including ratings of perceived psychopathy in experimental designs to identify the circumstances under which psychopathy evidence might prejudicially impact case outcomes.
Kopkin (2016)
Although prior studies have assessed lay perceptions of psychopathy, few studies have examined the effect of these perceptions on individuals’ legal judgments and decisions. The purpose of the present study was to assess lay perceptions of psychopathy and determine how these perceptions affect expert witness credibility ratings and sentencing decisions in a capital murder trial. Mock jurors completed an assessment of their perception of psychopathy, and subsequently, reviewed a case vignette of a capital murder trial. Approximately half of the mock jurors also read an excerpt of expert witness testimony concerning the defendant’s psychopathic traits. Mock jurors then sentenced the defendant, and if applicable, rated the expert witness’s credibility. Their perceptions of psychopathy were also reassessed. Mock jurors’ endorsement of psychopathy’s interpersonal and affective characteristics (e.g., conning, egotistical, remorseless) predicted their perceptions of the expert witness, such that stronger endorsement of these traits was associated with increased beliefs the expert witness’s testimony was credible and valid. Findings also indicated mock jurors whose stereotype of psychopathy included these traits were more likely to support a death penalty verdict. Additional findings, as well as implications for the inclusion of the psychopathy construct in the courtroom, are discussed.
Reidy et al. (2016)
Although research suggests that the antisocial behavior (ASB) facet of psychopathy generally carries the greatest predictive power for future violence, these findings are drawn primarily from forensic samples and may reflect criterion contamination between historical violence and future violence perpetration. Likewise, these findings do not negate the association of other psychopathy facets to violence or their role in the development of violence, nor do they offer practical utility in the primary prevention of violence. There are a number of empirical and theoretical reasons to suspect that the callous affect (CA) facet of psychopathy may demonstrate stronger statistical association to violence in nonforensic populations. We tested the association of CA to severe acts of violence (e.g., assault with intent to harm, injure, rape, or kill) among men with and without history of arrest (N = 600) using both the three- and four-facet models of psychopathy. CA was robustly associated with violence outcomes across the two groups in the three-facet model. When testing the four-facet model, CA was strongly associated with violence outcomes among men with no history of arrest, but only moderately associated with assaults causing injury among men with history of arrest. These results are consistent with data from youth populations that implicate early emotional deficits in later aggressive behavior and suggest CA may help to identify individuals at risk for violence before they become violent. Implications for the public health system and the primary prevention of violence are discussed.
Edens et al. (2015)
Symptoms of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), particularly remorselessness, are frequently introduced in legal settings as a risk factor for future violence in prison, despite a paucity of research on the predictive validity of this disorder. We examined whether an ASPD diagnosis or symptom-criteria counts could prospectively predict any form of institutional misconduct, as well as aggressive and violent infractions among newly admitted prisoners. Adult male (n = 298) and female (n = 55) offenders were recruited from 4 prison systems across the United States. At the time of study enrollment, diagnostic information was collected using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM–IV; APA, 1994) Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID-II; First, Gibbon, Spitzer, Williams, & Benjamin, 1997) supplemented by a detailed review of official records. Disciplinary records were obtained from inmates’ respective prisons covering a 1-year period following study enrollment and misconduct was categorized hierarchically as any (general), aggressive (verbal/physical), or violent (physical). Dichotomous ASPD diagnoses and adult symptom-criteria counts did not significantly predict institutional misconduct across our 3 outcome variables, with effect sizes being close to 0 in magnitude. The symptom of remorselessness in particular showed no relation to future misconduct in prison. Childhood symptom counts of conduct disorder demonstrated modest predictive utility. Our results offer essentially no support for the claim that ASPD diagnoses can predict institutional misconduct in prison, regardless of the number of adult symptoms present. In forensic contexts, testimony that an ASPD diagnosis identifies defendants who will pose a serious threat while incarcerated in prison presently lacks any substantial scientific foundation
Lewis et al. (2018)
A developed line of research has found that psychopathic personality traits and criminal behavior are correlated with one another. Although there is little question about the association between psychopathic personality traits and criminal behavior, what remains less clear is whether psychopathic traits exert a direct effect on criminal behavior. An alternative possibility is that previously unmeasured genetic and shared environmental factors account for much of the association between the two. Understanding the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influence the covariance between psychopathic personality traits and criminal behavior can further our understanding of individual differences in propensity to engage in antisocial behavior. The current study analyzes 872 twins (MZ twins = 352, DZ twins = 520) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine the magnitude of genetic and environmental effects on the covariation between psychopathic personality and criminal behavior. Results from bivariate behavioral genetic analyses revealed that the correlation between psychopathic personality traits and criminal behavior was accounted for by common additive genetic (58%) and nonshared environmental (42%) influences. Fixed-effect linear regression models, however, suggested that psychopathic personality traits were not significantly associated with criminal behavior once common genetic and environmental influences were taken into account.
Hare (1993)
Although the evolution of psychopathy as a formal clinical disorder began more than a century ago, it is only recently that scientifically sound psychometric procedures for its assessment have become available. The result has been a sharp increase in theoretically meaningful and replicable research findings, both in applied settings and in the laboratory. The construct of psychopathy is proving to be particularly useful in the criminal justice system, where it has important implications for sentencing, diversion, placement, and treatment options and for the assessment of risk for recidivism and violence. Although the etiology of the predatory, cold-blooded nature of psychopathy remains obscure, the theories and methods of cognitive neuroscience and behavioral genetics promise to greatly increase our understanding of this disorder.
Szabo and Jones (2019)
The traits of the Dark Triad of personality have different relationships with impulsivity. Although psychopathy is consistently associated with poor impulse control, the relationship between other Dark Triad traits and impulsivity is inconsistent. For example, Machiavellianism is a construct defined by caution and strategic thinking. Thus, positive correlations particularly with non-planning is antithetical to the construct. However, previous research has revealed gender-related differences among the Dark Triad, which may partially account for mixed findings. Using a student sample (n = 898), we examined separate relationships between impulsivity and the Dark Triad based on gender. We found that Machiavellianism in men is positively correlated with planning, whereas Machiavellianism in women is negatively correlated with planning. Thus, it appears that Machiavellianism may have different behavioral patterns depending on gender. These findings have implications for how Machiavellianism is expressed between men and women, and may guide future predictions for Machiavellianism based on gender.
Herve (2017)
Descriptions of psychopaths, instrumentally impulsive individuals with poor behavioral controls who callously and remorselessly bleed others for purely selfish reasons via manipulation, intimidation, and violence, are found across time and cultures. Arguably, it is their ability to easily supersede morality for personal gain and do so without remorse that made them such interesting topics of discussion throughout history. With the emergence and growth of mental health professions, their unique clinical picture—intelligent but socially deviant beings without emotional safeguards—has made them intriguing case studies. It is thus not surprising that the construct of psychopathy has a rich clinical foundation. Nonetheless, it was not until late in the 20th century, with the development of the Hare Psychopathy Scales, that psychopathy became a well-defined and accepted clinical syndrome. Before then, diagnostic confusion over the definition of psychopathy prevailed.
Hare (1986)
It is ironic that those who have the most direct contact with Psychopaths — family, relatives, friends, employers, and front-line members of social agencies and the criminal justice system, including the police — are the ones least likely to have formal exposure to the clinical concept of psychopathy and to the associated research literature. Police officers, for example, have frequent encounters with psychopaths, and although they may have a good intuitive understanding of human behavior and an ability to size up people accurately, they will often find these encounters to be perplexing, frustrating, and threatening. For these reasons, and also because of the relative ease with which many psychopaths are able to flout moral, ethical, and legal conventions, it is important that police know as much about them as possible. This chapter provides an overview of the sort of material that might be covered in police training programs.
