Psychopaths:
About 80-85% of incarcerated criminals have Antisocial Personality Disorder. However, only about 20% of these criminals would qualify for a diagnosis of being a psychopath. Most psychopaths meet the criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder, but most individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder are not psychopaths. Psychopaths account for 50 percent of all the most serious crimes committed, including half of all serial killers and repeat rapists.
A diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder has limited utility for making differential predictions of institutional adjustment, response to treatment, and behavior following release from prison. In contrast, the diagnosis of being a psychopath has considerable predictive validity with respect to treatment outcome, institutional adjustment, recidivism and violence (Hare 1991). Dr. Robert D. Hare's "Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)" is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess psychopaths. On this checklist, psychopaths have the majority of the following traits:
* Selfish, callous and remorseless use of others:
o Glibness/superficial charm (smooth-talking, engaging and slick)
o Grandiose sense of self-worth (greatly inflated idea of one's abilities and self-esteem, arrogance and a sense of superiority)
o Pathological lying
o Conning/manipulative (uses deceit to cheat others for personal gain)
o Lack of remorse or guilt (no feelings or concern for losses, pain and suffering of others)
o Emotional poverty (limited range or depth of feelings)
o Callous/lack of empathy (a lack of feelings toward others; cold, contemptuous and inconsiderate)
o Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
* Chronically unstable, antisocial and socially deviant lifestyle:
o Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom (an excessive need for new, exciting stimulation and risk-taking)
o Parasitic lifestyle (exploitative financial dependence on others)
o Poor behavioral control (frequent verbal abuse and inappropriate expressions of anger)
o Promiscuity (numerous brief, superficial sexual affairs)
o Lack of realistic, long-term goals
o Impulsivity
o Irresponsibility (repeated failure to fulfill or honor commitments and obligations)
o Juvenile delinquency (criminal behavioral problems between the ages of 13-18)
o Early behavior problems (before age 13)
o Revocation of conditional release (violating parole or other conditional release)
o Many short-term marital relationships (lack of commitment to a long-term relationship)
o Criminal versatility (diversity of criminal offenses, whether or not the individual has been arrested or convicted)
