The present study investigated 154 consecutive admissions to the Regional Treatment Center (Ontario) Sex Offender Treatment Program with reference to psychopathy and outcome. Ratings of treatment behavior, as well as clinical judgments as to whether risk was reduced, were coded based on treatment reports. With reference to Psychopathy Checklist-revised (PCL-R) scores, survival analyses indicated that high scorers recidivated at significantly higher rates than low scorers. However, offenders who received high PCL-R scores and lower scores on measures of treatment behavior recidivated at the same rate as low scorers on the PCL-R. Furthermore, among high PCL-R offenders, those rated as lower risk at post treatment in fact reoffended at a lower rate than those whose risk was rated as unchanged, although this difference failed to reach significance. Findings are discussed in light of the clinical and research literature.
Abracen, J., & Looman, J. (2004). Issues in the treatment of sexual offenders: Recent developments and directions for future research. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 9, 229-246.
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
3.
Andrews, D. A, & Bonta, J. (1994). The psychology of criminal conduct. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson.
4.
Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (1998). The psychology of criminal conduct (2nd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Anderson.
5.
Barbaree, H. E. (1997). Evaluating treatment efficacy with sexual offenders: The insensitivity of recidivism studies to treatment effects. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 9, 111-128.
6.
Barbaree, H, E., Seto, M. C., & Langton, C. M. (2001, October). Psychopathy, treatment behavior, and sex offender recidivism: Extended follow-up. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, San Antonio, TX.
7.
Blackburn, R. (2000). Treatment or incapacitation? Implications of research on personality disorders for the management of dangerous offenders. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 5, 1-21.
8.
Cleckley, H. (1941). The mask of sanity. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
9.
Cooke, D. J., & Michie, C. (2001). Refining the construct of psychopathy: Toward a hierarchical model. Psychological Assessment, 13, 171-188.
10.
Dempster, R. J., & Hart, S. D. (2002). The relative utility of fixed and variable risk factors in discriminating sexual recidivists and nonrecidivists. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 14, 121-138.
11.
Hanson, R. K., & Thornton, D. (1999). Static 99: Improving actuarial risk assessment for sex offenders. Ottawa, Canada: Department of the Solicitor General of Canada.
12.
Hare, R. D. (1985). Comparison of procedures for the assessment of psychopathy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 7-16.
13.
Hare, R. D. (1991). Manual for the revised psychopathy checklist. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.
14.
Hare, R. D. (1998). Psychopaths and their nature: Implications for the mental health and criminal justice systems. In T. Millon, E. Simonsen, M. Birket-Smith, & R. D. Davis (Eds.), Psychopathy: Antisocial, criminal and violent behavior (pp. 188-212). New York: Guilford Press.
15.
Hare, R. D., Harpur, T. J., Hakstian, A. R., Forth, A. E., Hart, S. D., & Newman, J. P. (1990). The revised psychopathy checklist: Descriptive statistics, reliability, and factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 2, 338-341.
16.
Harris, G. T., Rice, M. E.,& Cormier, C. A. (1991). Psychopathy and violent recidivism. Law and Human Behavior, 15, 625-637.
17.
Krafft-Ebing, R. von. (1904). Textbook of insanity (C.G. Chaddock, Trans.). Philadelphia: F. A. Davis.
18.
Looman, J., Abracen, J., & Nicholaichuk, T. P. (2000). Recidivism among treated sexual offenders and matched controls: Data from the Regional Treatment Centre (Ontario). Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 15, 279-290.
19.
Lösel, F. (1998). Treatment and management of psychopaths. In D. J. Cooke, A. E. Forth, & R. D. Hare (Eds.), Psychopathy: Theory, research, and implications for society (pp. 303-354). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
20.
Maddocks, P. D. (1970). A five year follow-up of untreated psychopaths. British Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 511-515.
21.
Mahoney, M. J. (1991). Human change processes: The scientific foundations of psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.
22.
Ogloff, J. R. P., Wong, S., & Greenwood, A. (1990). Treating criminal psychopathsin a therapeutic community program. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 8, 181-190.
23.
Quinsey, V. L., Harris, G. T., Rice, M. E., & Cormier, C. A. (1998). Violent offenders: Appraising and managing risk. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
24.
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and other mentally disordered offenders. Law and Human Behavior, 16, 399-412.
25.
Salekin, R. T. (2002). Psychopathy and therapeutic pessimism: Clinical lore or clinical reality?Clinical Psychology Review, 22, 79-112.
26.
Seto, M. C., & Barbaree, H. E. (1999). Psychopathy, treatment behavior, and sex offender recidivism. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14, 1235-1248.
27.
Wong, S. (2000). Psychopathic offenders. In S. Hodgins & R. Müller-Isberner (Eds.), Violence, crime and mentally disordered offenders: Concepts and methods for effective treatment and prevention (pp. 87-112). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
