This article examines the construct of psychopathy and its potential to enhance current understanding of serious, violent, and chronic (SVC) juvenile offending. Historical, definitional, diagnostic, etiological, and assessment issues pertaining to psychopathy are discussed and a conceptual framework of antisocial subtypes incorporating biological and social factors is presented. Implications of psychopathy-related findings for future theory, research, policy, and practice in the juvenile justice system are elucidated.
American Psychiatric Association. (1952). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (1968). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
3.
American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
4.
American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (Rev. ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
5.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
6.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (Text rev. ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
7.
Alterman, A. I., & Cacciola, J. S. (1991). The antisocial personality disorder diagnosis in substance abusers. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 179, 401-409.
8.
Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. New York: Free Press.
9.
Birnbaum, K. (1909). Die psychopathischen verbrecker [The psychopathic criminal]. Leipzig, Germany: Thieme.
10.
Brower, M. C., & Price, B. H. (2001). Neuropsychiatry of frontal lobe dysfunction in violent and criminal behaviour: A critical review. Journal of Neurology and Neurosurgical Psychiatry, 71, 720-726.
11.
Cadoret, R. J., O’Gorman, T. W., Troughton, E., & Heywood, E. (1985). Alcoholism and antisocial personality. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 161-167.
12.
Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Krueger, R. F. (1994). Are some people crime prone? Replications of the personality-crime relationship across countries, genders, races, and methods. Criminology, 32, 163-195.
13.
Chandler, M., & Moran, T. (1990). Psychopathy and moral development: A comparative study of delinquent and nondelinquent youth. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 227-246.
14.
Cleckley, H. (1976). The mask of sanity (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: C. V. Mosby. (Original work published 1941)
15.
Cloward, R. A., & Ohlin, L. (1960). Delinquency and opportunity. New York: Free Press.
16.
Cooke, D. J., & Michie, C. (2001). Refining the construct of psychopathy: Towards a hierarchical model. Psychological Assessment, 13, 171-188.
17.
Dowbiggin, I. R. (1997). Keeping America sane: Psychiatry and eugenics in the United States and Canada, 1880-1940. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
18.
D’Silva, K., Duggan, C., & McCarthy, L. (2004). Does treatment really make psychopaths worse? A review of the evidence. Journal of Personality Disorders, 18, 163-177.
19.
Edens, J. F. (2004). Effect of response distortion on the assessment of divergent facets of psychopathy. Assessment, 11, 109-112.
20.
Edens, J. F., Skeem, J., Cruise, K., & Cauffman, E. (2001). The assessment of juvenile psychopathy and its association with violence: A critical review. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 18, 53-80.
21.
Elliott, D. S., Huizinga, D., & Ageton, S. S. (1985). Explaining delinquency and drug use. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
22.
Elliott, D. S., Huizinga, D., & Menard, S. (1989). Multiple problem youth: Delinquency, substance use, and mental health problems. New York: Springer-Verlag.
23.
Fergusson, D. M., Lynskey, M. T., & Horwood, L. J. (1996). Alcohol misuse and juvenile offending in adolescence. Addiction, 91, 483-494.
24.
Fishbein, D. (2000). Neuropsychological function, drug abuse, and violence: A conceptual framework. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 27, 139-159.
25.
Forth, A. E., Kosson, D. S., & Hare, R. D. (2003). The Psychopathy Checklist: Youth version manual. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.
26.
Fowles, D. C. (1980). The three-arousal model: Implications of Gray’s two-factor learning theory for heart rate, electrodermal activity, and psychopathy. Psychophysiology, 17, 87-104.
27.
Fowles, D. C. (1987). Application of a behavioral theory of motivation to the concepts of anxiety and impulsivity. Journal of Research in Personality, 21, 417-435.
28.
Fowles, D. C. (1988). Psychophysiology and psychopathology: A motivational approach. Psychophysiology, 25, 373-391.
29.
Frick, P. J. (2002). Juvenile psychopathy from a developmental perspective: Implications for construct development and use in forensic assessments. Law and Human Behavior, 26, 247-253.
30.
Gerstley, L. J., Alterman, A. I., McClellan, A. T., & Woody, G. E. (1990). Antisocial personality disorder in substance abusers: A problematic diagnosis?American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 173-178.
31.
Giancola, P. R., Mezzich, A. C., & Tarter, R. E. (1998). Executive cognitive functioning, temperament, and antisocial behavior in conduct-disordered adolescent females. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 629-641.
32.
Giancola, P. R., Moss, H. B., & Martin, C. S. (1996). Executive cognitive functioning predicts reactive aggression in boys at high risk for substance abuse: A prospective study. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, 20, 740-744.
33.
Glueck, B. (1918). A study of 608 admissions to Sing Sing prison. Mental Hygiene, 2, 85-151.
Gottfredson, M. A., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
36.
Gray, J. A. (1975). Elements of a two-process theory of learning. New York: Academic Press.
37.
Gray, J. A. (1987). The psychology of fear and stress (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
38.
Hare, R. D., (1991). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.
39.
Hare, R. D. (1996a). Psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder: A case of diagnostic confusion. Psychiatric Times, 13, 39-40.
40.
Hare, R. D. (1996b). Psychopathy: A clinical construct whose time has come. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 23, 25-54.
41.
Hare, R. D., & Forth, A. S. (1985). Psychopathy and lateral preference. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 94, 541-546.
42.
Hare, R. D., Hart, S. D., & Harpur, T. J. (1991). Psychopathy and the DSM-IV criteria for antisocial personality disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 391-398.
43.
Harris, G. T., Rice, M. E., & Cormier, C. A. (1991). Psychopathy and violent recidivism. Law and Human Behavior, 15, 625-637.
44.
Hart, S. D., Cox, D. N., & Hare, R. D. (2001). The Psychopathy Checklist-Screening Version. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.
45.
Hart, S. D., & Hare, R. D. (1996). Psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 9, 129-132.
46.
Hawkins, J. D., Catalano, R. F., & Miller, J. Y. (1992). Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early childhood: Implications for substance abuse prevention. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 64-105.
47.
Heimer, K., & Matsueda, R. (1994). Role-taking, role-commitment, and delinquency: A theory of differential social control. American Sociological Review, 59, 400-437.
48.
Hemphill, J., Hart, S. D., & Hare, R. D. (1994). Psychopathy and substance abuse. Journal of Personality Disorders, 8, 169-180.
49.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.
50.
Howard, M. O., Williams, J. H., & Vaughn, M. G., & Edmond, T. (2004). Toward a psychopathology of crime: The troubling case of juvenile psychopathy. Journal of Law and Policy, 14, 441-484.
51.
Huizinga, D., Loeber, R., Thornberry, T. P., & Cothern, L. (2000, November). Co-occurrence of delinquency and other problem behaviors (Juvenile Justice Bulletin). Washington DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
52.
Kiehl, K. A., Smith, A. M., Mendrek, A., Forster, B. B., Hare, R. D., & Liddle, P. F. (2004). Temporal lobe abnormalities in semantic processing by criminal psychopaths as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 130, 27-42.
53.
Koch, J. L. (1891). Die psychopathischen minderwertigkeiten [The psychopathic inferiority]. Ravensburg, Germany: Maier.
54.
Kratzer, L., & Hodgins, S. (1999). Research on the criminality and violence of the mentally ill. In S. Hodgins & C. G. Janson (Eds.), Criminality and violence among the mentally disordered (pp. 6-28). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
55.
Lapierre, D., Braun, C. M. J., & Hodgins, S. (1995). Ventral frontal deficits in psychopathy: Neuropsychological test findings. Neuropsychologica, 33, 139-151.
56.
Le Blanc, M. (1998). Screening of serious and violent juvenile offenders: Identification, classification, and prediction. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions (pp. 167-193). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
57.
Le Blanc, M. (2002). Review of clinical assessment strategies and instruments for adolescent offenders. In R. R. Corrado, R. Roesch, S. D. Hart, & J. K. Gierwowski, (Eds.) Multi-problem violent youth: A foundation for comparative research on needs, interventions and outcomes (pp. 171-190). Amsterdam: IOS Press.
58.
Lemert, E. M. (1951). Social pathology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
59.
Lilienfeld, S. O. (1994). Conceptual problems in the assessment of psychopathy. Clinical Psychology Review, 14, 17-38.
60.
Lilienfeld, S. O., & Andrews, B. P. (1996). Development and preliminary validation of a self-report measure of psychopathic personality traits in noncriminal populations. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66, 488-524.
61.
Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., & Waschbusch, D. A. (1998). Serious and violent juvenile offenders. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions (pp. 13-29). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
62.
Lombroso, C. (1876). L’uomo delinquente [The criminal man]. Milan: Torin.
63.
Lykken, D. T. (1957). A study of anxiety in the sociopathic personality. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 55, 6-10.
64.
Lykken, D. T. (1995). The antisocial personalities. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
65.
Lynam, D. R. (2002). Fledgling psychopathy: A view from personality theory. Law and Human Behavior, 26, 255-259.
66.
Mailloux, D. L., Forth, A. E., & Kroner, D. G. (1997). Psychopathy and substance use in adolescent male offenders. Psychological Reports, 81, 529-530.
67.
Maudsley, H. (1874). Responsibility in mental disease. London: King.
68.
McCord, W., & McCord, J. (1964). The psychopath: An essay on the criminal mind. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.
69.
Merton, R. K. (1938). Social structure and anomie. American Sociological Review, 3, 672-682.
70.
Miller, J. D., Lynam, D. R., Widiger, T. A., & Leukefeld, C. (2001). Personality disorders as extreme variants of common personality dimensions: Can the five-factor model adequately represent psychopathy?Journal of Personality, 69, 253-276.
71.
Moeller, G. F., & Dougherty, D. M. (2001). Antisocial personality disorder, alcohol, and aggression. Alcohol Research and Health, 25, 5-11.
72.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescent-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701.
73.
Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Harrington, H., & Milne, B. (2002). Males on the life-course persistent and adolescent limited antisocial pathways: Follow-up at age 26. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 179-206.
74.
Newman, J. P., Patterson, C. M., & Kosson, D. S. (1987). Response perseveration in psychopaths. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 96, 145-148.
75.
Niehoff, D. (1999). The biology of violence: How understanding the brain, behavior, and environment can break the vicious circle of aggression. New York: Free Press.
76.
Ogloff, J. R. P., & Wong, S. (1990). Electrodermal and cardiovascular evidence of a coping response in psychopaths. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 17, 231-245.
77.
Patrick, C. J. (1994). Emotion and psychopathy: Startling new insights. Psychopysiology, 31, 319-330.
78.
Patrick, C. J., Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (1993). Emotion in the criminal psychopath: Startle reflex modulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 82-92.
79.
Pinel, P. (1962). A treatise on insanity (D. Davis, trans.). New York: Hafner. (Original work published 1801)
80.
Prichard, J. C. (1835). A treatise on insanity and other disorders affecting the mind. London: Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper.
81.
Raine, A. (2002). Biosocial studies of antisocial and violent behavior in children and adults A review. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 311-326.
82.
Raine, A., Brennan, P., & Mednick, S. A. (1997). Interaction between birth complications and early maternal rejection in predisposing individuals to adult violence: Specificity to serious, early-onset violence. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1265-1271.
83.
Raine, A., O’Brien, M., Smiley, N., Scerbo, A., & Chan, C. J. (1990). Reduced lateralization in verbal dichotic listening in adolescent psychopaths. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 99, 272-277.
84.
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.
85.
Roussy, S., & Toupin, J. (2000). Behavioral inhibition deficits in juvenile psychopaths. Aggressive Behavior, 26, 413-424.
86.
Rowe, D., Osgood, D. W., & Nicewander, W. A. (1990). A latent trait approach to unifying criminal careers. Criminology, 28, 237-270.
87.
Rutherford, M. J., Alterman, A. I., & Cacciola, J. S. (2000). Psychopathy and substance abuse: A bad mix. In C. B. Gacono (Ed.), The clinical and forensic assessment of psychopathy: A practitioners guide (pp. 351-368). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
88.
Salekin, R. T. (2002). Psychopathy and therapeutic pessimism: Clinical lore or clinical reality?Clinical Psychology Review, 22, 79-112.
89.
Salekin, R. T., Rogers, R., & Sewell, K. W. (1996). A review and meta-analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist and Psychopathy Checklist-Revised: Predictive validity of dangerousness. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 3, 203-215.
90.
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. (1993). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
91.
Schur, E. M. (1971). Labeling deviant behavior. New York: Harper & Row.
92.
Seagrave, D., & Grisso, T. (2002). Adolescent development and the measurement of juvenile psychopathy. Law and Human Behavior, 26, 219-239.
93.
Serin, R. C., & Amos, N. L. (1995). The role of psychopathy in the assessment of dangerousness. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 18, 231-238.
94.
Smith, S. S., & Newman, J. P. (1990). Alcohol and drug abuse/dependence disorders in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic criminal offenders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 99, 430-439.
95.
Sorensen, J. R., Widmayer, A. G., & Scarpitti, F. R. (1994). Examining the criminal justice and criminological paradigms: An analysis of ACJS and ACS members. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 5, 149-166.
96.
Steinberg, L. (2001). The juvenile psychopath: Fads, fictions, and facts. National Institute on Justice Perspectives on Crime and Justice: 2000-2001 Lecture Series, 5, 35-64.
97.
Stice, E., Myers, M. G., & Brown, S. A. (1998). Relations of delinquency to adolescent substance use and problem use: A prospective study. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 12, 136-146.
98.
Sutherland, E. (1939). Principles of criminology. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
99.
Tolan, P. H., & Gorman-Smith, D., (1998). Development of serious and violent offending careers. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions (pp. 68-85). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
100.
Trevethan, S. D., & Walker, L. J. (1989). Hypothetical versus real-life moral reasoning among psychopathic and delinquent youth. Development and Psychopathology, 1, 91-103.
101.
Turk, A. (1966). Conflict and criminality. American Sociological Review, 31, 338-352.
102.
Widiger, T. A., & Lynam, D. R. (1998). Psychopathy as a variant of common personality traits: Implications for diagnosis, etiology, and pathology. In T. Millon (Ed.), Psychopathy: Antisocial, criminal, and violent behavior (pp. 171-187). New York: Guilford.
103.
Wiebush, R. G., Baird, C., Krisberg, B., & Onek, D. (1995). Risk assessment and classification for serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. In J. C. Howell, B. Krisberg, J. D. Hawkins, & J. J. Wilson (Eds.), A sourcebook: Serious violent and chronic juvenile offenders (pp. 171-212). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
104.
Williamson, S. E., Harpur, T. J., & Hare, R. D. (1991). Abnormal processing of affective words by psychopaths. Psychophysiology, 28, 260-273.
105.
Wolfgang, M. E., Figlio, R. M., & Sellin, T. (1972). Delinquency in a birth cohort. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
106.
Wolfgang, M. E., Thornberry, T. P., & Figlio, R. M. (1987). From boy to man, from delinquency to crime. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
107.
Zhang, L., Wieczorek, W. F., & Welte, J. W. (1997). The impact of age of onset of substance use on delinquency. Journal of Research on Crime and Delinquency, 34, 253-268.
