NCJ Number
253300
Date Published
2018
Length
10 pages
Agencies
NIJ-Sponsored
Publication Type
Research (Applied/Empirical),
Report (Study/Research),
Report (Grant Sponsored),
Program/Project Description
Grant Number(s)
94-IJ-CX-0031,
94-IJ-CX-0049
Annotation
This study used both latent variable- and person-centered approaches to examine psychopathic traits in a large sample of sex offenders (N = 958).
Abstract
The offenders, who had committed a range of sexual crimes, had been assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003). Structural equation modeling results indicated that the four-factor model of psychopathy (Hare, 2003; Neumann, Hare, & Newman, 2007) provided good representation of the dimensional nature of psychopathic traits across the sample of offenders, and that the PCL-R factors significantly predicted sexual crimes. In particular, the Affective and Antisocial psychopathy factors each predicted sexually violent crimes. Latent profile analysis results revealed evidence of a four-class solution, with the subtypes showing distinct PCL-R facet profiles consistent with previous research. The four subtypes were validated using sexual crime profiles. The prototypic psychopathy subtype (high on all four PCL-R facets) evidenced more violent sexual offenses than did the other subtypes. Taken together, the results demonstrate how variable- and person-centered approaches in combination can add to the understanding of the psychopathy construct and its correlates. (publisher abstract modified)
Date Created: July 20, 2021