Essays on Psychopathy

In comparison to the 1980’s, juvenile delinquency has been on the rise throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s. Personality traits and psychological theories explain delinquent behaviour among the juveniles. Psychological issues such as mental illnesses, dysfunctional homes, and influential songs and videos could have triggered events that led Bale Dale Loukaitis to hold algebra students hostage at the Front Middle School. The Psychiatry and psychoanalytical approach together with general personality trait theories would help understand the underlying factors to Loukaitis’ violent behaviour. To counter delinquency psychodynamic – psychoanalytical theories and personality theories can help identify common delinquents’ characteristic ...

Prediction of PCL-R Scores

Psychopathy is defined as a mental disorder that is normally characterised by an individual always carrying out his activities in a manner that is selfish and manipulative and they always lack remorse. In addition to this, they are always in most instances emotionally detached from the public in that, they are always anti-social and further have the callous-unemotional traits. It was further realised, that in cases that the an individual shows these traits, then he or she ends up not caring that much about the people around him or her.Over the years researchers have had in place various theses ...

Introduction

Psychological evaluation of juvenile offenders is an important part of the juvenile court system. This is because the main purpose of the juvenile justice system is the rehabilitation of the juvenile offenders who exhibit different psychological problems and others are raised by dysfunctional families. This means that a juvenile offender may require psychological treatment, assistance with their education, or treatment for a substance abuse problem. Provision of the right rehabilitation service will help in reducing the chances of recidivism. The psychological evaluation of the juvenile offenders may reveal some valuable information to the juvenile court that might assist in ...

Psychopathy is a personality disorder which is characterized by an inferred character traits and clusters of behaviors which is distinctive (Hare 17). Most of these traits are seen as pejorative by the society. He further argues that it is difficult to diagnose these individuals. Similar to any other psychiatric disorder, psychopathy is diagnosed based on accumulated evidence that such an individual satisfy the minimal criteria necessary for the disorder. Essentially, Fallon makes various claims about his condition which he terms as a psychopathic condition. First he claims that it would be possible to hide that one is psychopathic in ...

Abstract

The Columbine High School Massacre was the bloodiest school killing spree in the United States of America ever committed. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 of other students, one professor and injured 24, before committing a suicide (Aronson, 2000). The perpetrators had versatile arsenal of weapons and pipe bombs, which, according to the US Security Service estimates was sufficient to kill 200 people (Kass, 2009). Theorists extensively debated about the motives of their attack. Some argued that the reasons were psychological (Atheide, 2009), while others actively advocated the notion that their attack was a retaliation for bullying and ...

Psychology

Purpose The PCL-R is utilized for diagnosing psychopathy as a part of people for clinical, lawful or exploration purposes. Grown in the mid-1990s, the test was initially intended to recognize the level of an individual's psychopathic inclinations. Since sociopaths, then again, are frequently rehash guilty parties who carry out rapes or other brutal law violations over and over, the PCL-R is currently discovering use in the court and organizations as a pointer of the potential danger postured by subjects or detainees. The aftereffects of the examination have been utilized as a part of measurable settings as a variable in ...

The Hare Psychopathy Checklists-Revised refers to a test that uses twenty question to assess and identify whether the offender is psychopathic or not. The checklist has twenty question with each possessing a maximum of two pointscore (0, 1, 2), totalling up to forty points. An individual is assessed according the score he or she attained. This method has been increasingly used globally to by various judges and courts to test whether prisoners the extent of his or her mental illness before releasedor given a court judgement. The scores varies that an individual offender can obtain to be sentenced a death penalty varies from ...

This paper discusses the imminent contributions of prisoner rehabilitation. One of the major roles of the judiciary is to rehabilitate criminal offenders. After undergoing a due process as stipulated by law, a convict can be punished in different ways. In case of imprisonment, an inmate is supposed to be rehabilitated. Meaning, they should be subjected to educational and therapeutic services to enable them understand and appreciate the importance of law abidance in the country (Hare, R.D., 2007). I would like to emphasize on rehabilitation because it is a fruitful exercise which can enable the society to nurture law abiding citizens. Generally, committing a ...

Criminal behavior

Psychopathy or sociopathy as it is called at times, is a type of personality disorder, clinically regarded as ‘Antisocial Personality Disorder’ (APD). Although a big percentage of incarcerated convicts may be described as suffering from APD, only about one-fourth of them could be diagnosed for psychopathy. Also only a small percentage of these psychopaths are violent offenders. Exhibition of superficial charm and persistent lying are the two common traits of psychopaths. The emotional deficit of psychopaths limits them to experience only a narrow range of emotions. Psychopaths are very skilled in projecting themselves in good light and can beat psychological tests. Adult ...

1. Antisocial Personality Disorder can be described as an Axis 2 personality disorder distinctive by possessing a pervasive pattern of violation for, and disregard for the rights of that starts at childhood or adolescence and persists into adulthood

2. Mental health professions include clinical social workers, mental health counselors, psychiatric nurses as well as many other professions. These professions often deal with the same disorders and issues; in spite of this, their field of practice differs.

3. Risk factors are conditions that put children at risks of negative outcomes such as crime. Psychological, parental and social risks acting together ensure ...

Introduction

Risk assessment tools are employed for the purposes of identifying and managing the people at risk of certain tendencies that may be harmful to them. Some risk assessment tools have been developed as a consequence of determining the behaviors of individuals and their propensities to cause harm or disrupt the peace in certain jurisdictions. In the recent past, more than a hundred and twenty risks assessment researchers have established tools. Their validity and viability have been proven in dealing with psychiatric cases across various societies. The two articles chosen for this study focus on various dimensions of the assessment, yet all ...

The information on Antisocial Personality Disorder and psychopathy from both sources concur, in that, most if not all the traits seem to be alike in both cases. In both sources, traits such as distant, cold, lack of empathy, inflexible, and pervasiveness seem to appear in the cases presented. In both cases, the radio host and the author describe a person who is out of touch with the feelings that make for a normal human being. Both sources paint a picture that demonstrates an individual who is both cunning and witting, and one who is full of loathing towards the people around him. ...

Introduction

Low socioeconomic status (SES) has been considered one of the key determinants of criminal behavior. Family-level SES is usually determined by measuring income, education level, and occupation, but SES is a multilevel concept that applies to both family and community levels (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002). Families with low SES will more likely live in neighborhoods with low community-level SES, which limits the children’s educational opportunities and increases their exposure to violence (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002). Consequently, the children will identify themselves with the community and adopt its patterns of violent behavior. The influence of both family-level and community-level SES is ...

Psychology

In the article of Kahn, she described the common behavior of juveniles who are considered as psychopaths as those children who are callous-unemotional (Kahn, “Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?”). These are the minors, who at their young ages, have shown lack of empathy and remorse for their actions. These symptoms are considered at the determining factors that a child may become a psychopath when he or she becomes an adult (Kahn, “Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?”). This conclusion is based on the psychological exams conducted using the following tools such as the Child Psychopathy Scale and Antisocial Process Screening Device ...

Introduction

In the recent past, studies in the field of cognitive science have brought forth overwhelming evidence on the relationship between moral judgment and emotions. However, research on this topic a couple of decades old. For instance,StanleyMilgram, a social psychologist, carried a research on this topic in the 1970 where he instructed his students to approach strangers in New York subway and request for a sit. The research did not receive the kind of reception Milgram expected, he noticed that most of the students declined to participate. However, one student who offered to do the research aborted it prematurely. Left with no alternatives, ...

The following paper discusses white-collar crime, its effect on society, and theories to address this issue. There will first be a discussion of what white-collar crime is and who are the usual offenders. From there the discussion will shift to the reasoning behind the crime these perpetrators commit. To finish the paper we will look at a case study completed on the mindset of white-collar criminals and I will present two solutions to a problem that could greatly effect the future of our society. There are a variety of sources used for this research including books and a scholarly article. The attempt is not ...

Aggression and violence Modern versions of biological theories of violence focus on the role of biological and psychosocial factors in the understanding of violence. Many scholars argue that the exposure to environmental contaminants can be linked to neurobehavioral and a higher risk of antisocial behavior. Aggression can take on different meanings, thus separating it into categories like reactive or hostile aggression, and proactive or instrumental aggression. In children, reactive aggression is seen as tantrums. Bullying is a form of Proactive aggression. Early traumas may lead to over reactive, defensive, aggressive responses in the adults. People with PTSD (Widom313-44) feel stressed out ...

Article link: Andrea Yates, drowned 5 childrenhttp://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/2.htm1. What were the differences in the media portrayal and the information we learned in this unitThe media traditionally like to simplify issues. In the Yates Murder case the central question of Katherine Ramsland is whether or not Yates was Ill or Evil. He article is not an in depth exploration of the dynamics of the case, instead it focuses on if she Andrea was in capacity of her faculties (Ramsland , 2014). If she did not, then she was ill, but if she was, then she was evil. But Psychopathy is a spectrum disease ...

Abstract

Risky behavior contributes to the maladaptive behavior of psychopathic individuals. However, the results gotten from a group of psychopathic individuals in an experiment using the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP) and the Angler’s Risk Task (ART) to evaluate their decision making has been equivocal. Different factors of psychopathy may be suitable to explain the findings. We examined the relationship between primary, secondary psychopathy and the performance based on the methods used. Impulsivity was also added to find out its effect as a moderator. In a combined model of the interactions and effects of primary, secondary psychopathy and impulsivity, only secondary psychopathy ...

PCL-R Defined

The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is asymptomatic instrument used to rate an individual is psychopathic or introverted inclinations. Individuals who are psychopathic prey mercilessly on others utilizing appeal, misdirection, roughness or different routines that permit them to get with they need. The indications of psychopathy incorporate absence of a soul or feeling of blame, absence of compassion, egocentricity and neurotic lying. In addition, rehashed infringement of social standards, slight for the law, shallow feelings, and a history of defrauding others. Initially intended to evaluate individuals blamed or indicted for unlawful acts, the PCL-R comprises of a 20-item side effect rating scale ...

Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines

Abstract The paper outlines a few connections between pornography, erotica, and obscene material, in relation to sex crimes committed against adults and children. It is commonly known among the public that sex offenders view this material, and that they are often influenced by it. The paper also discusses how offenders my use the material to avoid acting on their desires, as well as how the material may awaken stronger desires within certain individuals. Rehabilitation is possible for those with desires that centralized around pornography and obscene material as the primary trigger. The best results for rehabilitation were seen in ...

Introduction

Psychopathy has been described in many ways. It has been described as a personality disorder characterized by anti-social behavioural patterns, lack of empathy and behavioral control as well as a ruthless dominance. (Skeem et al., 2011). All human beings exhibit brutality to some degree. Psychopathy refers to the highest degree of brutality. However brutality cannot be precisely measured, therefore psychopathy cannot be properly defined. From the point of view of evolution, psychopathy did not seem to fit into the theory. However if we examine the theory closely we find that ever since the Stone Age, the most brutal individuals could survive ...

Violent Crimes

Violent Crimes 1.) The three (3) perspectives on human nature are conformity perspective, non-conformity perspective, and learning perspective. The conformity perspective states that humans are basically good (Bartol & Bartol, 2014). On the other hand, the non-conformity perspective, the humans to be unruly by nature, and that they have to be controlled by the community. The deviant behavior of humans can cause them to commit crimes indiscriminately. The learning perspective states that humans are neutral and that they have to be controlled by society. These three perspectives relate to violent crime and criminal behavior in that an offender develops ...

Background:

The history of Demonology is an evolving explanation of two Christian theological understandings. The first is one is that the world was created good by God who is all-good and there is pain in the world. Cancer, war, natural disasters, poverty and other woes and evils are is difficult to reconcile with a cosmos created by an all-good God who created the world and agents within it out of love. That evil entered early on with the fall of Adam and Eve. This first understanding concerns human life and endeavor while bound up within the temporal confines of time within ...

Chronological Age: 50

Referral Source: Attorney Primary Evaluator: X Secondary Evaluator: X Testing dates: Reason for Referral LC was referred by attorney X who requested information and comments regarding this client’s competency to stand trial and state of mind at the time of the crime.

Presenting Problem

LC is a 50-year-old African American male with a long history of psychiatric problems. He is from the LA County Jail, August 7 through August 15, 20__ and he experienced difficulties adjusting to prison. While in prison, LC was observed to be “agitated, belligerent, demanding and made verbal threats to a custody officer.” He ...

This paper discusses the role of Psychopathy Checklist Revised in providing an insight to the level of psychopathy in an individual. It first dissects the meaning of psychopathy and dissects what it entails. Upon giving a broad discussion of a comprehensive meaning of psychopathy, the piece goes ahead to give the link between psychopathy and crime. It settles on the life of Paul Kenneth Bernardo, an example of a psychopath whose life defines psychopathy at its best. The Canadian serial killer sent a wave of terror across the country through his cruel rapes, sexual assaults and murders. The serial killer worked together with ...

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Psychopathy is a pathological form of mental activity and behavior, which manifests itself in groundless anger, despair, doubt, uncertainty, a tendency in any way draw attention to themselves, to whining. According to Robert D. Hare (Without Conscience, 1999), “The crucial issue is how to describe psychopaths. They are certainly self-centered and often act impulsively.” Psychopaths are often skilled liars, they can mislead people and manipulate to achieve their goals. They can cause pain and hurt. Often, however, psychopaths can be caught on some ridiculous and end up in hospital or prison. ...

Without conscience is a book by Dr. Hare, Robert D based on more than thirty years of his research on psychopathy. It is written in an easy and sincere readable fashion for all categories of audiences. It is a very useful book that gives full profiles of different psychopaths. This book is rich in insightful information that could help someone differentiate a day by day psychopath from the rest of the population. It generally speaks of prison cases, famous cases and covers a bit of ground which majorities of us walk on each day. It’s a scary book about psychopaths and Hare asserts ...

Genetic technologies have ushered in brave new world where mankind is finally in control of development and the creation of life. The application of genetic engineering is ubiquitous in today’s world. From plants being made more resistant and more nutritious to genetic screening of disease, the field has established itself as a significant shift in the human paradigm. Applying genetic technologies to fetuses and the unborn promises to bring us to an age where humanity has vanquished debilitating illness, and future generations would be free of afflictions that take a terrific toll. Indeed prominent ethicists have even argued that there ...

Psychology

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Abstract

Identifying and predicting psychopathic traits by analyzing childhood behaviours must be based on sound psychometrics to ensure scientifically reliable results. Statistical analysis using G-Power (computer model for calculations) aids in analyszing the results from surveys and personality assessments which are administered to teens and young adults from communities, colleges, juvenile homes and jails in order to understand how the data from self reported questionnaires can reliable be used to predict psychopathic behavior. The ability to do so would be very helpful for counseling and could possibly help avoid psychopathic behaviors in young people that are self-destructive ...

Sexual offenders are required to register their contact details with the authorities. This assists to keep track of their residence and activity promptly in order to avoid recidivism. Registration of contact details and email addresses notify the sexual offender that they are under constant scrutiny. Therefore, they will desist from such activity or rather become more prudent in executing their deviant behaviors. More often than not, sexual offenders are known to go back to the vice even after imprisonment. The reasons underlying this argument are lack of follow-ups by the authorities and poor monitoring and assessment methods. In this ...

February , 2013

Analysis of New York Times Articles on Social Deviance Article 1 Parker-Pope, Tara. “College Students Behaving Badly.” New York Times 31 July 2008. Web. Retrieved 23 Feb. 2013. Rather than focus exclusively on articles within a very short period of three to four months, it seemed better to examine if the New York Times routinely publishes articles that address social deviance directly, instead of simply mentioning activities that might be construed as socially deviant. Using this approach, a search was made of the newspaper’s website using the term “social deviance;” only a few results appeared that were less ...

In The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Hitman, the chilling interviews Dr. Dietz conducted with Richard Kuklinski demonstrate a man with significant psychological damage, which led him to kill over two hundred people over the course of his life, through various and sadistic means. If one were to look at his condition from a Freudian perspective, it is easy to see that he has many psychosexual issues related to his mother. Growing up in a violent environment, with his mother beating him often and violently, Kuklinski learned that violence was the way to get what you wanted, leaving him in the latent period ...

A psychopath is defined as an individual suffering from chronic personality disorder with violent or abnormal social behavior. The term Psychopath brings to mind thought of violent acts. The study on psychopaths defines individuals who are incapable feeling fear, empathy and stress. The psychopaths are identified on the basis of their cold-heartedness, superficial charm, irresponsibility, criminality, egocentricity and parasitic life. The psychopath is termed as the most fascinating and yet distressing problem in the human experience (Adrian, 2009). The persons suffering from psychopathy live a predatory life where the view people in terms of how they can be used. ...

Described variously as the dire lack of deep emotions, psychopathy is a personality disorder found in various sections of society. The belief that Psychopaths are only found behind prison walls and rehabilitation institutions is a serious misconception. On the contrary, finding a Psychopath in the boardroom is equally probable as finding the Psychopath in a state penitentiary (Wynn 259). The major explanation behind this observation is the fact that every person is obsessed with power, domination and control. Such desires are likely to make an individual lose the empathic considerations an average human being is expected to have for their neighbors and associates. ...

Disruptive Behavior Disorders as Predictors of Adult Criminality

Disruptive behavior disorders are characterized by high rates of defiant, hostile, and non-compliant behaviors, which usually include hyperactivity and aggressiveness (Fonagy, Target, Cottrell, Phillips & Kurtz, 2005). According to DSM-IV, these behaviors can be categorized under the following headings: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), conduct disorder (CD), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) (Fonagy et al., 2005). Conduct disturbance covers a broad range of behaviors that manifest in somewhat different ways at various ages of the same child across various settings. The symptoms of disturbances of conduct are often subjective as they can range from merely annoying behaviors such as temper tantrums, whining, ...

The chapter on Criminal Psychopathy makes fascinating reading. It is informative about the disorder and covers many interesting topics associated with it. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that, in many cases, psychopaths can appear to be friendly, kind and charming people, even if they have committed serious crimes. This chapter explores criminal psychopathy and how people with the disorder diff from other offenders, including those with other mental health disorders. In particular, it stresses how a criminal psychopath is different from others, both emotionally, cognitively and behaviourally. The definition of a psychopath is provided, along with a case study of a ...

The chapter focuses on psychopathy appraisal and how the attribute has evolved over time. This is basically explained in terms of conduct features and character traits. The author cites the aforementioned as among the features which were used by practitioners in the diagnosis of mental disorders. The use of character alone is however faulted by the fact that there are certain behavioral patterns such as malicious and callous conducts which are habitually displayed in a manner that is not irresponsible. The author further gives an example of the consequences of marginalization of personality features associated with psychopathy. To this, ...

Antisocial Personality Disorder: Case Study

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is a type of condition that corrupts an individual mind, emotions, thoughts and behavior. The affected person develops behaviors destructive and harmful to others and generally poses as a danger to society. The individuals tend to have long histories of violating peoples’ rights; they are always aggressive, show no remorse and usually do not know the distinction between truths and lie (Barlow and Durand, 2009).

Frances and Ross (2001) cite that ASPD is meant to describe a pattern of behavior beginning in early life that would have warranted a pure diagnosis of conduct disorder. The most common reason ...

Introduction

Correctional program is a planned undertaking which addresses factors connected/related to offender’s criminal behavior. It helps in assisting in the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community as responsible citizens who are law are abiding. This can be achieved by making them provide programs in the prison and in the community. (Bonta 2007) Some of the correctional programs are community based. They are supervised to deal with convicted people and does not base its operation in cases of confinement of the prisoners. Some of the commonly used methods of community correction include Parole and probation. There ...