A predictive model of criminality in civil psychiatric populations
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-10-2014-0015 |
| Published date | 02 February 2015 |
| Date | 02 February 2015 |
| Pages | 1-12 |
| Author | Laura Evans,Maria Ioannou,Laura Hammond |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Criminal psychology |
A predictive model of criminality in civil
psychiatric populations
Laura Evans, Maria Ioannou and Laura Hammond
Laura Evans, Dr MariaIoannou
and Dr Laura Hammond all are
based at School of Humanand
Health Sciences,University of
Huddersfield,Huddersfield, UK,
where both Dr Maria Ioannou
and Dr Laura Hammondare
Senior Lecturers.
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a predictive model of criminal risk in civil psychiatric
populations, by determining the relative impacts of psychopathy, drug use, impulsivity and intelligence on
levels of criminality.
Design/methodology/approach – The sample consisted of 871 civil psychiatric patients, selected from
the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study, who had been diagnosed with a mental illness or
personality disorder, and hospitalised less than 21 days. Each participant was administered the Hare
Psychopathy Checklist Screening Version (PCL:SV), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and the Wechsler
Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R). In addition, information on background demographics, drug use and
criminality was obtained via a self-report questionnaire.
Findings – Pearson correlations identified significant positive relationships between past arrests,
psychopathy, impulsivity and drug use. Intelligence was negatively related to past arrests. Multiple
regressions identified a significant main effect for Factor 2 psychopathy on past arrests when controlling for
all covariates, but not for Factor 1 psychopathy, intelligence or impulsivity. Drug use and gender had small
univariate effects.
Research limitations/implications – It is suggested that future research investigates the influence of
specific mental disorders on different types of offending.
Originality/value – By investigating predictors of criminal behaviour in civil psychiatric patients, the present
study makes valuable contributions to the research literature, enhancing our theoretical understanding of
the relationships between psychopathy and criminality/recidivism. It also has notable implications in applied
practice, for example in the development and refinement of risk assessment methods.
Keywords Criminal behaviour, Impulsivity, Intelligence, Psychopathy, Recidivism, Psychiatric populations
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
An abundance of literature has focused on the aetiology of criminal behaviour and recidivism.
A number of demographic attributes and key risk factors, ranging from age, race and
socioeconomic status to intellectual functioning and criminogenic needs, have been found to
impact upon offending behaviour (Gendreau et al., 1996). However, one of the strongest
predictors consistently associated with increased criminal behaviour and recidivism is
psychopathy (Hemphill et al., 1998; Hare et al., 2000; see Dhingra and Boduszek, 2013 for a
review). The present study sought to evaluate the nature and extent of the impact that
psychopathy and its associated traits/behavioural manifestations have on levels of criminality
and likelihood of recidivism for civil psychiatric patients.
Psychopathy and criminality
Features of psychopathy predispose an individual to behavioural deviancies (Viding et al., 2007;
Vitacco et al., 2008), and these tend to be related to increases in offending (Hare, 1991)
and higher rates of recidivism (Hemphill et al., 1998). Serin and Amos (1995) found that
DOI 10.1108/JCP-10-2014-0015 VOL. 5 NO. 1 2015, pp. 1-12, CEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2009-3829
j
JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
j
PAGE 1
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