Predicting future criminal offending in a community-based sample of males using self-reported psychopathy

This study evaluated the utility of the Self-Report of Psychopathy-III (SRP-III) for predicting three classes (i.e., violence, theft, and serious charges) of criminal charges in a sample of community-based males (N = 417). This is the first study to examine the potential of the SRP-III to predict fu...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Vitacco, Michael J. (Author) ; Neumann, Craig S. (Author) ; Pardini, Dustin A. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2014
In: Criminal justice and behavior
Year: 2014, Volume: 41, Issue: 3, Pages: 345-363
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Self-Report of Psychopathy
Adolescents
Antisocial Behavior
Psychopathy
Description
Summary:This study evaluated the utility of the Self-Report of Psychopathy-III (SRP-III) for predicting three classes (i.e., violence, theft, and serious charges) of criminal charges in a sample of community-based males (N = 417). This is the first study to examine the potential of the SRP-III to predict future criminal behavior in a community-based sample. Official criminal records were obtained on average 3.5 years after initial SRP-III assessment. Area under the curve analyses indicated fair predictive power for SRP-III total and factor scores, and after controlling for a host of risk factors, SRP-III measured psychopathy predicted charges for violent and serious offenses, but not theft. Notably, additional analyses revealed none of the individual SRP-III facets uniquely predicted future offending when entered into a regression model. The findings of this study indicate the SRP-III holds some promise as an assessment instrument in the prediction of violent and serious offenses.
ISSN:1552-3594
DOI:10.1177/0093854813500488