Psychopathy In Psychology
Psychopathy is a personality disorder, mainly characterized by a lack of remorse or empathy, and is highly associated with antisocial behavior alongside other symptoms (Pozzulo, 301). Research shows that psychopathy can develop during childhood and adolescence (Pozzulo, 314). Psychologists are able to present to court the most probable criminal behavior of an young offender, as well as how specific models of psychopathy should be addressed, and how the offender should be punished including specific aspect of the sentence. However, psychologists’ expert testimonies labeling an offender as psychopath can lead to biased jurors’ sentences. Moreover, psychology is far from a perfect science and therefore contains many contradictions on psychopathy
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This assessment was adjusted for both children and adolescents. The Antisocial Process Screening (APSD) aims at identifying psychopathy amongst children, while the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) is adapted for adolescents. The APSD bases itself on ratings for various questions from authority figures of the child and contains three different dimensions: the callous-unemotional dimension; the impulsivity dimension; and the narcissist dimension (Pozzulo, 314). These scales can be used to determine whether or not a youthful individual will be likely to encounter problems with the police and/or if they will be likely to engage in a violent behavior. It is proven that there is a direct correlation between children who obtain high scores in the unemotional dimension in the APSD and more frequent encounter with the authorities in addition with problematic behavior (Pozzulo 316). Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that adolescents which present many psychopathic traits according to the PCL:YV are prone to earlier criminal activities as well as more violent behavior (Pozzulo 316). These young individuals are usually more likely to recidivism. Psychologist, when providing expert witness testimony in court, can use all these factors in order to bring to light the likelihood of a youthful offender of engaging criminal behavior to the jurors. Moreover, they can testify whether or not the offender is likely to commit future
This assessment was adjusted for both children and adolescents. The Antisocial Process Screening (APSD) aims at identifying psychopathy amongst children, while the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) is adapted for adolescents. The APSD bases itself on ratings for various questions from authority figures of the child and contains three different dimensions: the callous-unemotional dimension; the impulsivity dimension; and the narcissist dimension (Pozzulo, 314). These scales can be used to determine whether or not a youthful individual will be likely to encounter problems with the police and/or if they will be likely to engage in a violent behavior. It is proven that there is a direct correlation between children who obtain high scores in the unemotional dimension in the APSD and more frequent encounter with the authorities in addition with problematic behavior (Pozzulo 316). Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that adolescents which present many psychopathic traits according to the PCL:YV are prone to earlier criminal activities as well as more violent behavior (Pozzulo 316). These young individuals are usually more likely to recidivism. Psychologist, when providing expert witness testimony in court, can use all these factors in order to bring to light the likelihood of a youthful offender of engaging criminal behavior to the jurors. Moreover, they can testify whether or not the offender is likely to commit future