A Prospective Study on Self-Reported Psychopathy and Criminal Recidivism Among Incarcerated Male Juvenile Offenders. (October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pechorro, Pedro; Seto, Michael C.; Ray, James V.; Alberto, Isabel; Simões, Mário R.
• Is Part Of: International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology. Volume 63:Number 14(2019)
• Page Start: 2383
• Page End: 2405
• Publication Date: 2019-10
• Subjects: crime -- juvenile offenders -- psychopathy -- recidivism -- self-report; Criminals -- Rehabilitation -- Periodicals; Criminal psychology -- Periodicals; Violent offenders -- Periodicals; Sex offenders -- Periodicals; Criminology -- Periodicals; 364.3
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X19849569
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-624X

Abstract

The present study examines the utility of three self-report measures of psychopathic traits in predicting recidivism among a sample of incarcerated male juvenile offenders. Participants ( N = 214, M = 16.40 years, SD = 1.29 years) from seven Portuguese juvenile detention centers were followed and prospectively classified as recidivists versus non-recidivists. Area under the curve (AUC) analysis revealed that the Antisocial Process Screening Device–Self-Report (APSD-SR) presented the best performance in terms of predicting general recidivism, with the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) and the Childhood and Adolescent Taxon Scale–Self-Report (CATS-SR) presenting much poorer results. However, logistic regression models controlling for past frequency of crimes and age of first incarceration found that none of these self-report measures significantly predicted 1- or 3-year recidivism, whether general or violent. Findings suggest there are limitations in terms of the incremental utility of self-report measures of psychopathic traits in predicting recidivism among juveniles.