Abstract

LINO, Denis; DANTAS, Lucas de Farias; SILVA, Vanessa Oliveira  and  LOBATO, Aline. Psychopathy and crime: are all murderers psychopaths?. Aval. psicol. [online]. 2022, vol.21, n.2, pp. 187-196. ISSN 1677-0471.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15689/ap.2022.2102.20615.06.

The present study aimed to evaluate the rate of psychopathy among incarcerated murderers, following the hypothesis that murderers are more likely to be psychopaths when compared to the general prison population. Furthermore, we sought to assess whether there is a positive and significant correlation between the psychopathy index, demonstrated through the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R), and the number of homicide qualifiers for which the subjects were incarcerated. The study included 45 male inmates, over 20 years of age, who were incarcerated for murder. Three data sources were used: Sociodemographic and Criminal Questionnaire, PCL-R and the criminal records of the detainees. The results showed that only a few murderers achieved scores high enough to be considered psychopaths (F= 7, 15.6%). Furthermore, there was a trend towards an increase in the number of homicide qualifiers as individuals scored a higher overall score in the PCL-R.

Keywords : Psychopathy; crime; criminal psychology; PCL-R.

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