RESEARCH ARTICLE
The relationship between psychopathy facets and types of criminal offences
Alora McCarthy,
Bryanna Fox,
Edelyn Verona,
Corresponding Author
Alora McCarthy
Department of Psychology, Center for Justice Research & Policy, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Correspondence
Alora McCarthy.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorBryanna Fox
Department of Criminology, Center for Justice Research & Policy, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Search for more papers by this authorEdelyn Verona
Department of Psychology, Center for Justice Research & Policy, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAlora McCarthy,
Bryanna Fox,
Edelyn Verona,
Corresponding Author
Alora McCarthy
Department of Psychology, Center for Justice Research & Policy, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Correspondence
Alora McCarthy.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorBryanna Fox
Department of Criminology, Center for Justice Research & Policy, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Search for more papers by this authorEdelyn Verona
Department of Psychology, Center for Justice Research & Policy, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Search for more papers by this authorFirst published: 22 February 2024
Abstract
The Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R) is a widely used measurement of psychopathy comprising interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and antisocial facets representing narrow-band characteristics associated with the construct. However, there is little research on whether the distinct facets of psychopathy show specialised relationships with different types of criminal offences. The PCL-R was administered to 138 adults incarcerated at a county jail. Arrests were coded into broad categories (i.e., crimes against persons, property or society), as well as for specific offence types (e.g. burglary, assault) using US crime definitions. Zero-order correlations and zero-inflated regression models showed significant relationships between: the lifestyle facet and property and societal crimes, mainly drug offences; the affective facet and crimes against persons; and the antisocial facet with all three major crime categories, as well as burglary, motor vehicle theft, robbery and assault. Overall, these results indicate that the PCL-R facets offer unique information about specific forms of criminal behaviour.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions. Hypotheses were pre-registered using the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/x3m8t.
Supporting Information
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Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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