Personality and Criminality in Violent Offenders

Abstract

Four groups of serving prisoners, 29 murderers, 30 assaulters, 51 armed robbers, and 25 nonviolent controls, were compared on measures of personality, demographic variables, and past history of violence. The measures were selected to examine the range of personality dimensions and factors considered important in violent offenders, to compare their relative value in predicting violent offenses, and to determine if nonhomicidal assaulters and armed robbers share features in common with murderers. Between-group differences occurred mainly on the hostility and violence measures. Results showed that murderers, on the whole, more often distorted their clinical profiles by minimizing their aggressiveness or propensity for violence. The history of violence variables were “better” predictors of group membership than personality indices. Overall, defensiveness emerged as a major characteristic of the murderer. In contrast, the armed robbers and assaulters tended to distort primarily their self-confidence and level of self-consciousness. The findings call into question the usefulness of personality measures in assessing and understanding the violent individual.