Psychopathy in Adolescence and Criminal Recidivism in Young Adulthood

Abstract

Very few studies to date have examined the long-term predictive validity of psychopathy among juveniles. The current study reports general and violent recidivism data for an ethnically heterogeneous sample of male offenders (n = 75) who had been administered the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV) in 1996 when they were on average 16 years of age. Neither total scores nor factor scores of the PCL: YV predicted general or violent reconvictions throughout this time frame. These modest effects underscore recent concerns raised about the utility of psychopathy as a risk factor for future criminality, particularly among multiethnic offender samples.