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The Dark Triad composed of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism, and also self-control are consistently related to antisocial and criminal externalizing outcomes. In the present study, we examined whether self-control mediates the relationships between the Dark Triad and delinquency, conduct disorder, and crime seriousness outcomes. The sample consisted of 567 adolescents (M = 15.91 years, SD = 0.99 years, range = 14– 18 years) from Portugal. Self-control mediated the association between psychopathy and Machiavellianism (but not narcissism) and self-reported juvenile delinquency, conduct disorder symptoms, and crime seriousness. One reason antisocial/criminal behaviors are common in those characterized by psychopathy and Machiavellianism relates to their deficits in selfcontrol as suggested by general theories. Within the nomological network of dark traits, narcissism appears to have enduring and unmediated associations with externalizing features and conduct problems. Our findings add to the literature modeling the Dark Triad along with self-control to elucidate its contributions to antisocial/criminal outcomes in youth. Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The coercive nature of prisons is a longstanding topic of academic inquiry. Although correctional staff help incarcerated individuals adjust to prison by enforcing prison rules and providing guidan...

Research generally supports the notion that primary and secondary psychopathy variants are relatively distinct, with primary psychopathy reflecting a congenital affective deficit, and secondary psy...

The triarchic model of psychopathy is one of the most influential models of psychopathy developed in recent years. The current aim is to investigate the utility of a self-report measure of the triarchic model of psychopathy in predicting criminal recidivism among a sample of incarcerated juvenile offenders. Male youth participants (N=228, M=16.38 years, SD=1.26 years) from the Detention Centers managed nation-wide by the Ministry of Justice of Portugal were followed during a two-year period and categorized as recidivists or non-recidivists. The Area Under the Curve (AUC) results showed that only the Disinhibition dimension of the triarchic model of psychopathy was able to significantly predict general recidivism. The binary logistic regression models controlling for relevant variables (e.g. age of first detention, past frequency of crimes, conduct disorder symptoms) found that the boldness, meanness, and disinhibition dimensions failed to predict general or violent recidivism. The overall findings suggest that the triarchic model of psychopathy demonstrates limited utility in terms of predicting recidivism among juvenile offenders., This work was partially supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [grant number UID/PSI/01662/2019

Research on prejudice has historically employed Blumer’s group position as a theoretical alternative to Allport’s group conflict in understanding prejudice against members of minority groups. Our p...

Disparate research has shown that exposure to chaotic homes and adverse childhood experiences are associated with antisocial behavior, but these lines of research have not converged. The current st...

The development and validation of empirically sound measures that operationalize the Triarchic model of psychopathy among youth is currently in the nascent stage. The present study aimed to examine...

The aim of the present study was to analyze the relation between recidivism and self-reported psychopathic traits, more specifically the callous-unemotional, impulsivity, and nar- cissism dimensions of the psychopathy construct among female juvenile delinquents. The Antisocial Process Screening Device–Self-Report (APSD-SR) and other self-report psycho- metric instruments (i.e., Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits [ICU], Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, version 11 [BIS-11], Narcissistic Personality Inventory-13 [NPI-13]) independently measuring the different dimensions of psychopathy were com- pleted by a sample of incarcerated female juvenile offenders (N = 81) that were retrospectively classified as first-time offen- ders versus recidivists. The only statistically significant relation between recidivism and psychopathic traits found was with narcissism, namely with the Grandiose/Exhibitionism and the Entitlement/Exploitativeness dimensions of the NPI-13. Our results argue for some utility of self-reported psychopathic traits in retrospectively predicting recidivism among female juvenile delinquents., Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT; Grant SFRH/BPD/86666/2012), with cofinancing of the European Social Fund (POPH/FSE), the Portuguese Ministry of Science (MCTES), and the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (UID/PSI/01662/2013)

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with violent behavior. A possible key mechanism to explain the relationship between TBI and violence is DeLisi and Vaughn’s temperament-based theory of an...

Self-Report Delinquency scales have formed the basis of much understanding of juvenile delinquency today, but further improvement and extensive measurement research on self-report measures of crime...

Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) is a relatively rare psychiatric condition characterized by aggression, explosive outbursts towards people and property, and very poorly regulated emotional an...

This study examines whether changes in dynamic risk during juvenile justice long-term residential placement affect recidivism. Advancing the work of prior dynamic risk change analyses, we examine a large sample of 11,891 male and 1930 female juvenile offenders while taking methodological steps to ensure successful and non-successful youth (in terms of recidivism) are (statistically) identical at admission. Specifically, we employ propensity score matching on residential placement youth who recidivate post-release and non-recidivists on static risk factors and initial dynamic risk scores assessed at admission to residential placement. Post-matching, changes in dynamic risk factors from initial assessment at admission to exit assessment at release are examined with a focus on whether those changes distinguish recidivists from non-recidivists. Separate analyses are conducted for male and female juveniles. Results indicate that changes in dynamic risk do affect recidivism likelihood, but that different factor...

Although psychopathy construct (SRP-SF) was assessed among various samples, prior research did not investigate whether the model proposed by Hare and colleagues can be used to capture psychopathy scores derived from forensic and non-forensic populations. The main objective of the current study was to test dimensionality, construct validity, and factorial invariance of the SRP-SF within prison (N = 730) and student (N = 2,506) samples. Our results indicate that the SRP-SF measure cannot be used in the same way within forensic and non-forensic samples, which may be due to the inclusion of criminal/antisocial traits as an integral part of psychopathy.

Recently, DeLisi and Vaughn articulated a temperament-based theory of antisocial behavior which they expressed as the first within criminology to use temperament explicitly, and as the exclusive explanatory construct of both antisocial behavior and negative interactions with the criminal justice system. We provide an initial empirical test of the theory’s two main constructs of effortful control (EC) and negative emotionality (NE) with respect to juvenile offending using a sample of 27,712 adjudicated youth. Cox regressions reveal youth with lower levels of EC and those with higher NE re-offend faster, controlling for demographics plus many prominent risk factors. Furthermore, the approximately 5% of youth at the extreme ends of both low EC and high NE evidence higher recidivism rates and faster time to failure. The findings show strong initial support for temperament theory, and we discuss relevancy for future research, prevention and intervention.

Behavioral genetic research has consistently revealed that genetic factors explain a significant proportion of variance in antisocial phenotypes. Despite some initial evidence, the extent to which genetic factors influence adolescent victimization remains largely undetermined. The current study partially addresses this gap in the literature by employing an adoption-based research design to estimate genetic influences on victimization. Participants consisted of adoptees drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Multivariate analyses revealed that adoptees who had a biological criminal father or a biological criminal mother were at increased risk for being victimized in adolescence and also to be victimized repeatedly. This is the first study to use an adoption-based research design to show an association between genetic factors and the risk for adolescent victimization.

The importation model of inmate behavior posits that pre-confinement characteristics and behaviors contribute to inmate misconduct; however most of this research has centered on criminal history and not psychosocial characteristics that might predict misconduct, namely anger. Controlling for 14 confounds, including psychiatric symptoms, age, race, gender, commitment offense type, and four measures of prior delinquency, anger significantly predicted sexual misconduct, staff assaults, and aggressive misconduct and approached significance in predicting ward assaults. ROC-AUC analyses indicated that the MASYI-2 angry-irritable scale had significant but modest classification power, with sensitivities ranging from .58 to .66. Suggestions for future research are provided.

Prior research on the monetary costs of criminal careers has neglected to focus on homicide offenders and tended to minimize the public costs associated with crime. Drawing on expanded monetization estimates produced by Cohen and Piquero, this study assessed the monetary costs for five crimes (murder, rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and burglary) imposed by a sample of (n = 654) convicted and incarcerated murderers. The average cost per murder exceeded $17.25 million and the average murderer in the current sample posed costs approaching $24 million. The most violent and prolific offenders singly produced costs greater than $150–160 million in terms of victim costs, criminal justice costs, lost offender productivity, and public willingness-to-pay costs.

The treatment and management of individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) in psychiatric and forensic settings can be exceptionally challenging because such individuals usually evidence serious emotional and behavioral difficulties, including self-harm, impulsivity, affect dysregulation, and aggression. Utilizing a sample of 221 psychiatric patients meeting criteria for BPD, the current study systematically examines the underlying heterogeneity in BPD vis-a-vis psychopathy in an attempt to identify meaningful subgroups. We used latent profile analysis, bootstrapping techniques and analysis of variance to items in a scale assessing psychopathy to identify four subtypes of BPD which differed significantly by gender, level of psychopathy, criminal history and other salient characteristics. Findings hold significant implications for treatment and for guiding the refinement of existing evidence-based interventions and community management strategies.

Prior research on law enforcement and court system actions suggests that offender demeanor influences practitioner decision making. However, few studies have examined a key implication of this body of work—namely, criminogenic factors associated not only with offending but also with demeanor may result in a greater likelihood of contact with and formal processing by law enforcement and the courts. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we test the hypothesis that low self‐control, which is associated with a range of characteristics that might influence practitioner perceptions of individual offenders’ demeanors, will predict greater contact and formal processing. Briefly, we found that low self‐control was consistently related to criminal justice system involvement as measured by police contacts, arrests, age at first police contact, and arrest onset. The implications of the findings for theory and research are discussed.

Emerging evidence suggests that variants of specific genes may influence some youths to seek out or associate with antisocial peers. Using genotypic data (N= 1,816) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (J. R. Udry, 1998, 2003), the authors tested this possibility. They found that the 10R allele of the dopamine transporter (DAT1) gene was associated with self-reported delinquent peer affiliation for male adolescents from high-risk environments (beta range = .13-.14) despite controlling for delinquent involvement, self-control, and drug and alcohol use. The authors discuss the importance of using a biosocial framework to examine issues related to adolescent development.

Behavioral genetic findings continue to call into question the dominant role of parental influence. Utilizing a sample of twins from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we assess the association between parenting behaviors and child self‐control, delinquent peer formation, and delinquency. Our results indicate that genetic influences and non‐shared environmental influences account for variation in these outcomes. We discuss these findings as they relate to theorizing about the role and function of parenting in the etiology of unique traits and behaviors.

Little is known about the criminal backgrounds of offenders who commit homicidal crime sprees. Based on data from a purposive sample of 654 convicted murderers selected from eight states, this study compared the offense and criminal history of offenders who committed homicides during crime sprees and those who did not. Offenders who murdered during a crime spree were significantly more violent and criminally versatile than other homicide offenders during their instant homicide event. Offenders with prior convictions for robbery, child molestation, and multiple probation sentences were significantly at risk for homicidal spree offending. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are offered.

Criminology is limited by a paucity of replication studies. As such, the measurement of key concepts and the empirical support for theory is open to skepticism. Drawing on the RAND Survey of Inmates and a replication of it, the current study developed an integrated model of offending frequency that contained measures from the rational choice, criminal identity, and criminal careers literatures. A confirmatory structural equation model revealed that criminal self‐concept partially mediated the effects of background risk factors. Perceived costs of crime had no significant effect. Perceived benefits of crime were directly and indirectly (through criminal identity) related to offending frequency. However, differences in measures and variance across data sets contributed to discrepant model fit. This attests to the importance and increasing need for precise replication in criminological research.

Death penalty opinion is multifaceted and controversial consequently students may feel social pressure when discussing their support or disapproval of capital punishment. Similarly, the research community has often used simplistic questions to measure death penalty opinion thus missing its complexity. In the current study, a survey that contained slightly different statements about the death penalty and vigilante forms of justice was administered to a convenience sample of 218 undergraduates at a large Midwestern university. Death penalty opinion varied according to the underlying justification used, and a substantial number of students indicated support for vigilantism as a partial basis for their opinion. Implications for research, teaching, and student understanding of the death penalty are discussed, namely, the need to explore substantive yet controversial issues in criminal justice education.

The importation model posits that inmate behavior is primarily an extension of the assorted antisocial behaviors that criminal offenders develop in the community. Persons involved in gangs are viewed as especially at‐risk for prison misconduct. Using the official infraction records of 831 male inmates sampled from the southwestern USA, this study explored the prison violence records of inmates involved in street gangs, prison gangs and both types of gangs vis‐a‐vis chronic offenders. Negative binomial regression models indicated that gang variables were significantly predictive of prison violence only in the full model when various types of gang membership (e.g. street, prison or both) were considered. Overall, the effects of gang membership were smaller than some of the risk factors related to chronic offending, such as history of violence and prior confinement, and other controls such as race. Although investigations of prison violence and misconduct are rightfully and importantly moving toward explanat...

Little research has investigated the victimization costs posed by habitual offenders. The current study seeks to fill this void using a cohort of 500 adult career criminals. The group amassed 29,882 arrests including 58 murders, 201 rapes, 55 kidnappings, 405 armed robberies, and 1101 aggravated assaults; 2801 felony convictions, and 1739 prison sentences. Their collective criminal behavior generated $415 804 000 in victim costs, $137 305 000 in criminal justice costs, and $14 736 500 in lost earnings. The average career criminal created $831 608 in victim costs, $274 610 in criminal justice system costs, and $29 473 in lost productivity, a total in excess of $1.14 million. Because a relatively small group of 500 offenders produced in excess of $570 million in human, victimization, and attendant costs, we conclude that, per capita, career criminals are among the most socially costly individuals in American society.

Much empirical support of self-control theory is based on the 24-item scale conceptualized by Grasmick and his colleagues. This study examined the dimensionality of the scale. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analyses, and a structural equation model (SEM) produced results that are discordant with much prior research. The Grasmick et al. scale was not unidimensional, more complex theoretical iterations failed to meet most goodness-of-fit statistics, and considerable refinement via modification indices was needed before a measurement model that fit the data could be found. Further refinement is required to justify it as the quintessential measure of self-control.

The extant literature suggests that habitual criminality among women is rare and that female career criminals are ostensibly nonexistent. Using the criminal records of 500 male and female adult recidivists, this study applies the concept of career criminality to women and describes how this application has specific gendered elements. Like their male peers, women are chronic, versatile offenders engaged in violent, property, and public-order offending. Women are disproportionately engaged in forgery, fraud, and prostitution whereas men are disproportionately engaged in rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. No gender differences existed for a variety of additional offenses and criminal justice system statuses. However, significant gender differences exist for social demographic characteristics, such as age and timing of onset, and criminal career parameter indicators, such as span of criminal career. These data and analyses indicate that the career criminal classification has important implication...

Framed in the situational criminological perspective, this case study examines the effect of the Columbine High School Massacre on a pretrial services unit. The massacre decreased intakes into the jail, increased the proportion of persons detained for violent crimes, and made bond commissioners less willing to facilitate the release of persons arrested for violent crimes. Pretrial release rates for domestic and other violence-related cases were not affected. Implications for situational criminological theory and criminal justice system policy are discussed.

Charles Tittle's control balance theory states that deviant acts are the outcome of both insufficient and excessive control. Unfortunately, control balance theory is largely untested. In this study, data from the National Youth Study ( n =1,384) were used to investigate the effects of control imbalances at work and in relationships on autonomous and repressive forms of deviance. Findings are consistent with previous research. While control imbalances are significant predictors of deviance, they do not always operate as the initial statement of control balance theory predicts. The implications of our findings for control balance theories and future research are discussed.