MEASUREMENT OF PSYCHOPATHY IN A UK PRISON POPULATION REFERRED FOR LONG-TERM PSYCHOTHERAPY

Abstract

The Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) is becoming increasingly recognized as a valid and reliable method for assessing psychopathy in male forensic populations. Previous research has supported the view that the scale has good psythomeiric properties, however, most work to date has been conducted with North American samples. In the present study the PCL-R was administered to 104 inmates admitted to Grendon thereapeulic prison for long-term psychotherapy. Measures of internal consistency and inter-item reliability were in the range of acceptable to good. Factor analysis using oblique rotation identified two main factors which were similar to the two-factor model proposed by Hare. Factor congruence coefficients indicated that the factors extracted were almost identical to those obtained in North American samples. Twenty six percent of the sample were classified as psychopaths, which is close to the LeveLs reported in North American prison settings, but considerably higher than previous research involving UK samples. This is consistent with the selection criteria for Grendon which emphasize the presence of ‘personality disorder’ or ‘psychopathy’ as a prerequisite. Overall, the results can be viewed as offering further support to the growing literature attesting to the reliability and factor stnwture of the PCL-R.

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