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Journal
of
ConsultingandClinicalPsychology
1988,
1.56,No.5,710714
Copyright 1988
by the
American
Psychological
Association,
Inc.
0022.006X/88/$00.75
Male PsychopathsandTheir Criminal Careers
Robert D. Hare, Leslie M. McPherson, and Adelle E. Forth
University
ofBritish Columbia
Vancouver,British Columbia, Canada
Crosssectional
and longitudinal analyses were used to examine the criminal histories of malepsy
chopaths and nonpsychopaths. Dependent variables included time spent in prison and conviction
rates during each 5year period between the ages of1645years. Both types of analysis indicated
that
the
criminal activities
of
nonpsychopaths were relatively constant over
theyears,
whereas those
of psychopaths remained high
until
around age 40,afterwhich they declined dramatically. Neverthe
less, more than half of the subjects in each group still received at least one conviction after age 40.
The results are consistent with clinical impressions that some psychopaths tend to
burn
out in
middleage.
Althougharrestsper capita in the general male population
(aggregate arrestrates)peak in the late teens or earlytwenties
(Federal Bureau of Investigation,1986;
McGarrell
& Flanagan,
1985),manyoffenders continue
to
commit serious crimeswell
into adulthood (Blumstein, Cohen, Roth, &Visher,1986;Con
rad, 1985). Even among these habitual or career criminals,
however, there comes a time when
offenses
decrease in
fre
quency and
severity,
a
phenomenonoftendescribed
in the crim
inological literature as
burnout
(e.g., Blumstein etal., 1986;
Conrad, 1985;Hoffman& Beck,1984;Petersilia, 1980).
Bothclinicalfolkloreand some empirical evidence (see Hare
& Jutai, 1983; Robins, 1966; Suedfeld &Landon, 1978)have
suggested that
the
concept
of
burnout, used
in a
purely descrip
tive sense, may also apply to psychopaths. Indeed, preliminary
crosssectionaland
longitudinal
datapresentedbyHareand Ju
tai
(1983)
raised the possibility that agerelated declines in
criminal behavior are morelikelyto occur in criminal psycho
pathsthanin other criminals. They reported that the illegal ac
tivities of psychopaths increaseduntilaround age 40 andthen
began to decline, whereas those of other criminals declined
slightly over the years. Theirresultswere based on relatively
small numbers of subjects, particularly in the age range beyond
35years.In thepresent analyses, additional subjects were added
and the study period was extended, thus providing uswithdata
on
a larger number of subjects
from
35 to 45 years old, a period
that may be
crucial
fordifferentiating
between psychopaths
and
other criminals.
The
research
reported
here
was
supportedinitially
by the
Depart
ment of Health andWelfareof Canada and has been supported since
1972 by GrantMT4511from the Medical Research Council of Can
ada. Wegratefully acknowledge the extensive contributions of Janice
Frazelle,
the
assistance
of
Steven Wong
in
obtaining Fingerprint Service
records, and the cooperation of thestaffand inmates of the Correctional
Service of Canada and the Lower Mainland Correctional Center.
Leslie M. McPhersonisnow at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada.
Correspondence concerning this article should
be
addressed
to
Robert D. Hare, Department of Psychology, University of British
Co
lumbia,Vancouver,Canada V6T IY7.
Method
Subjects
The subjects of this ongoing investigation were521men who were
inmates offederaland provincial institutionswhenthey volunteered to
participate in one of the senior author's psychophysiological studies of
psychopathy
sometime between 1964and1981.An analysis of the de
mographic and criminal characteristics of all inmates in the institution
from
which most of our subjects were obtained indicated that our sam
ple was representative of the inmate population. Moreover, the charac
teristics
ofour
sample were similar
to
those
of a
random sample
of 315
male inmates
selected from
several comparable Canadian
prisons
(Wong, 1984).
Although
our procedures for the assessment of psychopathy
have
changed over
the
years,
all are
based
on the
prototype
of the
psychopath
bestexemplified by the work of Cleckley(1976).In the1960s,we or
dered inmates along a 3point scale
according
to how
well
their person
alityand behavior fit the Cleckleycriteriafor psychopathy. Scores of 2,
1,and 0 corresponded to psychopaths, mixed inmates, and nonpsycho
paths, respectively. Weassessed225 inmates with this procedure. A 7
point scale was used for 262 inmates
assessed
during the 1970s, with
scores
of
67, 45,
and 13
definingpsychopaths, mixed inmates,
and
nonpsychopaths, respectively. Although the 7pointscaleallowed for
finer distinctions between inmates than did the 3point
scale,
group as
signments were virtually the samewithone system as they were with
the other.
More recently, these global rating systems have been replaced with the
22item Psychopathy Checklist (PCL; Hare, 1980).
Psychopaths,
mixed
inmates, and nonpsychopaths were defined by checklist
scores
falling,
respectively,
in the upper, middle, and lower third of thedistribution;
weassessed34 inmates with the PCL.
The three assessment procedures are reliable and valid, and they
bear
a
strong conceptual
and
empirical relation
to one
another(seeHare,
1980,1985,1986;Schroeder, Schroeder,
Hare,
1983).
Inmates identi
fied aspsychopathsareegocentric, impulsive, unreliable,irresponsible,
and deceptive. They lack empathy, guilt, andremorse;they callously
use and exploit others; and they show a persistent
disregard
for
societal
conventions. The PCL places more emphasis onspecificcriminal be
haviors than do the global rating systems.
The mixed inmates and nonpsychopaths werepooledinto a single
group (nonpsychopaths,n=317) for comparison with psychopaths n
204). There wouldhavebeen more subjects in the nonpsychopath group
had some of the earlier studies not excluded inmates in the mixedgroup.
There was nodifferencebetween groups in mean age at the end of the
7
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CRIMINAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOPATHS
711
study
period (psychopaths
=36.3
years,
nonpsychopaths
=
35.8
years)
or in
years
offormal
education, including upgradingwhile
in
prison
(psychopaths
=
11.0years,nonpsychopaths
=
10.7years).
The
mean
age at firstconvictioninadult courtwas18.6years(SD =2.0)forpsy-
chopaths
and
20.8years(SD =2.4)
for
nonpsychopaths,t(5
19)= 4.11,
p
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