[Quantitative detection of dyssocial and psychopathic personalities in criminal expert assessment. Retrospective study of the value of the German version of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist].
In 1980, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL), an operationalised rating scale for the quantitative assessment of "psychopathy" as seen in the Anglo-American literature, was developed by R.D. Hare in Canada. It proved to be the most valid prognostic instrument for assessing relapse of criminals in English-speaking countries. This study was aimed at verifying the applicability of a German version of the revised PCL (PCL-R) on carefully selected subjects from the Forensic Psychiatric Department of the Psychiatric University Hospital in Munich. Two groups with an equal number of different forensic-psychiatric reports were evaluated retrospectively using the PCL-R. The results confirm the applicability of the PCL-R for the assessment of psychopathy in our sample population. One can expect that the positive experiences with the PCL-R abroad can be transferred to German conditions. The results are encouraging as to the practicability of the PCL-R as a prognostic instrument in routine forensic assessment.
Hartmann
J
J
Abteilung für Forensische Psychiatrie, Psychiatrische Klinik der LMU München.
Hollweg
M
M
Nedopil
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005104:Expert Testimony / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results