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Causes and consequences of juvenile crime
Causes and consequences of juvenile crime
Causes and consequences of juvenile crime
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Dr. Robert D. Hare’s Without a Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us (1993), was intriguing yet frightening to read from the beginning. The purpose of the book was evident by the title; it conveyed insightful information to the reader about the characteristics of psychopathic individuals who walk among us. Hare (1993) also provided the reader with insight on how to detect individuals whom may have malicious intent with prospective individuals, what type of individuals are more than likely to be victimized, and brought forth interesting theories that support the notion that psychopathic individuals are mentally disturbed. Throughout the forthcoming paragraphs, an aim to describe in greater detail the ideas brought forth by the author will be discussed.
While progressing through the book, Hare deliberated key questions such as: what are the characteristics and traits to look for in individuals whom are being diagnosed as psychopathic? Is there a clear distinction between psychopathy and the mentally ill? If so, how does one determine when an individual should be sent to jail or be committed to a hospital for the mentally ill? Are psychopaths and sociopaths the same? Is psychopathy a biological predisposition, or is it acquired? As the author attempts to answer the latter questions; the most important information delivered to the reader, in my opinion consisted of the psychopathic traits and symptoms.
The main characteristics of psychopathic individual are divided between emotional and behavioral qualities. According to Hare, emotional traits include portraying oneself in a charming and likable manner. In congruence, other emotional traits to look for include egocentricity, lack of guilt and empathy, dece...
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...als are aware of their actions however they chose to break societal rules.
There are many psychological factors that can contribute to the development of psychopathy. When looking at psychological factors, multiple research studies have looked at the relationship between criminal offenses in families and the development of criminal behavior in children as they grow older. It is easy to conclude that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Many psychological factors that contribute to the development of psychopathic tendencies is the criminal behavior depicted in families.
Works Cited
Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2012). Introduction to forensic psychology: Research and application (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Hare, R. D. (1993). Without a conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us. New York, NY: Guildford.
Hare used these core factors to develop the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised assessment tool that helps detect psychopathy in people. They developed this theory because psychopathic behavior was thought of as miscellaneous of a topic to be categorized in one or two factors. The four recommended factors proposed by Hare and Neumann are: Interpersonal, Affective, Lifestyle and Antisocial. The first factor, interpersonal consists of superficial charm, manipulation, pathological lying, and a grandiose sense of self-worth. Secondly, the affective factor involves the lack of remorse or guilt, shallow affect, callous and/or lack of empathy, and failure to accept responsibility for own actions. The third factor is lifestyle, which comprises of need for stimulation and/or proneness to boredom, parasitic lifestyle, impulsivity, irresponsibility, unsatisfactory work habits, and lack of realistic long-term goals. Finally the fourth factor is antisocial and contains poor behavioral controls, early behavior problems, juvenile delinquency, criminal versatility, and revocation of conditional release (Hare & Neumann, 2005, p.58-59). According to Hare and Neumann “The 4 psychopathy factors are significantly interrelated, and thus can be comprehensively explained by a single superordinate (that is, psychopathy) factor.” (Hare, R. D., & Neumann, C. S.
The nurturing of individuals plays a role in the making of killers, as 94% of serial killers had experienced some form of abuse as children and 42% have suffered severe physical abuse (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2010). A child abuse is a determining factor, in which supports the idea that serial killers and psychopath, are influenced significantly by nurture (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011). In most cases social, cultural and physiological determinants all play a role in influencing serial killers to grow into a mass murderer. It is important that physiological and social determinants can be identified, so they could be altered for the purpose of preventing the number of crime.
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry is a book by Jon Ronson, where he investigates the idea of psychopathy and the many individuals involved. Psychopathy is defined as “a person who is mentally ill, who does not care about other people, and who is usually dangerous or violent.” Ronson visited mental health professionals and psychopaths in order to determine the right way to control the diagnosis of mental health disorders. Throughout the novel, Ronson focuses on three main themes, which are the definition of madness, unnecessary mental diagnoses and the problem with confirmation bias.
For my book report, I have read and evaluated Dr. Hales book titled Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us, published by The Guilford Press. The purpose of the book was to bring awareness to psychopaths that live among us and will be describe in farther details in the paper. I will evaluated the purpose, strengths, weakness of the book and include a summarized portion for others to understand.
Psychopath and Sociopath are so closely related that many don’t know they are different illness. Both psychopath and sociopath have similar illness but their factors are completely different. Study’s shows this may be a product of nature vs nurture. Secondly, Psychopath behavior is shown to be controlled while sociopath is shown to have uncontrollable behavior. Thirdly, there violence outburst is different, psychopath usually plan out their crimes while sociopaths are erratic and careless with their crimes. Fourthly, Psychopaths don’t feel any type emotion towards others but they can be in relationships when it comes beneficial to them. Sociopaths often don’t have relationships, they don’t become attached to others. Lastly, Psychopath are actually
The responsibility of psychopaths is a highly debated topic in the legal, philosophical, and neuroscientific fields. In the US, a person is responsible if they “have sufficient rational capacity” and “they are not acting under coercion” (Glenn & Raine 2014). The majority of the academic community believes that psychopaths’ responsibility is mitigated because of the profound cognitive and emotional deficits that lead to a reduced rational capacity. However, the public’s instinct is to hold psychopaths responsible for their crimes. What is it that gives us this instinctive reaction?
Psychopathy has fascinated the public for years due to the gruesome and evil portrayal it has received in the media. Psychopathy is defined in the DSM-III as a personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, diminished empathy and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavior (Patrick, Christopher, Fowles, Krueger, Rober, 2009). Psychopathy represents a cluster of different dimensions of personality found amongst the general population to varying degrees (Patrick et al, 2009). The diagnostic definition is meant to be applied to adults, however psychopathology can occur in children. Controversy surrounds the topic of childhood mental illness because the brain is not fully developed until the age of 18; thus allowing the possibility that symptoms are the result of growing up and will change. The triarchic model, formulated by Christopher J. Patrick, is the most commonly used model in diagnosing adult and childhood psychopathy. This model suggests that different conceptions of psychopathy emphasize three observable characteristics to varying degrees; boldness, disinhibition and meanness (Patrick, et al, 2009). Boldness is the first observable characteristic and is comprised of low fear including stress-tolerance, toleration of unfamiliarity and danger, and high self-confidence and social assertiveness. Disinhibition; characterized by poor impulse control including problems with planning and foresight, lacking affect and urge control, demand for immediate gratification, and poor behavioral restraints. Meanness is defined as lacking empathy and close attachments with others, disdain of close attachments, use of cruelty to gain empowerment, exploitative tendencies, defiance of authority, and destructive excitement seek...
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations website, psychopathy has been described as the single most important clinical construct in the criminal justice system. It goes on to say that the need to understand psychopathy cannot be overstated (FBI, 2013.) From environmental influence to biology, psychopathy can be looked at from several different angles. This paper examines current thinking about how the brain and its structures contribute to psychopathy.
“Without Conscience" by Robert D. Hare is one aimed towards making the general public aware of the many psychopaths that inhabit the world we live in. Throughout the book Hare exposes the reader to a number of short stories; all with an emphasis on a characteristic of psychopaths. Hare makes the claim that close monitoring of psychopathy are vital if we ever hope to gain a hold over Psychopathy- A disorder that affects not only the individual but also society itself. He also indicates one of the reasons for this book is order to correctly treat these individuals we have to be able to correctly identify who meets the criteria. His ultimate goal with the text is to alleviate some of the confusion in the increase in criminal activity by determining how my of this is a result of Psychopathy.
Megan, K., & Courant, S. W. (2005, Mar 10). THE KILLERS (AND LIARS) IN OUR MIDST ; HOW DOES A SERIAL MURDERER LIVE UNDETECTED AMONG `NORMAL PEOPLE'? BY BEING A SOCIOPATH -- A PERSON WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE, WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO LOVE. Hartford Courant. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/256830354?accountid=10244
For this paper I plan to first define and outline the features of psychopathy. Then I will explore how traits of psychopathy are measured and present in children and adolescents and subsequently what relation there is between the expression of these traits in both 9childhood and adolescence and later criminality. Finally I plan to conclude my paper with possible interventions to help prevent persistent delinquent and criminal behavior as well as exploring any criticisms of measuring psychopathy and interventions in both adults and children.
Scientists have many theories concerning psychopaths. Scientists do not have a definite clear cut answer on what is the cause of psychopathy but they have many ideas: nature and the nurture of the person. Nature is the gene that the person carries. The nurture of the person when they were a child simply means how they were treated when they were growing up and/or how they were raised. Some scientists even consider it a possibility that it could be a mixture of the two.
The media most often showcases psychopaths as individuals who are inherently evil and dangerous towards themselves and others. Yet, this concept of psychopathy goes far beyond this idea of pure evil and instead necessitates a needed psychological understanding. These individuals, psychopaths, are generally characterized by a lack of empathy and conscience. Indeed, psychopath’s indifference to the repercussions of their actions combined with other characteristics such as hostility and aggression make for a potentially dangerous personality (Lyken, 1996, p.30). In order to identify a psychopath’s recidivism, it is important to differentiate them from sociopaths who, instead of having a psychological impairment that makes it difficult for them to socialize, have been systematically under socialized (Lyken, 1996, p.30). In accordance. psychologists have developed the methods such as the Psychopathy Checklist- Revised (PCL-R) to help identify those with psychopathic tendencies (Walters, 2012, p.409). That is why predictions of recidivism among psychopaths is most efficient when done
Depictions of psychopaths today have become exaggerated based off of what you see in movies and films. The psychopaths in movies are believed to be dangerous or have an anti-social personality disorder. Not all psychopaths can be defined in that manner. Psychopaths are identified as people who are emotionally unstable. They are ultimately suffering from a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. There have been studies ultimately wondering if a psychopath is born, or is it raised? Genetics and environment combine to produce conditions that create psychopathology. By paying attention to environmental variables we can potentially reduce the amount of people who become dangerous psychopaths.
There are various theories within the biological explanation as to why individuals commit criminal behaviour, these include: genetic theory, hereditary theory, psychosis and brain injury theory. In the next few paragraphs examples of each will be shown.