Search results

Cruelty has often been understood as the result of incurable bad character by those able to distinguish right from wrong. Recent research suggests a way of thinking about it as a form of disability in which people are unable to learn empathy, cognitive social skills and associated behaviour, which qualifies it as a form of learning disability. It is suggested that accepting this classification opens up the possibility that selected interventions might be successful in enabling people to understand, practise and appreciate affiliative behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to consider oxytocin as a treatment for children diagnosed with callous unemotional [CU] traits, emotion regulation and whether moral disability is a meaningful category.

The paper discusses the relationship between psychiatric diagnoses, moral opprobrium and disability in relation to emotion regulation and diagnoses of callous unemotional conduct disorder (CUCD) and psychopathy, together with current research on oxytocin in humans.

Diagnoses of callous unemotional traits and psychopathy are problematic as a result of inbuilt moral opprobrium, while treating CUCD with oxytocin to promote prosociality through mandating a moral feeling brain oversimplifies how this neuropeptide operates in humans.

Oxytocin is currently under trial as a treatment for behavioural variant fronto‐temporal dementia, where patients display symptoms similar to those diagnosed with CUCD. As genetic, environmental and ethnic factors affect oxytocin's effects in humans, caution is warranted before supporting its use to treat CUCD. Moreover, such use may represent a reductionist technofix compared with addressing socioeconomic factors promoting the manifestation of CU traits as an adaptation.

Should those of us who are neurologically atypical be diagnosed as ill, so in need of treatment or cure, or accepted as embodying a different way of being, as called for by the neurodiversity movement? We consider what legal structures and health and social care systems would be appropriate to promote neurodiversity, and how far this infrastructure in the United Kingdom today meets these criteria for those diagnosed with cognitive disability and learning disability.

The purpose of this paper is to apply critical legal analysis to laws, policies and reforms focused on special educational needs (SEN) and equality in England and to suggest a Neurodiversity spectrum statement.

The paper reviews current legal and policy initiatives in SEN, together with recent reforms in equality law.

While past and current policies may have laudable aims, tensions such as a lack of integration of education, health and social services have had prejudicial outcomes for children with SEN, their families/carers, and the professionals involved.

Legal reforms promise to remedy some problems, but must be underpinned by adequate resourcing, appeal procedures, and remedies which foster the enforcement of legal duties. Some resources for families with children with SEN are noted.

This study aims to builds upon the hypothesis that “gang” offenders have greater mental health vulnerabilities than both the offender and the general population. This study aims to determine whether there is a difference between the mental health difficulties experienced by young people who may be committing offenses or who may be non-offenders while exploring the interplay of conduct disorder (CD).

Secondary data analysis was conducted of a cross-sectional survey of 449 young people in two secondary schools and the data was compared to the scores on the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ). A diagnosis of CD was given to the respondents scoring “abnormal” for conduct on the SDQ and the findings were compared to the total difficulties score of those without a diagnosis of CD.

Those committing offenses both alone and within a group setting had significantly higher scores across all domains of the SDQ, indicating the prevalence of inattention and hyperactivity, emotional problems, lower prosocial behaviors and peer problems over other offending groups. The total difficulties scores on the SDQ were significantly higher for the offending groups that had a diagnosis of CD.

The results suggest that offending patterns are included within the screening for CD subtypes and support the need for further research into tailored interventions that involve multi-agency collaboration. This research offers a new approach to the identification of severe CD with callous and unemotional traits by examining offensive behavior.

That psychopathy imposes substantial societal costs and economic burden is axiomatic, but monetization studies have overlooked cost estimates of the disorder. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Drawing on a near census of institutionalized delinquents from Missouri, the current study devised new crime cost measures for self-reported offending.

Youth imposed $30 million in total costs annually in large part due to extensive involvement in robbery, theft, and assault. The most criminally active youth imposed costs in excess of $700 million. Psychopathy features were differentially correlated with crime costs. APSD-SR callous-unemotional traits, mPPI-SF Blame Externalization, mPPI-SF Machiavellian Egocentricity, and mPPI-SF Social Potency were significantly associated with between four and five crime costs. Psychopathic traits associated with ruthless self-interest, callousness, and expectations to control and dominate others manifest in diverse ways including serious violence and repeated property crime. Other features such as mPPI-SF Impulsive Nonconformity, mPPI-SF Stress Immunity, mPPI-SF Coldheartedness, mPPI-SF Carefree Nonplanfulness, mPPI-SF Fearlessness, APSD-SR Impulsivity, and APSD-SR Narcissism had limited associations with crime costs.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first monetization study to quantify the effects of assorted psychopathy features on crime costs.

Recent developments in the psychometric assessment of youth psychopathic traits suggest that the inclusion of a conduct disorder (CD) factor to the traditional three factors of the psychopathy construct may improve the incremental validity of these measures. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether the addition of a CD factor incrementally improves the ability of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory Short version (YPI-S) to predict criminal recidivism.

A longitudinal quantitative research design was used with a sample detained male youth (N = 214, M_age = 16.4 years, SD_age = 1.3 years).

Results using the area under the curve analysis suggest that the inclusion of a CD factor slightly improves the capacity of the YPI-S to predict one-year general criminal recidivism, but it does not significantly increase its capacity to predict violent criminal recidivism. Results also indicate that a CD scale outperforms the YPI-S, even with an additional CD factor included, in terms of predicting one-year general and violent recidivism.

Self-reported youth psychopathic trait measures, even those that include a CD factor as a fourth factor, should be used with caution when the aim is to predict youth criminal recidivism.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study using a self-reported youth psychopathic traits measure with a CD factor to examine youth criminal recidivism.

Individuals with diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within criminal justice settings are a highly heterogeneous group. Although studies have examined differences between those with and without ASD in such settings, there has been no examination of differences within the ASD group. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Drawing on the findings of a service evaluation project, this paper introduces a typology of ASD within forensic mental health and intellectual disability settings.

The eight subtypes that are described draw on clinical variables including psychopathy, psychosis and intensity/frequency of problem behaviours that co-occur with the ASD. The initial assessment of inter-rater reliability on the current version of the typology revealed excellent agreement, multirater Kfree =0.90.

The proposed typology could improve understanding of the relationship between ASD and forensic risk, identify the most appropriate interventions and provide prognostic information about length of stay. Further research to refine and validate the typology is ongoing.

This paper introduces a novel, typology-based approach which aims to better serve people with ASD within criminal justice settings.

This paper aims to evaluate trends in research and clinical practice that may contribute to the limited utility of assessment and treatment modalities designed to capture and address psychopathy. It identifies a lack of consistency between the academic understanding of psychopathy and how the construct is applied in clinical contexts. The authors provide clarity and direction for a more effective application of the psychopathy construct in practical contexts.

This review first examines the etiology of important limitations to psychopathy research and practical application, and proposes the adoption of the most recent empirical conceptualization of the construct into practical contexts. It then evaluates the current functionality of psychopathy in practical contexts. The review ultimately proposes a method for designing intervention practices based on the model used in the development of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for borderline personality disorder, which will improve the practical utility of the construct.

The present review provides evidence that a multifaceted and dimensional perspective of psychopathy will improve the practical utility of the construct and help move the field forward. It suggests that considering independent components of the psychopathy construct along a continuous scale, as with DBT, will contribute to improvements in assessments and treatments that target psychopathy.

The current review applies relevant research to a model for developing an intervention modality particularly in forensic or correctional settings where individuals high in psychopathy are often seen. The implications outlined provide a framework that could impact practice and assessment in forensic contexts moving forward.

Previous research has not concisely outlined problems concerning the link between psychopathy research and how the construct is applied in practical settings. Few researchers have proposed plausible solutions that could improve the utility of the construct in such settings.