Introduction
Psychopathy is typically characterized as a constellation of deviant personality traits and behavioral tendencies (De Brito et al. 2021). Personality traits associated with psychopathy include self-centeredness, callousness, deceitfulness, and the limited ability to feel empathy and remorse. Behavioral tendencies include antisocial behaviors and criminal versatility. Most of the discussions about psychopathy and its implications for legal studies tend to rely on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, a diagnostic measure that was developed by Robert Hare for detecting psychopathy in forensic and clinical contexts (Hare 2003). Importantly, the PCL-R conceptualizes psychopathy as involving two broad factors pertaining to affective and interpersonal deficits that are coupled with impulsive behavior and antisocial lifestyle.
The fact that psychopathic personality traits significantly correlate with pervasive and extreme forms of antisocial behavior invites the question of whether...
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Notes
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Special thanks to Katrina Sifferd and Anneli Jefferson for giving constructive comments on a previous version of this entry.
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Jurjako, M., Malatesti, L. (2023). Psychopathy and Criminal Responsibility. In: Sellers, M., Kirste, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_1083-1
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