| dc.description | Psychopathic traits have been identified in children and adolescents (e.g., Forth, Hart & Hare, 1990; Frick, O'Brien, Wooton, & McBurnett, 1994), but their relevance to adolescent offenders and their risk of recidivism is less clear. In this investigation, the self-report data and correctional files of 226 male and female adolescent offenders were reviewed to evaluate the construct and predictive validity of psychopathy in adolescents and to develop a comprehensive risk-need scale for adolescent offenders. In this sample, only 9.4% were identified as having a high level of psychopathic traits (≥25 on an 18-item version of the Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version, PCL-YV; Forth, Kosson & Hare, 2003). A unidimensional model best accounted for the variance in PCL-YV scores. Consistent with past research, higher PCL-YV scores were positively associated with most self-report measures of behaviour problems (attention difficulties, delinquency, aggression) and not with measures of anxiety or depression. PCL-YV scores were positively associated with a higher number of past technical violations of community releases, but not with the number of past non-violent offences. PCL-YV scores also were moderately predictive of future technical violations of community releases during a 4-year post-release follow-up period, but were not predictive of violent or non-violent recidivism. Based on the risk-need scale developed with the current sample, factors representing family dynamics, negative treatment indictors, and antisocial behavior were relevant to the prediction of re-offending during the follow-up period. Collectively, these results contribute to the understanding and measurement of psychopathy in its earlier stages and provide meaningful information about the assessment of risk and criminogenic needs in adolescent offenders. | en_US |
