The PCL-R Measure

There’s a new test, the psychology test revised or PCL-R, which can be used to determine how much of a psychopath someone truly is.

The PCL-R is a series of assessments that help evaluate personality traits and behaviors attributed to psychopaths. The tests “provide a clinical assessment” (Bonn, 2015) of the degree of psychopathy a person possess. The PCL-R is composed of “twenty separate items” which are scored on a “three-point scale” (Bonn, 2015). The assessments developed by Dr. Hare aims to measure personality traits as well as deviant behaviors that fall into four factors: ‘interpersonal, affective, lifestyle and antisocial” (Bonn, 2015). A person who possesses all the personality traits the PCL-R measures “is considered a psychopath”

(Bonn, 2015). The maximum score is 40 but only a minimum of 30 is required to designate someone as a psychopath. Non-criminal psychopaths generally score around thirty while criminal psychopaths score on the higher end. A non-psychopath will score around 5.
Because of psychopaths relevance to law enforcement it is imperative for them to be able to diagnosis and manage psychotic behavior.

It’s not a big surprise that knowing how to identify psychopaths and what they’re capable of can greatly benefit authoritative figures that deal with them on a daily basis. For example if authorities understand behavioral traits psychopaths generally possess it will be easier to design “interviewing and interrogation strategies” that have a better chance of success (Bonn, 2015). Without special training it would be highly difficult for law enforcement officers to obtain much needed information as a result of a psychopaths devious behaviors. Professionals belonging to the criminal justice system will undoubtedly encounter psychopathic individuals in their line of work which further demonstrates the necessity behind understanding and evaluating psychopathy. For the first time in the DSM-5, or diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, the APA recognized psychopathy as a “specifier of antisocial personality disorder” (Bonn, 2015). An incredible accomplishment due to the fact that psychopathy is not an “officially accepted clinical diagnosis”, and the DSM-5 is a universal authority for the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders (Bonn,

2015).
Unfortunately there is no known cure for psychopathy, however diagnosis is a necessity because the disorder may still be managed. Of course, psychopaths don’t respond in the same way or even to the same punishments a normal person would. According to Dr. Nigel Blackwood, a leading forensic psychiatrist at King’s college London, psychopaths don’t “fear the pain of punishment” (Bonn, 2015). They are indifferent to society’s expectations and take no stock in the population’s displeasure towards criminal behavior. Nor do they respond to punishment in the same way normal people would, which in turn makes rehabilitation difficult in respect to other normal criminals. “Reward based treatment”, which involves prisoners getting small privileges such as a candy for good behavior, has shown the most promise (Bonn, 2015). Through this psychopaths can be managed despite the fact that a cure doesn’t exist.