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What becomes of young people who display strong psychopathy traits? By combining cutting-edge research with interviews from over 500 incarcerated youth assessed for psychopathy and involved in serious, violent offenses, this book investigates whether they are destined to persist in crime throughout their lives. Evan McCuish explores not only long-term offending patterns but also psychopathy's influence on relationships, employment, substance use, and mortality. Through this, the text clarifies the meaning of the clinical construct of psychopathy and debunks myths and misconceptions popularised by the true crime genre. This allows readers to more reliably interpret the accuracy of popular culture descriptions of psychopathy. Synthesising over 100 years of research, this book defines psychopathy and contributes new knowledge to the field. It is ideal for students, scholars, and practitioners in psychology, criminology, social work, and law seeking further insight into this intriguing disorder.
List of contents
Table of contents; Contents; List of tables; List of figures; Acknowledgements; Author biography; List of abbreviations; Preface; Structure of the book; 1. The elusive definition of psychopathy; 2. Psychopathy debates, myths, and misconceptions; 3. The incarcerated serious and violent young offender study; 4. The reliability and validity of psychopathy measures; 5. Psychopathy traits in adolescence and persistent offending through adulthood; 6. The underexplored costs of youth psychopathy traits; 7. Understanding the relationship between psychopathy and offending; 8. Psychopathy and treatment effect heterogeneity; 9. Birth cohort and period effects: Implications for the relationship between psychopathy and offending; 10. Psychopathy traits and responses to incarceration; 11. Concluding thoughts; References.
About the author
Evan McCuish is an associate professor at Simon Fraser University, Canada and the Principal Investigator for the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study. He is the recipient of the American Psychology-Law Society Outstanding Dissertation Award and the American Society of Criminology Division of Developmental and Life Course Criminology Early Career Researcher Award.
