The Assessment and Diagnosis of “Mental Abnormalities,” Personality Disorders, and Psychopathy in Sexually Violent Predator Evaluations

Abstract

The most significant constraint in conducting risk assessments of sex offenders is the absence of a sound, generally accepted theory regarding developmental pathways to sexual offending and, thus, re-offending. The assessment and diagnosis of 'mental abnormalities', personality disorders, and psychopathy are fraught with pitfalls. These pitfalls are both theoretical and pragmatic in nature. Problems include reliability in the measurement of psychological constructs, mismatches between psychological constructs and psycholegal definitions, poorly defined psycholegal terms, differing definitions and applications of psycholegal terms across jurisdictions, and malleability of personality traits across the lifespan. Inherent in the notion of personality is the assumption that individuals have relatively stable characteristics that are evident over time and across diverse settings. This chapter discusses this assortment of problems. It reviews the body of research regarding the nature and assessment of these constructs in an effort to inform best practices regarding sexually violent predator evaluations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)