The personality assessment inventory (Pai): A systematic review of its use in the legal field

Abstract

This systematic review study summarizes the available evidence on the use of the Personality Assessment Inventory in legal contexts, both with samples composed of accused and convicted persons, as well as with victims and plaintiffs. Following the PRISMA-P protocol, 131 articles that met the eligibility criteria were analyzed according to the subjects and psychometric properties investigated. Productivity was concentrated in a limited number of authors, institutions, countries, and journals. Most of the articles refer to the use of the PAI to analyze general personality and psychopathological characteristics, or psychometric properties of the instrument, in samples of middle-aged men in prisons in the United States and Canada. Research studies that use the PAI in samples of victims and women, and in Spanish-speaking legal contexts, emerge from this review as promising areas for future investigation. The development of these areas depends to a large extent on the cooperative capacity that legal, correctional, and security services achieve with academic research groups.