Psychopathy among inmate population in argentina and chile: characterization and transnational norms

Abstract

Introduction: In Latin America, there is evidence on the prevalence of psychopathy in prison population and on the validity and reliability of the specific assessment instrument; but there has been no exploration on whether psychopaths have different characteristics in different countries nor has there been an integration of a transnational normative sample. Objective: To test the universality of the construct comparing psychopaths of the Chilean and Argentinian sample and to formulate norms for the prison population with both samples pooled. Method: Samples of Argentinian prison inmate population (n = 153) and Chilean (n = 209) assessed with the PCL-R and HCR-20 were compared. An aggregated sample was made for descriptive purposes and in order to formulate the norms. Results: Findings supported the non-differentiation hypothesis between Chilean and Argentinian psychopaths. Differences were found in the dynamic risk factors for violent recidivism that were attributed to the time spent in prison of the inmates. The percentiles for the PCL-R total and factors values in the aggregated sample was similar to the individual Chilean and Argentinian samples.