Fledgling psychopaths at midlife: Forensic features, criminal careers, and coextensive psychopathology

Forensic Science International: Mind and Law 1 (2020) 100006

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Fledgling psychopaths at midlife: Forensic features, criminal careers, and coextensive psychopathology Matt DeLisi a, *, Alan J. Drury b, Michael J. Elbert b a b

Iowa State University, USA U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services, Southern District of Iowa, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Fledgling psychopathy Offenders Forensic Criminal careers Psychopathology

Lynam's fledgling psychopathy hypothesis advanced that youth who manifest Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Conduct Disorder (CD), and ADHD display many behaviors that are consistent with psychopathy seen among adults, but research support for it is equivocal. We know littleabout the developmental course of fledgling psychopathy into adulthood and even less is known about its comorbidity at midlife. Drawing on data from a near population of federal correctional clients in the Midwestern United States, the current study employed a retrospective design to compare those who had lifetime diagnoses for ODD, CD, and ADHD to other correctional clients. Fledgling psychopathy was significantly correlated with multiple substance use disorders, forensic features indicative of a criminal lifestyle (e.g., gang activity, gunshot and stab wounds), and diverse forms of mental illness and personality disorders. Fledgling psychopaths had significantly earlier starting, extensive, and more violent criminal careers than other clients, and fledgling psychopathy was associated more career arrest charges and with 544% increased odds of being in the 90th percentile for career arrest charges. These findings are consistent with fledgling psychopathy and its traversing association with coextensive psychopathology and behavioral impairment at midlife.

1. Introduction In psychiatric nosology, the fledgling psychopathy hypothesis is an insightful way to organize the cognitive, affective, and behavioral problems of seriously antisocial youth. In a series of papers (Lynam, 1996, 1997, 1998), Lynam suggested that fledgling psychopaths were those with clinical impairments in attention, hyperactivity, and self-regulation and these deficits contributed to severe, chronic, and frequent conduct problems and a melange of affective deficits that were consistent with the callousness, empathic deficits, and coldness seen in psychopathy. In psychiatric parlance, children and adolescents who jointly exhibited Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Conduct Disorder (CD) were theorized to be most at risk for fledgling psychopathy due to the broadband behavioral impairments these disorders can confer. Fledgling psychopathy is thus instructive for understanding the nomological network of self-regulation deficits, interpersonal problems, and their cognate conduct problems among juveniles. Although the fledgling psychopathy concept is a potentially useful heuristic to identify youth with the most severe conduct problems,

empirical support for it is equivocal. Discordant research (Cauffman, Skeem, Dmitrieva, & Cavanagh, 2016; Michonski & Sharp, 2010), for instance, revealed that children with hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity and conduct problems were not the most psychopathic relative to other children on dimensions of narcissism and callous-unemotional traits. Moreover, due to remission in the underlying disorders, there are also problems with instability of the fledgling psychopath label across developmental periods. Other studies; however, show empirical linkages between various specifications of fledgling psychopathy and diverse forms of aggression, delinquency, violence, and other externalizing features (DeLisi et al., 2011, 2014; Frogner et al., 2018a, 2018b; Lynam, Derefinko, Caspi, Loeber, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 2007; Pechorro, Gonçalves, Andershed, & DeLisi, 2017). Overall, research indicates a synergistic effect whereby youth with these overlapping disorders are likely to have worse behavioral outcomes than unaffected youth or those who present with just one of the disorders (e.g., ODD, CD, or ADHD). Consistent with criminological research on psychopathy and offending specifications among adults (Muris, Merckelbach, Otgaar, & Meijer, 2017; Beaver, Boutwell, Barnes, Vaughn, & DeLisi, 2017; Hare, 2016; Driessen et al., 2018; Spaans, Molendijk, de

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. DeLisi). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsiml.2019.100006 Received 18 September 2019; Received in revised form 9 December 2019; Accepted 13 December 2019 2666-3538/© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/).

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Beurs, Rinne, & Spinhoven, 2017; Vize, Miller, & Lynam, 2018; Fox & DeLisi, 2019; Ray, 2018; O'Connell & Marcus, 2019; Garofalo, Bogaerts, & Denissen, 2018), the general finding is that fledgling psychopathy is associated with more severe externalizing symptoms and behaviors (Gresham, Lane, & Lambros, 2000). Although developed to conceptualize interrelated psychiatric and behavioral features among children and adolescents, it is likely and indeed probable that fledgling psychopathy continues to impair behavioral functioning well into adulthood. Unfortunately, most studies of the developmental course of ODD, CD, or ADHD on adult outcomes focus on these conditions individually and not collectively within the fledgling psychopathy framework. For instance, a follow-up of 541 Norwegian former child psychiatric inpatients found that childhood CD was predictive of adult criminality between 20 to 40 years later, but childhood ADHD did not predict criminal careers in adulthood (Mordre, Groholt, Kjelsberg, Sandstad, & Myhre, 2011). We are aware of just one study that included the features of fledgling psychopathy and examined its association with offending into adulthood. Specifically (Young, Taylor, & Gudjonsson, 2016), followed 173 boys ages 6 to 8 years who presented with hyperactivity, conduct problems, and emotional problems and found that conduct problems were related to general criminal offending two decades later and emotional problems predicted violent offending two decades later. Hyperactivity had no association with either general or violent offending. Thus, criminological and forensic understanding of the developmental course of fledgling psychopathy across adulthood is limited.

Rank V, and 13.2% were Criminal History Rank VI. The current data are consistent with prior research utilizing federal data in terms of conviction offenses and criminal history (Cohen, 2014; Cohen & Spidell, 2016; Drury et al., 2017). 3.2. Procedures Data collection occurred in two stages. First, we electronically extracted all data in the client's Probation/Pretrial Services Automated Case Tracking System (PACTS) file and converted the data to an Excel spreadsheet. PACTS is the case management platform used in all 94 federal districts to track federal defendants. This electronic extraction contained information on numerous variables including demographics, case information, conditions, criminal history indices, and other documents relevant to the client's social and criminal history. Second, we manually collected additional data from presentence reports (PSR), offender documents from the Bureau of Prisons, local, state, and national criminal histories, psychological and psychiatric reports, treatment reports, and other relevant documents located in PACTS. During the PSR interview process, defendants self-reported their address and residency history and United States Probation sent official requests for criminal history to all of those areas. In addition, defendants were questioned about juvenile placements and if the defendant lived in any other location than with their parents, such as foster care, group homes, juvenile homes, state facilities, and others. Based on this information, United States Probation staff sent verification to those facilities. Additional self-reported information on antisocial behavior was gleaned from official mental health and educational records. All variables were coded and entered into the Excel spreadsheet and upon completion the data were transferred into Stata 12.1 for data analyses. The Chief District Judge in this federal jurisdiction provided institutional/IRB research approval for the study in addition to governmental approval for the research by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. All psychological, psychiatric, and substance use disorders are based on DSM-IV-TR criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).

2. Current focus Articulating the ultimate developmental course of fledgling psychopathy is important for several reasons. First, those with overlapping ODD, CD, and ADHD and psychopathic features should theoretically evince conduct problems across life. Thus, a retrospective look at the adult outcomes of offenders that were fledgling psychopaths provides a check on the criterion-validity of the construct. Second, if fledgling psychopathy has predictive validity of crime outcomes occurring decades later, it reinforces the construct as a target for behavioral interventions for youth and potentially as a correctional need among adult offenders. Third, it is important to understand whether fledgling psychopathy is associated with other forms of psychopathology occurring in adulthood. The current study seeks to provide empirical insights to these issues.

3.3. Measures Fledgling psychopathy. We utilized official psychological and psychiatric reports in the client's PACTS to construct the fledgling psychopathy measure (none of the current authors rendered any psychological, psychiatric, or substance use diagnoses). Clients that had lifetime DSM-IVTR diagnoses for Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and ADHD were scored as fledgling psychopaths (yes ¼ 1, n ¼ 74, 8.55%) and clients that did not have lifetime diagnoses for all three disorders were not (no ¼ 0, n ¼ 791, 91.45%). Among clients that had all three disorders, the mean age was 38.97 years (SD ¼ 9.74) and the age range was 21 to 71 years. This means that the follow-up period since the client was age 17 years ranged from 4 to 54 years. Substance use disorders. We employed secondary data for lifetime diagnoses for substance use disorders. Clients with a documented lifetime diagnosis in their file were rated as definite evidence (¼ 2). Clients that had documented symptoms of a condition but not enough to warrant a full diagnosis were rated as some evidence (¼ 1). Clients that had no evidence of a condition in their file were rated as no evidence (¼ 0). Again, the current authors did not render diagnoses for any substance use disorder. The prevalence/endorsement for substance use disorders included Cannabis Dependence, Cocaine Dependence, Methamphetamine Dependence, Opiate Dependence, and Alcohol Dependence. Forensic features. Several lifetime forensic features are associated with more severe offending and psychopathology (Holzer, Carbone, DeLisi, & Vaughn, 2019; Schwartz, Connolly, & Valgardson, 2018; Ray & Richardson, 2017; DeLisi et al., 2017; Coccaro, Lee, & McCloskey, 2014; Pyrooz, Turanovic, Decker, & Wu, 2016; Vitacco, Caldwell, Van Rybroek, & Gabel, 2007; Hare, 1999; Farrington et al., Conis). These include gunshot wounds (), stab wounds, gang activity, traumatic brain injury,

3. Method 3.1. Participants Retrospective, archival data from the total population of 865 active correctional clients in a federal jurisdiction in the Midwestern United States were used for the present study. All clients were on supervised release (federal parole was abolished in 1987) after serving a confinement sentence under the supervision of the Bureau of Prisons. In terms of demographic features, the sample was 84% male, 16% female, 79.4% white, 20.6% African American, 92% non-Hispanic, 8% Hispanic, and the mean age was 43.71 years. Clients perpetrated a range of offenses. In order of prevalence for instant (most recent) conviction, these included distribution of methamphetamine, felon in possession of firearm, financial/regulatory offenses, such as bank fraud, money laundering, or identity theft, distribution of cocaine base, possession or manufacturing of child pornography, distribution of marijuana, use of firearm during a drug trafficking offense, and distribution of cocaine. Clients were diverse in terms of their criminal history, offending background, and criminal justice system involvement. The federal criminal history rank employs a 6-point system where I ¼ lowest risk and VI ¼ highest risk in terms of criminal history. In these data, 35.4% were Criminal History Rank I, 13.5% were Criminal History Rank II, 18.7% were Criminal History Rank III, 12.5% were Criminal History Rank IV, 6.7% were Criminal History 2

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and Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Personality disorders. Personality disorders were scored on a 3-point ordinal scale (0 ¼ no evidence, 1 ¼ some evidence/symptoms of disorder, 2 ¼ definite evidence/DSM-IV formal diagnosis of disorder). These included Antisocial Personality Disorder, Paranoid Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder, Schizoid Personality Disorder, Schizotypal Personality Disorder, Histrionic Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Dependent Personality Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. Mental illness. Eight forms of mental illness were included. All were scored on a 3-point ordinal scale (0 ¼ no evidence, 1 ¼ some evidence/ symptoms of disorder, 2 ¼ definite evidence/DSM-IV formal diagnosis of disorder). These include Adjustment Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia, Bipolar I Disorder, Bipolar II Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Schizophrenia. Criminal career parameters. Twelve criminal career parameters were included to quantify the emergence, chronicity, and seriousness of the client's juvenile and adult criminal history. These parameters include age of arrest onset, juvenile police contacts (, juvenile confinements, total career arrest charges, total career convictions, total prison terms, total probation revocations, total parole revocations, total murder charges, total attempted murder charges, total armed robbery charges, and total rape/sexual abuse charges. Dependent variables. The dependent variables are career arrest charges measured as counts and at or above the 90th percentile for career arrest charges (0 ¼ no, 1 ¼ yes) to operationalize the most severe/habitual forms of offending (DeLisi, 2016; Moffitt, 1993; Vaughn et al., 2011, 2014). Covariates. Controls for sex (0 ¼ female, 1 ¼ male), race (0 ¼ white, 1 ¼ black), current age (M ¼ 43.71, SD ¼ 11.45, range ¼ 21–81), and PCRA Risk (M ¼ 0.93, SD ¼ 0.83, range ¼ 0–3) were included as controls in the multivariate model. PCRA Risk is the federal Post-Conviction Risk Assessment that is a scientifically based instrument developed by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of post-conviction supervision of federal offenders (Cohen, 2014; Cohen & Spidell, 2016). It spans low risk, low/moderate risk, moderate risk, and high risk. See Table 1 for descriptive statistics for study variables.

Table 1 Descriptive statistics. Variable Substance Use Disorders Cannabis Dependence Cocaine Dependence Meth. Dependence Opiate Dependence Alcohol Dependence Forensic Features Gunshot Wounds Stab Wounds Gang Activity Traumatic Brain Injury Intermittent Explosive Disorder Personality Disorders Antisocial Personality Disorder Paranoid Personality Disorder Narcissistic Personality Disorder Schizoid Personality Disorder Schizotypal Personality Disorder Borderline Personality Disorder Histrionic Personality Disorder Avoidant Personality Disorder Dependent Personality Disorder OC Personality Disorder Mental Illness Major Depressive Disorder Dysthymia Bipolar I Disorder Bipolar II Disorder Generalized Anxiety Disorder Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Schizophrenia Adjustment Disorder Criminal Career Parameters Arrest onset Juvenile police contacts Juvenile confinements Career arrest charges Career convictions Career prison terms Probation revocations Parole revocations Murder charges Attempted murder charges Armed robbery charges Rape/sexual abuse charges

3.4. Analytical approach We utilized four forms of data analysis. First, zero-order correlations examined the association between fledgling psychopathy and five substance use disorders, five forensic features, nine DSM-IV-TR personality disorders, and eight forms of mental illness encompassing mood, psychotic, and adjustment disorders. Second, difference of means t-tests compared fledgling psychopaths to offenders that were not fledgling psychopaths on 12 dimensions of the criminal career. Third, a negative binomial regression model regressed career arrest charges on fledgling psychopathy, sex, race, current age, and PCRA Risk. Fourth, a binary logistic regression model examined the associations between fledgling psychopathy, sex, race, current age, and PRCA Risk on being at or above the 90th percentile in career arrest charges. In addition, we specified the estat classification and lroc post estimation commands in Stata 12.1 to evaluate the overall model strength and classification accuracy of the logistic regression model.

No Evidence

Some Evidence

Definite Evidence

62% 76.1% 56.9% 92.4% 67.1%

7.8% 6.6% 4.6% 1.5% 7.1%

30.2% 17.3% 38.5% 6.1% 25.8%

M ¼ .10 M ¼ .08 91.9% 96.3% 96.4%

SD ¼ .49 SD ¼ .37 1.4% 0.6% 1%

range ¼ 0-6 range ¼ 0-5 6.7% 3.1% 2.6%

70%

5.6%

24.4%

98.8% 97.9%

0.2% 1.6%

1% 0.5%

98.5% 98.8%

0.5% 0.5%

1% 0.7%

97.3%

0.7%

2%

98.8%

0.7%

0.5%

98.6%

0.4%

1%

99.4%

0.2%

0.4%

98.4%

0.1%

1.5%

87.6% 92.4% 97.8% 97.6 92.2% 94.7%

1.4% 0.6% 0% 0.2% 0.7% 1%

11% 7% 2.2% 2.2% 7.1% 4.3%

98.5% 91.9%

0.5% 0.3%

1% 78%

M ¼ 23.57 M ¼ 2.09 M ¼ .26 M ¼ 14.31 M ¼ 8.51 M ¼ 2.33 M ¼ .69 M ¼ .13 M ¼ .02 M ¼ .19 M ¼ .21 M ¼ .14

SD ¼ 12.46 SD ¼ 4.93 SD ¼ .75 SD ¼ 14.75 SD ¼ 8.26 SD ¼ 2.06 SD ¼ 1.20 SD ¼ .64 SD ¼ .15 SD ¼ .69 SD ¼ .99 SD ¼ .63

range ¼ 6-78 range ¼ 0-59 range ¼ 0-7 range ¼ 1-97 range ¼ 1.67 range ¼ 1-16 range ¼ 0-12 range ¼ 0-8 range ¼ 0-2 range ¼ 0-7 range ¼ 0-11 range ¼ 0-7

p < .001), Cocaine Dependence (r ¼ 0.06, p < .10), Opiate Dependence (r ¼ 0.11, p < .01), and Alcohol Dependence (r ¼ 0.11, p < .01) and the only form of substance use with a non-significant correlation was Methamphetamine Dependence. Fledgling psychopathy had significant and moderate correlates with gunshot wounds (r ¼ 0.21, p < .001), stab wounds (r ¼ 0.37, p < .001), gang activity (r ¼ 0.29, p < .001), traumatic brain injury (r ¼ 0.20, p < .001), and small but significant correlation with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (r ¼ 0.14, p < .001). In terms of personality disorders, fledgling psychopathy had a large positive correlation with Antisocial Personality Disorder (r ¼ 0.52, p < .001) and a small significant correlation with Paranoid Personality Disorder (r ¼ 0.09, p < .01). No other significant correlations were found for the remaining personality disorders. Regarding mental illness, fledgling psychopathy was only significantly correlated with Bipolar I Disorder (r ¼ 0.05, p < .05) and Schizophrenia (r ¼ 0.12, p < .001).

4. Findings 4.1. Zero-order correlations between fledgling psychopathology and assorted psychopathology As shown in Table 2, fledgling psychopathy had broadband correlations with many substance disorders, forensic features, personality disorders, and forms of mental illness. Fledgling psychopathy was significantly correlated with lifetime Cannabis Dependence (r ¼ 0.13, 3

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4.3. Negative binomial regression model for career arrest charges

Table 2 Spearman zero-order correlations between fledgling psychopathy and substance disorders, forensic features, personality disorders, and mental illness. Variable Substance Use Disorders Cannabis Dependence Cocaine Dependence Methamphetamine Dependence Opiate Dependence Alcohol Dependence Forensic Features Gunshot Wounds Stab Wounds Gang Activity Traumatic Brain Injury Intermittent Explosive Disorder Personality Disorders Antisocial Personality Disorder Paranoid Personality Disorder Narcissistic Personality Disorder Schizoid Personality Disorder Schizotypal Personality Disorder Borderline Personality Disorder Histrionic Personality Disorder Avoidant Personality Disorder Dependent Personality Disorder Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder Mental Illness Major Depressive Disorder Dysthymia Bipolar I Disorder Bipolar II Disorder Generalized Anxiety Disorder Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Schizophrenia Adjustment Disorder

r

p

.13 .06 -.01 .11 .11

<.001 <.10 ns <.01 <.01

.21 .37 .29 .20 .14

<.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001

.52 .09 .03 .00 -.01 .04 .05 -.03 .04 -.01

<.001 <.01 ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns

-.01 -.06 .05 -.05 -.04 .04 .12 -.03

ns ns <.05 ns ns ns <.001 ns

As shown in Table 4, fledgling psychopathy had a significant positive association with career arrest charges (IRR ¼ 1.67, z ¼ 5.28, p < .001). Significant effects emerged for all model covariates as males, African Americans, older clients, and those with higher PCRA Risk accumulated more arrest charges across their offending career. 4.4. Logistic regression model for 90th percentile career arrest charges As shown in Table 5, fledgling psychopathy had a large positive association with 90th percentile arrest activity indicating 544% increased odds of being a chronic offender (OR ¼ 6.44, z ¼ 5.52, p < .001). Neither sex nor race were associated with 90th percentile status although current age was positively associated (OR ¼ 1.06, z ¼ 4.26, p < .001), and PCRA Risk (OR ¼ 3.49, z ¼ 7.09, p < .001 was also positively associated. The model had excellent classification accuracy (AUC ¼ 0.85), and 90.54% of all cases were correctly classified by the covariates. The model area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) is shown in Fig. 1. 5. Discussion The fledgling psychopathy thesis is an effective way to categorize the mix of behavioral disorders that typify youth with the most challenging conduct problems and researchers have produced empirical support for it (DeLisi et al., 2011, 2014; Frogner et al., 2018a; Gresham et al., 2000; Lynam, 1996, 1997, 1998; Lynam et al., 2007; Soderstrom, Nilsson, Sjodin, Carlstedt, & Forsman, 2005). Although it was controversial at the time because the study of psychopathy generally did not focus on children and adolescents and because there are studies that do not support the concept, the overlapping deficits of ODD, CD, and ADHD produce interpersonal, affective, and behavioral profiles that are consistent with psychopathy seen among adult offenders. Using a unique data source of federal correctional clients at midlife, we examined retrospectively whether fledgling psychopathy was associated with subsequent lifetime forensic features, criminal careers, and coextensive psychopathology. It was. The following points were particularly instructive. Although these are cross-sectional data, there is an inherent temporal element to them: fledgling psychopathy and its constitutive behavioral disorders predate adulthood. Despite predating adulthood, fledgling psychopathy casts a formidable shadow on behavioral functioning across the life span. For instance, by the time the average client without fledgling psychopathy was first arrested—at nearly age 25, clients who met criteria for fledgling psychopathy had an average arrest onset more than a decade earlier around age 12. In terms of police contacts, judicial referrals, and correctional supervision, fledgling psychopaths accumulated several times the antisocial activity than clients who were not fledgling psychopaths. In this regard, fledgling psychopathy is an important marker or prodrome for later pathological criminal offending. Current findings are consistent with similar research that retrospectively examined childhood psychopathology among adults that had a psychopathy diagnosis. In their study of adult male prisoners in Sweden (Johansson, Kerr, & Andershed, 2005), found that adult psychopathic

4.2. Difference of means t-tests for criminal career parameters As shown in Table 3, there were extensive criminal career differences between fledgling psychopaths and other offenders. Offenders that met criteria for fledgling psychopathy were first arrested more than 12 years earlier than other offenders (t ¼ 8.43, p < .001), accumulated more juvenile police contacts (t ¼ 16.79, p < .001), and had more juvenile confinement placements (t ¼ 13.41, p < .001). These offending differences continued throughout the criminal career as fledgling psychopaths had approximately three times more arrest charges (t ¼ 0.14.27, p < .001), more convictions (t ¼ 13.40, p < .001), more prison terms (t ¼ 10.02, p < .001), more probation revocations (t ¼ 4.78, p < .001), and more parole revocations (t ¼ 3.70, p < .01). Fledgling psychopaths also accrued significantly more violent arrest charges for murder (t ¼ 4.63, p < .001), attempted murder (t ¼ 8.01, p < .001), armed robbery (t ¼ 6.25, p < .001), and rape/sexual abuse (t ¼ 2.01, p < .05). Table 3 Difference of means T-Tests for criminal career parameters. Variable

Age Arrest Onset Juvenile Police Contacts Juvenile Confinements Career Arrest Charges Career Convictions Career Prison Terms Career Probation Revocations Career Parole Revocations Total Murder Charges Total Attempted Murder Charges Total Armed Robbery Charges Total Rape/Sexual Abuse Charges

Fledgling Psychopathy Yes

No

12.34 10.08 1.28 35.35 19.72 4.5 1.30 .39 .09 .78 .88 .28

24.62 1.34 .16 12.33 7.46 2.1 .61 .11 .01 .14 .15 .13

t

p

8.43 16.79 13.41 14.27 13.40 10.02 4.78 3.70 4.63 8.01 6.25 2.01

<.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.01 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.05

Table 4 Negative binomial regression model for career arrest charges. Variable

IRR

SE

z

Fledgling Psychopathy Male African American Current Age PCRA Risk Model χ2 Pseudo R2 LR Test of α

1.67 1.27 1.24 1.01 2.10

.16 .09 .08 .003 .08

5.38* 3.25* 3.33* 5.49* 18.71* 482.27* .083 3191.53*

*p < .001. 4

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were normed on adult federal offenders. These effects have practical value for correctional officers that supervise these clients. One of the most critical datum that staff have about a client is the individual's PCRA Risk score since it is an omnibus risk-assessment score. Probation officers should internalize the mix of behavioral disorders that the client has exhibited—even and especially those occurring in childhood—given their prognostic association with subsequent habitual offending and violence perpetration. Although the fledgling psychopathy hypothesis is a discrete theoretical concept, it is consistent with other conceptual areas in the social and behavioral sciences that relate to core self-regulation deficits and the downstream behavioral consequences of these deficits. To illustrate (Caspi, Moffitt, Newman, & Silva, 1996), reported significant behavioral continuity among children who at age 3 years were characterized as undercontrolled (e.g., restless, impulsive, easily distracted) and criminal activity and Antisocial Personality Disorder criteria occurring at age 21 years. Indeed, the common thread in the disorders that constitute fledgling psychopathy is a fundamental impairment in and/or disregard for prosocial behavioral competence, which speaks to a broader unitary liability for psychopathology (Caspi et al., 2014). In closing, study limitations can potential guide future research. Ideally, a prospective longitudinal design would allow investigation of how and in what ways fledgling psychopathy and its constitutive disorders are associated with various law violations and noncompliance with the juvenile and criminal justice systems. A variety of studies shown that specific symptoms or facets of behavioral disorders are differentially associated with conduct problems (DeLisi et al., 2014; Frogner et al., 2018b; Michonski & Sharp, 2010; Pardini & Fite, 2010), unfortunately the current study could not empirically examine these effects given the use of secondary archival diagnoses. Although fledgling psychopathy is characterized by core self-regulation deficits, the current data lacked a measure of self-control that is among the most robust correlates of diverse forms of crime and violence (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Hay & Meldrum, 2015; Vazsonyi, Mikuska, & Kelley, 2017). Future studies should investigate whether fledgling psychopathy maintains associations with forensic features, psychopathology, and criminal careers once self-control measures are specified in multivariate models.

Table 5 Logistic regression model for 90th percentile career arrest charges. Variable

Odds Ratio

SE

z

Fledgling Psychopathy Male African American Current Age PCRA Risk Model χ2 Pseudo R2 Model AUC Cases Correctly Classified

6.44 1.07 1.43 1.06 3.49

2.17 .47 .42 .01 .62

5.52* 0.16 1.20 4.26* 7.09* 135.17* .26 .85 90.54%

*p < .001.

Fig. 1. ROC curve for logistic regression model for 90th percentile arrest charges.

offenders were four times more likely to have exhibited conduct problems consistent with ADHD, ODD, and CD than adult offenders that were not psychopaths. Other studies have similarly shown the fledgling psychopathy disorders to be a common developmental stepping-stone to serious criminality during adulthood (Soderstrom et al., 2004, 2005). The multifaceted offending and psychopathology of fledgling psychopaths has a violent and externalizing valence. Consistent with broader research on psychopathy, fledgling psychopaths were disproportionately involved in the most serious forms of crime spanning murder, armed robbery, and rape. This violent disposition is particularly evident in the forensic features involving gang activity, explosive personality features, and illicit encounters where clients were victims of weaponized violence (i.e., shot or stabbed). It is also interesting that fledgling psychopathy evinced negative correlations with internalizing forms of mental illness (e.g., Bipolar II Disorder) and negative albeit nonsignificant correlations with other internalizing disorders (e.g., Major Depressive Disorder and dysthymia) and Cluster C personality disorders (e.g., Avoidant Personality Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder). In this way, fledgling psychopathy is coextensive with externalizing, violent, and aggressive psychopathology even for conditions occurring among correctional clients in middle to late adulthood. The most striking finding centers on the logistic regression model where fledgling psychopathy conferred a robust (OR ¼ 6.44) liability for chronic arrest activity and this effect was nearly double the effect of the PCRA Risk (OR ¼ 3.49), which is a risk assessment tool that was specifically designed to quantify risk among federal correctional clients (Johnson, Lowenkamp, VanBenschoten, & Robinson, 2011; Lowenkamp, Holsinger, & Cohen, 2015; Walters & Cohen, 2016). Put another way, fledgling psychopathy comprised of disorders from childhood and adolescence was potently associated with repeated law violations at midlife and this effect surpassed valid and reliable risk instruments that

Disclosure statement Matt DeLisi receives consulting income and travel expenses in criminal and civil litigation relating to criminological and forensic assessment of criminal offenders, receives editorial remuneration from Elsevier, receives expert services income from the United States Department of Justice and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, and receives royalty income from Cambridge University Press, John Wiley & Sons, Jones & Bartlett, Kendall/Hunt, McGraw-Hill, Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge, Sage, University of Texas Press, and Bridgepoint Education. No direct remuneration is associated with the current study. References American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. text-revision (DSM-IV-TR). Beaver, K. M., Boutwell, B. B., Barnes, J. C., Vaughn, M. G., & DeLisi, M. (2017). The association between psychopathic personality traits and criminal justice outcomes: Results from a nationally representative sample of males and females. Crime & Delinquency, 63(6), 708–730. Caspi, A., Houts, R. M., Belsky, D. W., Goldman-Mellor, S. J., Harrington, H., Israel, S., et al. (2014). The p factor: One general psychopathology factor in the structure of psychiatric disorders? Clin Psych Science, 2(2), 119–137. Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Newman, D. L., & Silva, P. A. (1996). Behavioral observations at age 3 years predict adult psychiatric disorders: Longitudinal evidence from a birth cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53(11), 1033–1039. Cauffman, E., Skeem, J., Dmitrieva, J., & Cavanagh, C. (2016). Comparing the stability of psychopathy scores in adolescents versus adults: How often is “fledgling psychopathy” misdiagnosed? Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 22(1), 77–91.

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