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Journal

of

ConsultingandClinicalPsychology

1988,

1.56,No.5,710714

Copyright 1988

by the

American

Psychological

Association,

Inc.

0022.006X/88/$00.75

Male PsychopathsandTheir Criminal Careers

Robert D. Hare, Leslie M. McPherson, and Adelle E. Forth

University

ofBritish Columbia

Vancouver,British Columbia, Canada

Crosssectional

and longitudinal analyses were used to examine the criminal histories of malepsy

chopaths and nonpsychopaths. Dependent variables included time spent in prison and conviction

rates during each 5year period between the ages of1645years. Both types of analysis indicated

that

the

criminal activities

of

nonpsychopaths were relatively constant over

theyears,

whereas those

of psychopaths remained high

until

around age 40,afterwhich they declined dramatically. Neverthe

less, more than half of the subjects in each group still received at least one conviction after age 40.

The results are consistent with clinical impressions that some psychopaths tend to

burn

out in

middleage.

Althougharrestsper capita in the general male population

(aggregate arrestrates)peak in the late teens or earlytwenties

(Federal Bureau of Investigation,1986;

McGarrell

& Flanagan,

1985),manyoffenders continue

to

commit serious crimeswell

into adulthood (Blumstein, Cohen, Roth, &Visher,1986;Con

rad, 1985). Even among these habitual or career criminals,

however, there comes a time when

offenses

decrease in

fre

quency and

severity,

a

phenomenonoftendescribed

in the crim

inological literature as

burnout

(e.g., Blumstein etal., 1986;

Conrad, 1985;Hoffman& Beck,1984;Petersilia, 1980).

Bothclinicalfolkloreand some empirical evidence (see Hare

& Jutai, 1983; Robins, 1966; Suedfeld &Landon, 1978)have

suggested that

the

concept

of

burnout, used

in a

purely descrip

tive sense, may also apply to psychopaths. Indeed, preliminary

crosssectionaland

longitudinal

datapresentedbyHareand Ju

tai

(1983)

raised the possibility that agerelated declines in

criminal behavior are morelikelyto occur in criminal psycho

pathsthanin other criminals. They reported that the illegal ac

tivities of psychopaths increaseduntilaround age 40 andthen

began to decline, whereas those of other criminals declined

slightly over the years. Theirresultswere based on relatively

small numbers of subjects, particularly in the age range beyond

35years.In thepresent analyses, additional subjects were added

and the study period was extended, thus providing uswithdata

on

a larger number of subjects

from

35 to 45 years old, a period

that may be

crucial

fordifferentiating

between psychopaths

and

other criminals.

The

research

reported

here

was

supportedinitially

by the

Depart

ment of Health andWelfareof Canada and has been supported since

1972 by GrantMT4511from the Medical Research Council of Can

ada. Wegratefully acknowledge the extensive contributions of Janice

Frazelle,

the

assistance

of

Steven Wong

in

obtaining Fingerprint Service

records, and the cooperation of thestaffand inmates of the Correctional

Service of Canada and the Lower Mainland Correctional Center.

Leslie M. McPhersonisnow at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec,

Canada.

Correspondence concerning this article should

be

addressed

to

Robert D. Hare, Department of Psychology, University of British

Co

lumbia,Vancouver,Canada V6T IY7.

Method

Subjects

The subjects of this ongoing investigation were521men who were

inmates offederaland provincial institutionswhenthey volunteered to

participate in one of the senior author's psychophysiological studies of

psychopathy

sometime between 1964and1981.An analysis of the de

mographic and criminal characteristics of all inmates in the institution

from

which most of our subjects were obtained indicated that our sam

ple was representative of the inmate population. Moreover, the charac

teristics

ofour

sample were similar

to

those

of a

random sample

of 315

male inmates

selected from

several comparable Canadian

prisons

(Wong, 1984).

Although

our procedures for the assessment of psychopathy

have

changed over

the

years,

all are

based

on the

prototype

of the

psychopath

bestexemplified by the work of Cleckley(1976).In the1960s,we or

dered inmates along a 3point scale

according

to how

well

their person

alityand behavior fit the Cleckleycriteriafor psychopathy. Scores of 2,

1,and 0 corresponded to psychopaths, mixed inmates, and nonpsycho

paths, respectively. Weassessed225 inmates with this procedure. A 7

point scale was used for 262 inmates

assessed

during the 1970s, with

scores

of

67, 45,

and 13

definingpsychopaths, mixed inmates,

and

nonpsychopaths, respectively. Although the 7pointscaleallowed for

finer distinctions between inmates than did the 3point

scale,

group as

signments were virtually the samewithone system as they were with

the other.

More recently, these global rating systems have been replaced with the

22item Psychopathy Checklist (PCL; Hare, 1980).

Psychopaths,

mixed

inmates, and nonpsychopaths were defined by checklist

scores

falling,

respectively,

in the upper, middle, and lower third of thedistribution;

weassessed34 inmates with the PCL.

The three assessment procedures are reliable and valid, and they

bear

a

strong conceptual

and

empirical relation

to one

another(seeHare,

1980,1985,1986;Schroeder, Schroeder,

Hare,

1983).

Inmates identi

fied aspsychopathsareegocentric, impulsive, unreliable,irresponsible,

and deceptive. They lack empathy, guilt, andremorse;they callously

use and exploit others; and they show a persistent

disregard

for

societal

conventions. The PCL places more emphasis onspecificcriminal be

haviors than do the global rating systems.

The mixed inmates and nonpsychopaths werepooledinto a single

group (nonpsychopaths,n=317) for comparison with psychopaths n

204). There wouldhavebeen more subjects in the nonpsychopath group

had some of the earlier studies not excluded inmates in the mixedgroup.

There was nodifferencebetween groups in mean age at the end of the

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CRIMINAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOPATHS

711

study

period (psychopaths

=36.3

years,

nonpsychopaths

=

35.8

years)

or in

years

offormal

education, including upgradingwhile

in

prison

(psychopaths

=

11.0years,nonpsychopaths

=

10.7years).

The

mean

age at firstconvictioninadult courtwas18.6years(SD =2.0)forpsy-

chopaths

and

20.8years(SD =2.4)

for

nonpsychopaths,t(5

19)= 4.11,

p