Moral/conventional transgression distinction and psychopathy in conduct disordered adolescent offenders

To date there are no studies examining the ability to make a moral/conventional transgression distinction in adolescent offenders with psychopathic traits. Based on the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version, we compared males with high (HP, n = 45), medium (MP, n = 31) and low psychopathy scores (LP, n = 39) on the moral convention distinction task. Under normal rule conditions the psychopathy groups did not differ in their ability to make a moral/conventional distinction. The HP group tended to view both transgression types as more permissible and conventional transgressions as less serious, than the LP group. Under modified rule conditions, the HP group exhibited reduced moral/conventional distinction scores com- pared to the MP group. The findings only partially replicate findings from previous M/C studies in children and adults with psychopathic traits. The work fits with more recent reports suggesting that psychopathy is not strongly associated with marked difficulties in cognitive theory of mind, perspective taking and moral judgements. Future studies should focus on the affective aspects of moral reasoning in offender samples

Psychopathic Personality Traits and Iowa Gambling Task Performance in Incarcerated Offenders

There is a paucity of research on how psychopathy relates to decision-making. In this study, we assessed the relationship between affective decision-making and psychopathic personality. A sample of prisoners (n D 49) was characterized in terms of psychopathic traits using the Psychopathic Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV). Decision-making was assessed using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Higher levels of psychopathy related to more advantageous choices (p D .003). Also counter-intuitively, higher levels of antisocial traits (facet 4) predicted advantageous choices during the learning phase of the task (p D .004). Our findings suggest that some psychopathic facets may be more relevant to decisionmaking under risk, and highlight the importance of further investigations considering facet and trait-level relationships with decision-making

The utility of the Historical Clinical Risk -20 Scale as a predictor of outcomes in decisions to transfer patients from high to lower levels of security-A UK perspective

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Structured Professional Judgment (SPJ) approaches to violence risk assessment are increasingly being adopted into clinical practice in international forensic settings. The aim of this study was to examine the predictive validity of the Historical Clinical Risk -20 (HCR-20) violence risk assessment scale for outcome following transfers from high to medium security in a United Kingdom setting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The sample was predominately male and mentally ill and the majority of cases were detained under the criminal section of the Mental Health Act (1986). The HCR-20 was rated based on detailed case file information on 72 cases transferred from high to medium security. Outcomes were examined, independent of risk score, and cases were classed as "success or failure" based on established criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean length of follow up was 6 years. The total HCR-20 score was a robust predictor of failure at lower levels of security and return to high security. The Clinical and Risk management items contributed most to predictive accuracy.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although the HCR-20 was designed as a violence risk prediction tool our findings suggest it has potential utility in decisions to transfer patients from high to lower levels of security.</p

Mirtazapine antagonises the subjective, hormonal and neuronal effects of m-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) infusion: A pharmacological-challenge fMRI (phMRI) study

Aberrant signalling through central 5-HT2C receptor pathways has been implicated in various psychiatric disorders but this has not been amenable to experimental investigation in the absence of a valid in-vivo biomarker of functional 5-HT2C neurotransmission. One approach is drug-challenge pharmaco-magnetic resonance imaging (phMRI). We have previously shown that intravenous administration of the 5-HT2C agonist m-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) elicits increases in blood oxygenation dependent signal (BOLD) in regions consistent with the distribution of 5-HT2C receptors. In the current study we determined whether BOLD signal responses to mCPP could be blocked by pre-treatment with a 5-HT2C antagonist. Healthy male volunteers received oral mirtazapine, 5-HT2/5-HT3 receptor antagonist, or placebo 90 min prior to intravenous mCPP challenge phMRI. BOLD signal increases following mCPP infusion occurred in areas known to be rich in 5-HT2C receptors such as the substantia nigra, hypothalamus, pallidum and amygdala. These responses were attenuated by mirtazapine pre-treatment. The results suggest that mCPP-challenge phMRI produces reliable patterns of response that are mediated by 5-HT2C receptors; these responses may therefore be useful in-vivo measures of 5-HT2C function in psychiatric disorders. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------