Does Psychopathy Predict Institutional Misconduct Among Adults? A Meta-Analytic Investigation

Narrative reviews have raised several questions regarding the predictive validity of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 2003 ) and related scales in institutional settings. In this meta-analysis, the authors coded 273 effect sizes to investigate the association between the Hare scales and a hierarchy of increasingly specific forms of institutional misconduct. Effect sizes for Total, Factor 1, and Factor 2 scores were quite heterogeneous overall and weakest for physically violent misconduct ( r w = .17, .14, and .15, respectively). Moderator analyses suggested that physical violence effect sizes were smaller in U.S. prison samples ( r w = .11) than in non-U.S. prison samples ( r w = .23). Findings are discussed in terms of the utility of the Hare measures for decision-making in institutional and other contexts.