Understanding the Structure of the Psychopathy Checklist - Assignment Example

A normal person of average neuropathy scores between three and six. An average non-psychopathic criminal scores of between 16 and 22. A criminal with antisocial personality scores between 22 and 26 while a serious psychopathic antisocial personality criminal scores between 26 and 29 (Snowden & Gray, 2011).The PC L-R’s twenty traits are grouped into two factors; factor one is described as true psychopathy traits, which describes the mental, psychological, and erosional state. They are eight traits that assess how an individual feels, mental status and thought process.

Factor two traits are referred to as false psychopathy. The factor two traits describe an individual’s conducts, demeanor and activities. The traits assess antisocial, deviant behavior and lifestyle behavior (Barone, 2004).In as much as PC L-R is one of the most credible tools for assessment of psychopathy, it may not entirely address the nature of human behavior as behavior is influenced by the social and cultural environment. In certain social settings, it is culturally ethical and acceptable to conduct activities like cattle rustling, which is not ethical in other communities.

It would be inappropriate to apply the rating scale on people homogenously as it could have legal implication when an individual is found not guilty on an insanity defense. However, through the use of the PC L-R assessment, a rehabilitation mechanism could be developed and implemented effectively as a means of changing the dominant undesirable antisocial traits (Cooke et al., 2007). Discussion 2.Serial murder is an unlawful homicide of more than two people, which is carried out systematically in a period of more than 30 days.

Serial murder can occurs in a specific place or different locations, but appears to have similar motive. Serial killings bare similar characteristic, planned, and have a cooling-off period between the killings. An example of serial murder is that of Ted Bundy, who sequentially killed girls he thought to be physically similar to a former lover who had heartbroken him (Miller, 2014).Spree murder is killing of two or more people in more than one location. Nevertheless, spree killing is considered as a single event since there is no cooling off time between the killings.

On 1975 October, an example of spree killing is that of Robert Polin, who killed a student and injured five others in Ottawa high school after raping and stabbing girl to death. Mass murder, on the other hand, is the killing of four people or more in a single location in a continuous process without a cooling-off time. An example of mass murder is that of Andrea Yates, who murdered her children in a continuous process by drowning than in the bathtub (Katsavdakis et al., 2011).Psychopathy is a major factor behind both serial, spree, and mass murder.

Nevertheless, the type of triggering events for the psychopathic conditions differentiates the cadre of the killing. Any homicide is considered antisocial and thus an individual who commits these acts intentionally has antisocial behavior (Perez, 2012). Psychopathy is a contributing factor in the development of antisocial behavior. In serial and spree killing, psychoanalytic theory best explains the motive being because of an individual’s failure to effectively navigate the psychosexual stages of development.

This is because both spree and serial killings bare sexual linkages. Nevertheless, the cognitive theory best explains the motive behind mass murder as the interference in an individual’s neurological and cognitive values offers a more explanation towards the murder.