The Utility of the Psychopathy Checklist - Screening Version for Predicting Serious Violent Recidivism in a New Zealand Offender Sample

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctorate of Philosphy at the University of Waikato.

By Nicol John Wilson

Psychopathy has been identified in a large number of overseas studies as a significant risk factor for general reoffending and in particular for violent reoffending. This study set out to evaluate the ability of the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version to predict criminal reoffending by New Zealand offenders and found a high level of predictive accuracy in predicting serious reoffending. Evidence was also found of a strong relation between psychopathy and speed of violent reoffending.

Read the complete thesis PDF, 1.4 MB.