NCJ Number
183450
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: July-August 2000 Pages: 403-422
Editor(s)
Vincent B. Van Hasselt,
Michel Hersen
Date Published
2000
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Several theoretical and empirical sources have proposed that a subgroup of domestically violent men exhibit more antisocial behavior, express more generalized violence, and are generally more resistant to mental health intervention than others; in other literature, however, researchers have identified a subgroup of violent criminal offenders, such as psychopaths, who exhibit similar characteristics to the more anti-social, generally violent group of batterers.
Abstract
Moreover, the offender literature on psychopathy describes the violent tendencies, physiological responses, cognitive impairments, interpersonal-affective characteristics, and treatment responsiveness of these individuals in much greater depth than the current domestic violence literature. The authors compare the various literatures and propose there is a subgroup of batterers that can be characterized as exhibiting significant psychopathic tendencies. Clinical, legal, and policy implications of identifying a subgroup of batterers in this manner are also explored. The authors note that the greatest treatment implications are likely associated with cognitive deficits exhibited by psychopaths, and that the cognitive expression of psychopathy continues to be the one significant area that fails to offer a parallel examination in the batterer literature. They recommend that innovative interventions for these batterers focus on the way in which they process information and are responsive to emotional cues. It may well be that some batterers exhibit psychopathic tendencies but that they are not equal in magnitude to previously studied incarcerated psychopaths. 98 references and 2 tables