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The Longitudinal Relationship Between African American Status, Psychopathic Traits, and Violent Recidivism in Juvenile Offenders

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Criminal Justice and Behavior

Published online on

Abstract

This project assessed the relationship between psychopathic traits, racial identity, and violent behavior in 257 delinquent boys. The Psychopathy Checklist–Youth Version (PCL:YV) was administered to youth across a 7-year window. The group was then followed for a mean of 14.7 years (range = 9.3 to 18.5 years), to determine if the presence of psychopathic features in adolescence predicted violent recidivism in adulthood. After controlling for race, Facet 3 was predictive of violent recidivism, whereas PCL:YV total score and all other Facets were not. Overall, African American youth obtained significantly higher PCL:YV scores and had higher rates of violent recidivism than did Caucasian youth, even when controlling for urban status. Implications for the use of the PCL:YV in clinical and legal settings will be discussed in light of the need for further research to be conducted on psychopathic traits in minority adolescents.