The Use of Psychopathy Assessments in Canadian Case Law: A Quantitative and Qualitative Survey of Court Records from 1980-2023
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Key Points
The use of psychopathy assessments in Canadian courts increased significantly from 2000 to 2013, indicating growing reliance on these evaluations.
Prosecution-retained experts often assigned higher PCL-R scores compared to defense experts, suggesting potential bias and adversarial allegiance.
Expert testimonies often linked psychopathy to high recidivism risk, but some opinions diverged from empirical research, raising concerns about alignment.
The study highlights poor reliability in PCL-R score comparisons between prosecution and defense experts, emphasizing risks of measurement error.
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Implication
Quantitative and qualitative analysis of psychopathy assessments in court records reveals significant trends, indicating potential biases among experts.