This essay will focus exclusively on the relationship between psychopathy and criminal behavior. To begin with, the essay will offer a clear definition of psychopathy and its tendencies along with its prevalence and how it is assessed. Next, attachment and arousal theories of offending will be examined in relation to psychopathy to establish the link between the two, and the need for future research will be stated. Furthermore, the essay will subsequently discuss the view that psychopathy reflects neurobiological roots and how this may link psychopathy to serious criminal behavior. To conclude, the issues and facts analyzed during the essay will be reviewed and the need to address the legal implications that emerge from this research will be made clear. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The term psychopathy was defined by Hare (2003) as “a syndrome characterized by a constellation of affective, interpersonal, and behavioral characteristics.” This conveys it, on an interpersonal level; psychopaths are arrogant, grandiose and manipulative, emotionally; lack empathy, guilt, remorse and behavioral; they are irresponsible, impulsive and thrill-seeking (Hare, 1998). These characteristics are associated with a deviant lifestyle that can lead to aggression and therefore the condition is related to high levels of criminality and has been linked to an increased inclination to behave violently. It is also positively associated with seriously violent crime. Hare (1999) also found that not only do psychopaths commit twice as many violent crimes as offenders without psychopathy, but they are also five times more likely to recommit violent crimes and be responsible for more serious forms of violence. The overall prevalence of psychopathy is 1.2%, approximately 0.3–0.7% in women and 1–2% in men (Patrick and Drislane, 2015). The most widely accepted tool for assessing whether or not an individual can be diagnosed as a psychopath is the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003) which is completed on the basis of semi-structured interviews in which there are 20 items and each a score from 0 to 2 is assigned depending on the degree to which each is present in the person evaluated; the maximum score is 40. In the UK a diagnosis of psychopathy is given if the score is 25 or above, while this score must be 30 in North America and 26 in continental Europe (Hare, 2003). Before continuing, it is important to clarify that there is a difference between Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder. The clinical condition of psychopathy has strong overlap with ASPD, but the two disorders are separable. ASPD is predominantly based on the behavioral aspects of an individual and this profile is characterized by a neglect of social norms and rules (antisocial behavior, impulsivity and irresponsibility). With 60-70% of all male offenders diagnosed with ASPD, it is a highly prevalent disorder. However, unlike individuals diagnosed with psychopathy, these individuals do not always display callous or emotionless traits. Furthermore, although many inmates who are given a diagnosis of psychopathy are also given a diagnosis of ASPD, only one-third of those who are given a diagnosis of ASPD meet the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy (Coid, 1998). To explain and deeply understand these aspects of violent crime in psychopathy, there are possible theories behind serious and serial crimes. Bowlby's offense attachment theory couldbe able to explain the relationship between psychopaths and violent criminal behavior. Bowlby (1969) emphasized how important the attachment between the child and his caregiver (usually the mother) is. When a child has a physically and emotionally comfortable environment and is able to receive comfort and reassurance, he or she will develop a secure attachment, and this optimal form of attachment allows the child to develop properly. He argued that if a child has to suffer a prolonged period of maternal deprivation early in life, he or she is not given the opportunity to learn to be empathetic and therefore this increases the risk of interpersonal difficulties. This is likely to have negative and irreversible effects which include becoming cold and affectionate, delinquent and potentially incapable of bonding; all of which represent psychopathic traits. According to Bowlby there is a link between the absence of a maternal figure and affectionate psychopathy Fonagy et al. (1997). Waters and Noyes (1983) found that these types of individuals are initially aggressive towards objects, then move on to violent acts towards people. The crimes committed are emotionless linking the crime to psychopathy and as reported by Bowlby, violence and crime can be disorders of the attachment system. Supporting the idea that psychopathy is linked to criminal behavior, Frodi, Dernevik, Sepa, Philipson, and Bragesjö (2001) reported a direct link between insecure attachment style and psychopathy, who found that incarcerated psychopaths tend to exhibit of contemptuous attachment. This is further supported by Fonagy (1999) who found that this dismissive attachment style was more prevalent in adult violent offender populations who lacked empathy (a reliable predictor of psychopathy). Excitement theory of crime. This theory addresses an individual's arousal level in combination with their social environment. Criminals with low levels of arousal are less likely to establish appropriate ways of coping with aggression and violence, making them more likely to commit more violent crimes. A great example for the theory is that of a thrill seeker; whose attributes are positively associated with psychopathy. Thrill seekers are risk takers who are biologically and environmentally inclined to engage in criminal activity. The defining characteristic of biosocial arousal theory is the individual's propensity to be impulsive. In essence, impulsivity is the inability to consider the consequences of actions before taking them. Lynam and Miller (2004) emphasized that impulsivity is an important component of violent crime, and therefore requires maximum research attention on all factors implicated in delinquency and crime, while Derefinko, Lynam, Milich and Fillmore ( 2010) highlighted that impulsivity is linked to psychopathic behavior. Thus, linking psychopathy and criminal behavior. Although thrill-seeking is said to be caused by both genetic and environmental factors, one of the main causes of this behavior is thought to be low platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity in the brain. Katz (1988) argued that brain structure plays an important role as everyone has a different brain and some have more nerve cells than others. Longato-Stadler and af Klinteberg (2002) conducted a study of male delinquents who had committed violent crimes and were diagnosed as psychopathic. Many of these offenders were found to have low levels of platelet MAO activity in the brain. A low MAO activity when combined withtraits such as impulsivity is highly correlated with violent criminal behavior, indicating that this abnormality in platelet MAO levels may play a role in causing an individual to commit a crime. They also found, using EEG, that these platelet MAO levels remain stable throughout an individual's life despite their current psychological state. This implies a genetic predisposition to abnormalities in platelet MAO levels, meaning that an affected individual may be more likely to display psychopathic traits and commit criminal acts of violence. Because individuals with psychopathy are distinguishable in terms of brain structure from those with ASPD due to structural abnormalities in areas associated with empathy, some believe it has neurobiological roots. It has been suggested that it may be these neurological differences in psychopaths that motivate them to commit such violent crimes. Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that can work to reduce fear responses and enhance both prosocial and antisocial emotions depending on the situation an individual finds themselves in. Mitchell et al. (2013) found that urinary oxytocin levels were significantly elevated in those convicted of serious crimes who also scored high on the PCL-R, indicating that high levels of oxytocin may be naturally present in psychopaths compared to non-psychopaths and this reduced response Fear can encourage individuals impulsive nature which leads them to commit a serious crime. Koenigs et al. (2012) conducted a study on prisoners' brains that showed important differences between diagnosed psychopaths and non-psychopaths. Psychopaths have been found to have reduced connections between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), which is the part of the brain responsible for emotions such as empathy and guilt, and the amygdala which represents fear. It is the first study of its kind to show structural and functional differences in the brains of individuals diagnosed with psychopathy, and these findings may therefore help explain callous and impulsive crimes committed by psychopaths and solidify the relationship between psychopathy and criminal behavior. A study conducted by Gregory et al. (2012) found that not only do the brains of psychopaths differ from healthy ones, but they examined these differences within a population of violent offenders with ASPD. This population showed significantly reduced gray matter volumes in the rostral anterior prefrontal cortex compared to delinquents with ASPD only and healthy nondelinquents. This structural abnormality in a part of the brain associated with empathy and guilt is associated with impaired empathy, lack of a fear response, and lack of "self-conscious" emotions (such as guilt). Therefore, it may have been this lack of empathy and guilt that aided psychopaths in their violent criminal acts. However, it's not just a lack of empathy that makes someone a psychopath. Decety, Chen, Harenski, and Kiehl (2013) used fMRI on the brains of 121 prisoners to better understand empathy dysfunction in psychopaths. The inmates were divided into three groups; highly, moderately, or mildly psychopathic. All the inmates were shown images of physical pain and then asked to imagine the same physical pain happening to themselves or others. when highly psychopathic participants imagined pain happening to themselves, they showed a pronounced empathic response in the right amygdala and anterior insula, among other regions, indicating that they are sensitive to pain. However, when imagining pain inflicted on others, the same regions were inactivein the same participants. Instead, there was a greater response in the ventral striatum (a part of the brain that handles reward processing and decision making) that indicated pleasure. This in turn could be an important factor in trying to understand why psychopaths commit violent crimes. Since these individuals enjoy seeing others suffer and have no remorse, this may be reason enough for them to commit murder or rape. A study that contradicts this however was conducted by Geurts et al. (2016) who found that there was no difference in the excitability of the ventral striatum (involved in subjective reward) in criminal and non-criminal psychopaths. However, they found that it may be activity in an area of ​​the brain known as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex that can encourage antisocial decisions such as carrying out a criminal act. in highly psychopathic criminals there was abnormally high connectivity between the ventral striatum and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Since this area of ​​the brain handles impulse control, performance adaptation and self-inhibition and psychopaths are known to be incredibly impulsive and consider themselves irresponsible, this notion is plausible. A very recent MRI study by Hosking et al. (2017) examined 49 prisoners and found that there was a weak connection between the ventral striatum (involved in evaluating subjective reward) and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (involved in predicting future consequences of actions) in prisoners with very high psychopathic tendencies . This indicates that psychopathic individuals are unable to think about the consequences of their antisocial criminal acts. This effect was so pronounced, in fact, that researchers could accurately guess how many times an inmate had been convicted of the crimes he or she had committed, depending on the strength of the connection between the striatum and the prefrontal cortex. Therefore, the stronger the connection, the more the reward signals in the brain dominated their decisions. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In conclusion, the relationship between psychopathy and criminal behavior is significant. In terms of Bowlby's offensive attachment theory, it can be said that insecure attachment styles such as dismissive attachment are directly linked to criminal psychopaths. However, in terms of the biosocial arousal theory of crime, there have been no actual specific tests of the theory, so it cannot fully explain why individuals differ in their forms of stimulation (deviants and delinquents versus culturally accepted forms). Newcomb and McGee (1991) also stated that further research on this study needs to be conducted with older participants since thrill-seeking behavior and impulsivity-related deviance have not yet been explored in older ages. The idea that neurobiological reasons drive psychopaths to commit violent crimes provides conflicting opinions. It is clear that psychopathic tendencies do not ultimately lead to criminal behavior, but it appears that neurological abnormalities lead to the expression of psychopathy in the act of criminal offending. The combination of lack of empathy, inability to evaluate future consequences, and exaggerated reward centers leads an individual to make a decision that normal individuals would analyze as psychopathic. Legal implications emerge from this research that could be classified as controversial. If this terribly violent criminal behavior can be explained, 34(2), 149-157.