Assessing Psychopathy with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

The measurement of psychopathy is the most important development in the field of criminal forensic psychiatry and psychology over the past three decades and has become a critical area of assessment in personality disorder. The gold standard for its measurement is the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). In this workshop, Dr. Meloy will teach participants how to competently and efficiently use the PCL-R in their forensic practices. The workshop will begin with the history and development of the instrument, including more recent adaptations, such as the PCL:SV and the PCL:YV, and continue with an elaboration of the instrument’s reliability and validity, particularly in treatment outcome and violence risk assessment. Dr. Meloy will then show how to conduct an interview and review records to gather data sufficient for scoring the instrument, how to quantitatively score the instrument, how to address typical scoring dilemmas, and how to integrate the PCL-R data with other clinical and forensic evidence. Teaching methods will include videotaped vignettes, practice scoring by participants, handouts, and open discussions throughout the workshop concerning participants’ questions that have arisen in their work with the PCL-R.

Please note: This workshop is being produced in cooperation with the Darkstone Research group and Dr. Robert Hare.
The history and development of the PCL-R, the PCL:SV, and the PCL:YV
The PCL-R’s temporal reliability, factorial structure, and validity in relationship to treatment outcome and violence risk prediction
Conducting a PCL-R interview and review records
Scoring the PCL-R
Interpreting the PCL-R score in relation to other clinical and forensic data

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion to this program participants should be able to:
List at least ten of the twenty scoring items on the PCL-R
Describe the appropriate process of interviewing a possible psychopath
Aside from an interview, identify two other critical sources of data which must be accounted for prior to scoring the PCL-R
Describe the scoring system of the PCL-R
Identify the four possible scoring responses and their meanings
Demonstrate through practice cases the ability to conduct an accurate PCL-R assessment
Identify the scoring threshhold that must be met to label and individual as a primary psychopath