The Hare PSCAN and Its Relationship to Psychopathy in a Sample of Civilly Committed Sexual Offenders

Psychopathy is an important clinical construct in clinical, community, and forensic populations. In forensic populations, it has been found to be a consistent predictor of recidivism and aids in offender management and treatment decisions. Research supports routine assessment of the construct within criminal populations. As routine assessment with the “gold standard” PCL-R can be difficult due to institutional constraints, the need for a quick yet reliable measure has surfaced. The PSCAN, a 90 item rating scheme designed for use by non-psychologists, was developed to meet this need. This study examined the psychometric properties of the PSCAN as well as its relationship to the PCL-R and its utility as a screen for psychopathy. PSCANs were rated by master and doctoral level psychologists for residents in a sex offender civil commitment program. Results suggest the PSCAN has high reliability and may serve as an effective screening tool for psychopathy when administered by raters of various educational backg...