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Is psychopathy elevated among criminal offenders who are under preventive detention pursuant to Section 66 of the German Penal Code?
Author(s) -
Habermeyer Elmar,
Passow Daniel,
Vohs Knut
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.927
Subject(s) - preventive detention , psychopathy , commit , german , context (archaeology) , relevance (law) , section (typography) , criminology , psychology , expert opinion , law , political science , personality , computer security , social psychology , medicine , computer science , database , history , operating system , archaeology , intensive care medicine
Abstract In Germany, preventive detention can be imposed if a repeat offender shows a proclivity to commit further significant criminal acts. The courts require expert opinion to provide information about personality traits relevant for this disposition. However, currently, consensus about this topic is lacking. On the basis of a standardized examination, the relevance of Hare's concept of “psychopathy” for expert opinion is discussed in the context of preventive detention. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.