BASS Politics and Sociology / Course details

When we call someone a psychopath, what do we mean? And how and why is criminality linked to, or even conflated it?

This class introduces students to the ‘Criminal Psychopath’. It aims for students to evaluate the relationship between psychopathy, crime, and criminal justice, revealing what we think makes someone ‘bad’ or ‘evil’.

Indicative content: (1) Who is the Criminal Psychopath?; (2) Social aetiology; (3) Biological aetiology; (4) Measurement; (5) Successful psychopathy; (6) Gender; (7) Cultural differences; (8) Culpability ; (9) Treatment; (10) Conclusion: Who is the Criminal Psychopath?

The ability to:

• Research, analyse and communicate, in an informed and critical way, research on psychopathy.

• Understand the basic science of psychopathy

• Critically analyse representation of psychopathy in the media and popular discourse

Upon successful completion of this class, students should be able to: (1) Have an enhanced awareness of the relationship between the concept of psychopathy and crime; (2) Understand the basic science of psychopathy and the ethical implications; (3) Informatively and critically analyse the research literature of psychopathy; (4) Have a clearer writing style; and (5) Discuss and evaluate key points/perspectives and communicate these clearly and effectively.

Week 1: Introduction to the Concept of Psychopathy (Definition, Scope, Prevalence, Gender/Race, Controversies) Introduction: Who is the criminal psychopath?

Week 2: Aetiology (of psychopathy): social

Week 3: Measuring Psychopathy (Hare's PCL, Controversies & Alternatives, Violence risk assessment) Aetiology: biological and neurological

Week 4: Aetiology of Psychopathy (Biology, Genetics, Social Environment, Childhood, Abuse) Measuring psychopathy

Week 5:Psychopathy and White Collar Crime (Corporation, Success, Capitalism) Successful vs. unsuccessful psychopathy

Week 6:Psychology in Law (Mitigating and Aggravating Evidence) Thinking about difference: gender

Week 7: Treatment of Psychopathy (Models, Controversies, Effectiveness Research) Thinking about difference: comparative approaches

Week 8: Psychopathy in Prisons & Probation (Treatment models, PIPE, Segregation) The culpability of psychopathy

Week 9:Psychopathy in the Public Imagination (Media, Popular Culture, Public Opinion) Treatment

Week 10: Review and Overview (Conclusions, Controversies, Critiques)  Conclusion: Who is the criminal psychopath?

Teaching and learning across course units consists of: (1) preparatory work to be completed prior to teaching sessions, including readings, pre-recorded subject material and online activities; (2) a weekly whole-class lecture or workshop; (3) a tutorial; and (4) one-to-one support via subject specific office hours.

An awareness of: 

• The critically contested concept of the psychopath 
• The relationship between personality disorder, crime and the criminal justice system 
• The history of the concept of psychopathy and its role in criminal justice practice and the law

The ability to

• Research, analyse and communicate, in an informed and critcal way, research on psychopathy.
• Understand the basic science of psychopathy
• Critically analyse representation of psychopathy in the media and popular discourse 

The ability to: 

• Discuss, illustrate, debate and evaluate key points/perspectives and communicate these in a clear and effective way
• Assess own skills and areas of personal development 
• Identified and researched potential future careers

The ability to:

Work effectively as part of a team and individually

Research, organise and deliver information orally

Prepare an academic essay using standard stylebook for citations and referencing that critically analyses a key aspect of the literature on personality disorders and crime.

Formative feedback (both individual and collective) will be given on (1) tasks and contribution in class, (2) developing essay plans. Detailed summative feedback will be given on the submitted essay via Blackboard (Grademark).

DeLisi, M. (2016). Psychopathy as a unified theory of crime. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Jalava, J, Griffiths, S, Maraun, M (2015). The myth of the born criminal: Psychopathy, neurobiology, and the creation of the modern degenerate. Toronto: Toronto University Press.

Patrick, C. (2018). Handbook of Psychopathy. New York: Guildford Press.

Across their course units each semester, full-time students are expected to devote a ‘working week’ of around 30-35 hours to study. Accordingly each course unit demands around 10-11 hours of study per week consisting of (i) 3 timetabled teacher-led hours, (ii) 7-8 independent study hours devoted to preparation, required and further reading, and note taking. 

Restricted to students on the BA Criminology, LLB (Law with Criminology), BA Social Sciences (Criminology Pathway) degrees.

This course is available to incoming study abroad students’ university wide.

Additional Assessment Methods Information

Essays will be approximately 3500 words in length. Students will be allowed to choose from a range of questions set earlier in the semester.

Presentations will be individual (not group), will last approx. 5-10 minutes, and will take place in seminar sessions.

Please refer to your personalised Criminology timetable