Criminal Law and Psychopathy I. Introduction Various studies have in the past indicated that there is a high correlation between violence/criminal behavior and psychopathy. This would largely be expected given that psychological studies into the character and disposition of psychopaths has demonstrated that the need for control (or power) as well as egocentrism, which also happen to be the dominant character traits of psychopaths, are predictors for deviant or antisocial behavior. The

This had lead to a growing number of states segregating juveniles and adults within the adult prison. Judges are also taking into account the availability of beds when they determine sentences for juveniles that have been tried as adults and may go so far as putting the youth on probation rather than putting them in an adult prison with adult prisoners (Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults, 2007). It is

I do, however, contend that appropriate rehabilitation programs will make this at least unlikely. On the other hand, one must acknowledge that such rehabilitation programs are not always available and often not appropriate to the specific person having committed the crime. Hence, what I am suggesting is that more research be commissioned to create better ways of responding to various criminal offenses. Offenders of certain petty crimes, for example, can

Specifically, that approach must offer a method of reversing, or at least substantially reducing the impact of those factors. Furthermore, since the particular variables differ among different criminal offenders, an approach that is likely to be successful must incorporate aspects of assessment of the individual for the purposes of designing treatments that address the many different paths to criminal conduct. In that regard, Andrews (1995) offers a comprehensive set of

Criminal Justice The problem of how to treat and processing juvenile offenders through the court system has been an issue before the establishment of the first juvenile court in 1899. Before it was recognized that minors needed their own court system, they were processed through the adult court and often received harsh punishment. Separate juvenile courts became evident within all states by 1945. However, the juvenile court system was based upon

The problem of determining the right approach is compounded by the effects of the culture of violence to which many young offenders are exposed. In some cases, it is possible to reform their behavior but in other cases, juvenile offenders already take on the hardened attitude normally associated with adult offenders. As a result, some juveniles are too far gone to reach through non-punitive methods by the time they reach