Antisocial Personality Disorder and Recidivism Among Persons Incarcerated for a Violent Crime: Evaluating the Moderating Role of Prison Visitation and Misconduct

Abstract An established body of research demonstrates that antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is associated with violent criminal offending and recidivism. However, questions remain regarding how ASPD is associated with different types of recidivism and the extent to which prison misconduct and visitation condition these relationships. This study evaluates these questions using longitudinal data from a large sample of released violent offenders ( N = 45,063). Results from a series of accelerated failure time models reveal that ASPD is associated with faster time to reconviction for a new offense and technical violation. Prison visitation and misconduct condition the effect of ASPD for a technical violation whereby the relationship is strengthened at higher levels of visitation and misconduct. The effect of ASPD for reconviction for a new offense is positively moderated by prison misconduct but not visitation. The implications of the reported results for correctional policy and practice are discussed.