Profiling psychopathic traits among organised crime group members: a prison study

Purpose This study aims to enhance the understanding of psychopathic personality traits, as defined by the psychopathic personality traits model, within UK incarcerated individuals, including organised crime group members. This study sought to replicate and expand previous latent profile analyses (LPAs) to investigate psychopathic trait intensity, manifestations and their association with organised crime membership and violent offending. Design/methodology/approach A total of 477 male adult inmates from a UK prison, including 120 members of organised crime groups, participated. Psychopathic traits were assessed using the self-reported 28-item psychopathic personality traits scale – revised (PPTS-R). LPA identified homogeneous groups based on four PPTS-R dimensions. Multinomial logistic regression then examined the association between identified latent classes, organised crime group membership and violent offending. Findings LPA revealed a four-class solution as the best fit, showing a gradient of psychopathic trait severity: “non-psychopathy group” (38%), “low psychopathy group” (30%), “moderate psychopathy group” (21%) and “high psychopathy group” (6%). The “high psychopathy group” prevalence was consistent with US and Polish inmate findings. Multinomial logistic regression showed prisoners in the “high psychopathy group”, in comparison to “non-psychopathy group”, were 4.5 times more likely to be organised crime members. No significant association was found between psychopathy classes and violent offending. Originality/value This study demonstrated that psychopathic traits are manifested consistently across incarcerated populations. It highlights a significant association between higher psychopathic traits and organised crime group membership, suggesting these traits may facilitate involvement in complex criminal enterprises. Importantly, findings decouple psychopathy from a universal prediction of violent offending, emphasising the need for nuanced risk assessments and targeted interventions.