All study variables including the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, R. D. (2003), The Revised Psychopathy Checklist. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Multi-Health Systems) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed.; DSM-III; American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author) diagnosis, but not including recidivism, were coded exclusively from descriptive material contained in institution al files by trained and experienced research assistants. In most cases, the institutional files included information from a variety of sources (e.g., psychosocial histories, police reports, questionnaires from patients' families, psychological test reports, and information from other sources such as schools). In the case of the outpatient sex offenders and the sex offenders from federal corrections, the information available was more limited. Each of the three earlier studies cited above included many historical and clinical variables, but in the present study, only those variables that were common across all studies were analyzed.
For a complete description of the methodology, participants, variables, and procedure, see Rice, Marnie E., Harris, Grant T., Lang, Carol. Validation of and Revision to the VRAG and SORAG: The Violence Risk Appraisal Guide - Revised (VRAG-R). Psychological Assessment, Vol 25(3), Sep 2013, 951-965. doi: 10.1037/a0032878. |
