The Intersection of Juvenile Psychopathy, Protective Factors, Treatment Change, and Diversity in Justice-Involved Youth

We examined the intersection of juvenile psychopathy with protective factors, dynamic violence risk, and recidivism in a court adjudicated Canadian sample of 257 male and female, ethnoracially diverse youth. The Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) and measures of dynamic violence risk (Violence Risk Scale–Youth Version; VRS-YV) and protective factors (Structured Assessment of Protective Factors–Youth Version; SAPROF-YV) were rated from court and treatment files. Recidivism information was obtained from official criminal records. PCL:YV scores were associated with fewer protective factors and predicted recidivism across gender and ethnoracial (Indigenous vs non-Indigenous) groups; however, PCL:YV scores did not incrementally predict future crime and violence when controlling for violence risk and/or protective factors scores, while both of the latter measures did. Juvenile psychopathy is a clinically relevant construct for justice-involved youth but it does not equate to a lack of protective factors or inability to make treatment-related changes in risk.