CFBS Seminar Series - Psychopathy in Forensic Practice: Past Promises, Present Problems, and Future Challenges
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Psychopathy is one of the oldest and most researched clinical constructs, and since the 1990s psychopathy assessments have been widely used in Western legal systems to inform consequential decisions such as sentencing, placement, juvenile transfer, parole, and rehabilitation. Although the forensic use of psychopathy assessments was initially promoted as an evidence-based practice, a substantial body of empirical research has raised serious doubts about their forensic usefulness. In this talk, Dr. Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen summarizes the scientific evidence from psychopathy research and argues that many of the central claims typically made about psychopathy rest on remarkably weak evidential foundations.
Key speakers
Dr Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen - Assistant Professor of Forensic Epistemology and Philosophy of Science
Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of Forensic Epistemology and Philosophy of Science at the University of Toronto Mississauga and an Affiliated Scientist at the National Center for Ontological Research. His work lies at the intersection of psychology, epistemology, and law, with research published in top-tier journals such as The Lancet: Psychiatry; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law; and Philosophical Psychology. Rasmus is the author of the book, Psychopathy Unmasked: The Rise and Fall of a Dangerous Diagnosis (MIT Press), which offers a critical review of contemporary research and the judicial use of the controversial diagnosis commonly known as Psychopathic Personality Disorder or “psychopathy”.
Event contact
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Brett McIvor
Operations Manager, Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science
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