Psychopathy in a sample of mentally ill women ascertained in the Italian court and considered socially dangerous|Psicopatia in un campione di donne con infermità mentale accertata in sede giudiziaria italiana e ritenute socialmente pericolose

In this retrospective observational study, we aimed at investigating the presence and degree of psychopathy as well as its possible association with clinical characteristics in a sample of women detained in the Italian residence for the execution of security measure (REMS) of Castiglione delle Stiviere (Mantova, Italy). The 50 recruited women had been judged to be lacking criminal responsibility or having substantially diminished responsibility and socially dangerous. A PCL-R total score cut-off > 25 was used to distinguish between patients with or without psychopathy. The analysis of the data highlighted significant associations between psychopathy and borderline personality disorder with comorbid substance abuse, crimes of theft or personal injury. Those patients who were detained due to homicide or attempted homicide and suffered from schizo-phrenia spectrum disorders showed lower PCL-R scores than others. © 2022 Author(s).