What is this measuring? Comment on Gatner et al. (2022).

Abstract

In their crime cost estimation, Gatner et al. (2022) conclude that psychopathic personality disorder (PPD) is associated with billions of dollars of crime costs in the United States (US) and Canada. Gatner et al.'s analysis goes far in putting a cost estimate to PPD, when the burden of psychopathy for the criminal justice system has been unspecified for years. Nonetheless, in the present commentary, we identify two broad problems with their analyses that motivate caution in the interpretation of the findings and their potential applicability: (a) the conceptualization of psychopathy that formed the bases for estimates of PPD, and (b) the assumptions underlying crime cost estimates made by Gatner et al. The questionable assumptions and diminished focus on the criminal justice context in the US versus Canada limit the extent to which these estimates can produce useful policy implications and may instead perpetuate misconceptions of crime and PPD.