Individuals With Antisocial Personality Disorder Frequently Lack

Individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder frequently lack empathy, tend to be manipulative and impulsive. Those traits positively correlate those individuals to commit violent crime such as felony assault.

Even though it is said that Antisocial Personality Disorder is a genetic problem, there are many environmental factors that trigger the onset of this disorder. One of such triggers is disturbed family relations. When any sort of traumatic events take place in the life of a person, this creates a problem in the normal development of the central nervous system that in turn leads to a disturbed pattern of hormone production. Researchers have discovered a number of neurotransmitters that might have a role to play in the development of ASPD in an individual, and one of such hormones is serotonin (Black, 2011).

ASPD can be labeled as a common disorder as around 3 to 30% of the psychiatric out patients come with this problem (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). On the other hand, the number of people who suffer from this disorder is even greater in some specific populations like prisoners, since these people are inclined towards doing violent acts. According to a literature review of the year 2002, a study on the mental disorders that developed in the prisoners concluded that 47% of the male prisoners, meanwhile 21% of the female prisoners had ASPD. Likewise the prevalence of this disorder is seen to be greater among the people who are addicted to alcohol or any other drug (Fazel and Danesh, 2002). A direct link has been established between people who are dependent on alcohol and who develop this disorder (Moeller and Dougherty, 2006). Most of the studies have demonstrated a strong correlation of this personality disorder with many crimes that come under the definition of felony assault. We shall discuss this correlation in the subsequent paragraphs.

Violation of the personal space of a human being is what is defined as an assault. A simple assault is characterized by any inappropriate violence of the personal space of a human being, without the sole intent of causing injury to the other person and is normally seen as a misdemeanor. On the other hand, Felony's assault is characterized by four elements and is therefore more intense in nature. These four elements include ability, attempt, intent and action of the person who causes assault to the other. Therefore, a huge number of crimes can come under this definition and may or may not include a weapon. The criteria or definition of felony assault also differs with the state in which the individual might have been present when the assault took place.

Characteristics of ASPD: Violence and Impulsive Behavior

According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition, ASPD can be characterized by violation of the rights of the other people along with a pervasive disrespect and disregard for them. Such a personality type has actually become quite prevalent in the society. A student of Aristotle, who was the ancient Greek philosopher, Theophrastus had described a type of personality and named people with such a personality as the "unscrupulous people." In the definition of Theophrastus of such a personality, some of the main elements of the recent concept of ASPD also fit (Millon et al. 1998). The characteristics of the personality of the people who suffer from ASPD strongly correlate with the characteristics of the people who are considered responsible for felony assault.

In the past century, researchers have done a lot of work on this kind of a personality disorder and various names had been assigned to people who had ASPD. Some of the names that these people normally used included psychopathy, moral insanity and sociopathy. Similarly, the characteristics of ASPD that are considered to be the main elements of this disorder or psychopathy have changed from focusing on the inadequacy of emotional attachment in the relationships of people with one another to focusing on the external behaviors that particularly include impulsive and aggressive behaviors. We shall now look at the criteria that are used to characterize ASPD. Most of the people with this order exhibit a pattern of behaviors starting around the age of 15. People who are labeled as having this disorder have at least three of the behaviors that would be mentioned next. The first one is that these people have a tendency to do criminal acts over and over again. These people are normally deceitful and almost always indulge in fraudulent activities. They have impulsiveness in their behavior and do not regard the safety of other people. These people do not normally hesitate to pick fights with others and cause assaults to them. Irresponsibility and lack of remorse is also a feature of the personality of such people. Therefore, the correlation of commitment of crimes and this personality disorder is quite evident.

Meanwhile, there are numerous studies that can be found about the character of the people who indulge in criminal activities and cause felony's assault to other people. The findings of these studies are consistent with the characteristics of the people who have this personality disorder. Therefore, it can be rightly said that there is a positive relationship between ASPD and commitment of felony's assault.

Since there is no specific diagnosis of this disorder and diagnosis is only made according to the DSM-IV criteria, it is important that three or more of the aforementioned traits should be present in the behaviors of the people who are labeled as having ASPD. As a matter of fact, there is significant variability among the people who are diagnosed with the same disorder. Therefore, there are chances that some of the people who are known to have ASPD may not show violence; on the other hand some of the people with ASPD may have a greater degree of violence in their behavior. As a number of researches have taken place on this disorder, it has been concluded that patients of ASPD who have a past history of violence that started in childhood are likely to differ from the other people who have been diagnosed with ASPD at a later stage, since there are some differences in the behavioral and biological characteristics of both these people. Therefore, the scientists and clinicians consider it helpful to research on the patients with ASPD who show violent behaviors and those who are relatively at peace with themselves and the surroundings.

As discussed earlier that ASPD is not an uncommon disorder and some studies have concluded that its prevalence might be more than many other psychiatric disorders that include manic-depressive disorder. Generally, almost 3% of males and about 1% of females in the overall population fit in the definition of ASPD. Similarly, as mentioned earlier, the prevalence of ASPD is even greater in some particular populations and that include the people who are in prisons. On the other hand, people who are dependent on alcohol or any other drug also have the predisposition to develop this personality disorder. Therefore, this implies that there is a link between violent offenders and ASPD, as well as alcohol dependence and ASPD. Therefore, when studying this disorder, it is also useful to keep in mind the violent behavior of the people as well as their dependence on alcohol or other drugs, since this dependence makes them even more prone to indulge in criminal activities like Felony assault.

Some of the features that a person might exhibit as a part of ASPD could also be a result of alcohol or any other drug intoxication. Therefore, one should always make sure that such a factor is excluded when studying the people with ASPD. As we have discussed briefly before that it is not important that all the people who are diagnosed with this disorder would be violent in their behavior. There are many people who seem to be very calm and normal, and yet these people suffer from this personality disorder. Since we do not have any specific lab tests that would determine whether or not a particular person is behaving violently, we cannot confirm the cause behind this violent behavior. It could be because of APSD or because that person is dependent on alcohol or any other drug.

The Reason behind the Violent Behavior

As mentioned earlier, people who suffer from ASPD are the ones who have the tendency to cause harm to other people. This harm may or may not include Felony assault as some of these people are not as violent as the others. At this point, it is important for us to note as why these people have the tendency to hurt others. This hurt could be physical as well as verbal. Moreover, these people also have the tendency to cause financial harm to others since they indulge in fraudulent activities. Some of the psychiatrists also term these people as sociopaths as they have an intrinsic desire to cause harm to other people. Most of the researchers agree that this disorder has genetic roots. These people have a mindset that tells them that everyone in this world hates them and all the people around them are there to cause harm to them. To put their own minds at peace these people think it is alright to cause damage to these people as these people would ultimately cause damage to them. This is the main reason why these people think that committing crimes is the only solution. We shall now see how some of the violent acts meet the criteria for Felony assault.

Positive Link between ASPD and Felony Assault

Individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder frequently lack empathy, tend to be manipulative and impulsive. Those traits positively correlate those individuals to commit violent crime such as felony assault.

As mentioned earlier that there are four requirements for an assault to come under the definition of a Felony assault. The first and the most important requirement is the ability of the person to carry out a particular act. This implies that there is the presence of the intention to carry harm to the other person. The only exception to this rule is the presence of a lethal weapon. Even if an unintentional injury is caused to that person with that deadly weapon, this act would still be called a Felony assault. The second requirement is the unlawful attempt made by a person to commit the act. This implies that the person actually made an attempt to carry out that act. For instance, if someone shoots another person, but misses the target, this act would still be regarded as a Felony assault as the intention was so to cause harm to the other person. The third requirement is that the intention of the person who is committing the crime is to cause violent injury to the other person. This implies that the person committed the crime with the clear intention of causing an injury to the other person. This requirement is still considered even if the other person did not get harmed since the intention was there. The fourth and the final requirement is that the crime has to be against another person, meaning that there should always be a victim. If a victim is not present then the crime would not be termed as an assault. It is also important for the victim to be a human being for a crime to become as assault. For instance, a person cannot be held responsible of an assault if a dog of a person bites another individual, even if the former person was not careful with restraining the dog. The two things that are common in most of the states with respect to felony assault are that the crime that is committed by a person should have a purpose and should be deliberate. Therefore, anyone who commits a crime unintentionally cannot be regarded as causing felony assault. The reason why people with ASPD are most of the times penalized for causing felony assault is that they always have an intention to cause harm to other people. Most of these people with violent behaviors have the tendency to commit the same kind of crime over and over again (What is Felony Assault? 2013).

Socio-Cultural Influences

With regard to ASPD, the socio-cultural perspectives are viewed differently since there is a different kind of influence of the cultural aspects on these people as compared to those who are suffering from a different mental disorder (Lock, 2000). Robert D. Hare has suggested in the past that the increase in the number of patients with this disorder has been observed in the United States and there is a chance that there are some links of its increased prevalence with the cultural mores of the society that have the flexibility to validate the violent behaviors of the individuals with this disorder. However, the rise in the number of people who suffer from this disorder could only be a result of better diagnostic techniques.

Environment

A number of researchers believe that apart from the genetic factors that are involved in predisposing a person to have ASPD, there are numerous external factors that have a role to play in the development of this disorder. These external factors include the socio-cultural influences, as explained earlier and the environment. By environment, we mean the kind of surroundings that the people live in. These surroundings are made up by the parents and friends of the people who display an antisocial behavior. It is not uncommon to note that the people, who develop this order, mostly have parents who displayed the same kind of behavior. When the parents of these people behave in a violent manner, then these people automatically start believing that it is acceptable to behave that way. Therefore, from a very young age, these people indulge in criminal activities that most of the times come under the umbrella of felony assault.

Lab Studies of Violent Behaviors

Researchers often want to assess the level of aggression that might be present in the people with this personality disorder as this assessment helps them to analyze the tendency of these people to commit crimes that are also labeled as felony's assault. One such lab test that is used to find out the level of aggression in these people is the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm. In this experiment, the participants of the study are made to sit in front of a computer screen and are also provided with a mechanical box that has a pair of buttons on it. The command that is given to the participants by the researcher is that they must push one of the two buttons on the box so that they can earn money. They are also told to push that button as fast as it is possible for them. The amount of money that they earn by pushing the button is the displayed on the monitor screen of the computer. The participants are also informed that they are paired with opponents (who are fictitious) and that these opponents would try to take the money that they have earned. In order for them to retaliate against their opponents, these people are told to push the other button on the mechanical box. The researchers then provoke the participants with intervals of time (acting as the opponents). The number of times a particular participant pushes the button and retaliates is used to assess the level of aggression and the tendency of that person to indulge in violent acts.

Even though many researchers believe that such types of lab measures are only artificial and do not have much to do with the actual experience, many studies have shown the validity of this approach in distinguishing the violent people from the ones who are relatively non-violent; but both of them have ASPD. It was established through studies that the male parolees who were convicts of violent felonies demonstrated a greater degree of aggressiveness according to the Point Subtraction AggressionParadigm as compared to the people who were labeled convicts of non-violent felony's assaults (Cherek et. al 1996, 1997).