MMPL profiles of men referred for a pretrial psychiatric assessment as a function of offense type

Abstract

Gathered MMPI and demographic data on six groups of 25 men each who had been remanded by the courts to a maximum security psychiatric hospital for pretrial assessment. The groups differed according to offense type: Murder or attempted murder of a family member or girlfriend, murder or attempted murder of an unrelated victim, rape, arson, child molesting, or property. The MMPI profiles of the groups were remarkably similar, and the prediction that the murder family group would have the highest Overcontrolled Hostility scores was not supported. Multiple discriminant analyses showed that the remand's age on admission and whether he had been in corrections before the current offense were the best discriminators among the groups. These data indicate that the MMPI is not related to the offense types of mentally disordered offenders referred by the courts for assessment, but does reflect their relatively high levels of psychopathology.