Chapter 11, The Ethics of Labeling, pg 180-191 Summary and Analysis

Hare wants the reader to understand that the only way patients can be treated is to correctly identify who is a psychopath. This is the reason why Hare and his colleagues took the time to invent the Psychopathy Checklist. This checklist finally gives clinicians and practitioners a credible procedure for evaluating someone they may assume is a psychopath. That way scientific data and observations are used instead of personal opinions.

Hare says that many parole boards choose to parole criminals based off of a single opinion. Sometimes criminals end up right back in jail because they commit a crime days after being paroled. Why were these criminals let out? Hare insists that it is because the inmates were assessed by one clinician whom they may have just met. As...