Is Hare's Psychopathy Checklist Reliable without the Interview?

The assessment of criminal psychopathy using the Psychopathy Checklist of Hare is based on a file review and a structured interview. However, the inmate may not always be accessible for the interview and researchers may have to rely on ratings obtained through a comprehensive file review alone. The present study investigates the reliability of ratings based on file review alone. Psychopathy Checklist ratings for 56 subjects were obtained with and without the structured interview. Reliable ratings on the Checklist and accurate classification of inmates were obtained without the interview. Ratings obtained without the interview tended to give a slightly more conservative estimate of the size of the group high in psychopathy.