ABSTRACT
The term psychopathy has its roots in late 19th-century Germany, where it was used to describe all disorders of personality (Dolan, 1994). Since that time, it has evolved into a personality syndrome marked by manipulative interpersonal relationships, weak empathy, and lack of remorse for antisocial behavior (Hart, Hare, & Forth, 1994). Most psychopaths commit crimes, but most incarcerated offenders do not meet the criteria for psychopathy (Hart & Hare, 1989). By contrast, the criminal lifestyle model was explicitly designed to explain and clarify criminal behavior (Walters, 1990). Consequently, most offenders display at least some of the elements of a criminal lifestyle and can, therefore, be ordered along a continuum of increasing lifestyle involvement. In short, lifestyle theory views human behavior as a reflection of specific environmental and interpersonal influences and the manner in which the person interacts with these influences, rather than a direct manifestation of the dispositional characteristics of the individual.
