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, lack of empathy and remorse, and antisocial behavior (Hart, Hare, & Forth, 1994). Psychopaths commit crimes, but most incarcerated criminal offenders do not meet the criteria for psy chopathy (Hart & Hare, 1989). By contrast, the criminal lifestyle model was explicitly designed to clarify and explain criminal behavior (Walters, 1990). Consequently, most offenders display at least some of the elements of a criminal lifestyle and can 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 indi vidual.
