The Female Psychopath: A Study of a Sample of National Italian Women Offenders

After attending this presentation, attendees will be able to recognize the characteristics of the female psychopath. This presentation will impact the forensic science community be helping to identify possible gender-specific factors related to psychopathy. Background: In Italy, the treatment of mentally ill offenders not guilty by reason of insanity at risk for recidivism (a danger to society) was entrusted to the High Security Hospital (OPG). The Law no. 81 of 2014 ratified the closure of all Italian OPGs from March 31, 2015, and planned the transfer of the ill patients (about 1,500) from the OPGs to small community facilities located in their own regions, so-called Residences for the Execution of Security Measures (REMS). Until its closure, the OPG of Castiglione delle Stiviere in northern Italy, located in Castiglione’s Ghisiola Park in the province of Mantova, was the only one that admitted women; all women who have committed a crime on Italian territory and are at risk for recidivism are sent to the OPG of Castiglione. The search enrolled all the women present at the OPG (86) from February1, 2013, to the end of 2013 to research female psychopathy’s prevalence.