The Utility of Physiological Measures in Assessing the Empathic Skills of Incarcerated Violent Offenders

• Author: Milena Abbiati,Valérie Moulin,Dominique Marcot,Christopher Hasler,Jacques Gasser,Julie Palix,Ahmad Abu-Akel,Elise Dan-Glauser,Christine Mohr
• Published date: 01 January 2022
• Date: 01 January 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X21994056
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X21994056

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2022, Vol. 66(1) 98 –122

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X21994056

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Article

The Utility of Physiological

Measures in Assessing

the Empathic Skills of

Incarcerated Violent

Offenders

Julie Palix1, Ahmad Abu-Akel2, Valérie Moulin1,

Milena Abbiati1, Jacques Gasser1, Christopher Hasler1,

Dominique Marcot1, Christine Mohr2,

and Elise Dan-Glauser1,2

Abstract

Since lack of empathy is an important indicator of violent behaviors, researchers

need consistent and valid measures. This study evaluated the practical significance of

a potential physiological correlate of empathy compared to a traditional self-report

questionnaire in 18 male violent offenders and 21 general population controls. Empathy

skills were assessed with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) questionnaire. Heart-

Rate Variability (HRV) was assessed with an electrocardiogram. The RMSSD (Root

Mean Square of the Successive beat-to-beat Differences), an HRV index implicated

in social cognition, was calculated. There were no group differences in IRI scores.

However, RMSSD was lower in the offender group. Positive correlations between

RMSSD and IRI subscales were found for controls only. We conclude that psychometric

measures of empathy do not discriminate incarcerated violent offenders, and that the

incorporation of psychophysiological measures, such as HRV, could be an avenue for

forensic research on empathy to establish translatable evidence-based information.

Keywords

violence, offenders, empathy, heart rate variability, RMSSD

1Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland

2Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Corresponding Author:

Julie Palix, Unité de Recherche en Psychiatrie et Psychologie Légale, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire

Vaudois, Route de Cery 1, Lausanne, CH-1008 Prilly, Switzerland.

Email: Julie.palix@chuv.ch

994056IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X21994056International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyPalix et al.

research-article2021

Palix et al. 99

Introduction

In court decisions, offenders’ empathic skills are often taken into consideration to deter-

mine offenders’ incarceration length, release from prison, and risk of recidivism

(Campbell & Schmidt, 2000). They are also considered when evaluating rehabilitation

progress in correctional settings (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2004; Marlow et al., 2012). In

the context of the justice system, empathic skills are typically conceptualized in terms

of whether the offender feels remorse, has empathic concern for the victim, and is cog-

nizant of the effect of crime on society. Typically, assessments of offenders’ empathic

skills have largely relied on self-report instruments (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2004;

Robinson & Rogers, 2015; van Langen et al., 2014). The aim of our study is to assess

the practical significance of a potential physiological correlate of empathy in compari-

son to a traditional self-report questionnaire in incarcerated male violent offenders.

Empathy is generally defined as the ability to recognize other people’s thoughts and

feelings and to respond to these with an appropriate emotion (Shamay-Tsoory, 2011).

Models of empathy (Davis, 1980; Gladstein, 1983; Kerem et al., 2001; Lawrence

et al., 2004) generally agree that empathy consists of i) a cognitive component, that is,

the ability to consider another’s viewpoint, and ii) an affective component, that is, the

ability to vicariously share another person’s emotional experience. Empathy is consid-

ered central to functional interpersonal relationships (Eisenberg et al., 2002; Miller &

Eisenberg, 1988) and prosocial behavior (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990). Empathy has also

been viewed as an inhibitor of aggressive and violent behavior (Feshbach & Feshbach,

1982; Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006; Miller & Eisenberg, 1988; Richardson et al., 1994,

1998), and it was suggested that aggressive and violent behavior may result from a

deficit in empathy (Abu-Akel & Bo, 2018; Blair, 2005). In this regard, Jolliffe and

Farrington (2006) noted that “during a violent interaction, the emotions of the victim

are clearly available to the perpetrator and an inability to react to these emotions is

evidence of a lack of empathy” (p. 546). Thus, it can be hypothesized that, compared

to non-offenders, offenders, and particularly incarcerated violent offenders, may pres-

ent lower levels of empathy.

Research on the relationship between empathy and aggression in offenders has

largely been based on male forensic populations (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2004; van

Langen et al., 2014), who typically exhibit elevated levels of psychopathic traits, char-

acterized by a general lack of empathy and remorse (Coid et al., 2009). Research into

the relationship between low empathy and high aggression in offenders has, however,

yielded heterogeneous results (Baly & Butler, 2017; Beven et al., 2004; Vachon et al.,

2014). Based on self-report questionnaires, some studies found that offenders have

lower empathy levels than controls (Domes et al., 2013; Jolliffe & Farrington, 2004;

Mariano et al., 2017). For example, Domes et al. (2013) found that relative to male

controls, male offenders exhibited lower cognitive and affective empathy. In contrast,

other studies found no differences in general empathy scores (Farr et al., 2004;

McGrath et al., 1998; Monto et al., 1994). For example, Farr et al. (2004) found no

difference in the empathic abilities of male adolescent offenders as compared to male

adolescent non-offenders.