Differentiation of death-row murderers and life-sentence murderers by antisociality and intelligence measures

Prior studies of dangerousness have confirmed that the combination of high antisociality and low IQ is associated with male criminal violence and that the same combination can discriminate within a group of violent male criminals by level of severity. My study continued the validation of this two-component measure by showing that men convicted of murder and given the death sentence for their more heinous crimes were more dangerous than murderers who received life sentences. Men who had been extended the death penalty, who selected female victims, and whose murders were judged to have been especially cruel received extraordinarily high dangerousness scores relative to all other murderers. The assumption that high antisociality and low IQ would lead to serious violence because of the criminal's inability to deal with complications that arise in confronting the victim received some support. The murders of more dangerous men followed stronger victim resistance than the murders committed by less dangerous men.