The Checklists were designed by Robert Hare, a Canadian psychologist, and his colleagues. Hare and his colleagues developed the checklists by listing over 100 behavioral, emotional, interpersonal and lifestyle traits that had been observed in criminal populations. They relied heavily on the work of Hervey Cleckley, considered the pioneer in the study of the “criminal mind” and author of Mask of Sanity in the 1930’s. In that book he detailed the psychopath’s often “brilliant and charming” manner, which masked a predatory nature and a lack of conscience. Through statistical analysis and studies to establish reliability and validity, Hare was able to winnow the original list of traits to 22 items, which he published in 1980, and then revised to 20 items in 1991. The original checklist (PCL—R) was developed with a criminal population in British Columbia. The clinical version (PCL:SV), with 12 items, was developed with civilian populations and published in 1995. Both checklists were utilized in the assessment of the President.   Here are the 20 items from the PCL-R:  

1. Glibness/superficial charm;
2. Egocentricity/grandiose sense of self-worth;
3. Proneness to boredom/low frustration tolerance;
4. Pathological lying and deception/gaslighting;
5. Conning/lack of sincerity;
6. Lack of remorse or guilt;
7. Lack of empathy/callous;
8. Short-tempered/poor behavioral controls;
9. Promiscuous sexual relations;
10. Early behavior problems;
11. Impulsivity;
12. Juvenile delinquency history;
13. Frequent marital relationships;
14. Parasitic lifestyle;
15. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions;
16. More than one type of criminal offense;
17. Lack of realistic long-term plans;
18. Shallow affect/superficial emotional responsiveness;
19. Poor probation or parole risk; and
20. Cunning/manipulative

Here are the 12 items from the PCL:SV:

1. Superficial/glib
2. Grandiose/boastful
3. Deceitful
4. Lacks remorse
5. Lacks empathy
6. Doesn’t accept responsibility
7. Impulsive
8. Poor behavioral controls
9. Lacks goals
10. Irresponsible
11. Adolescent antisocial behavior
12. Adult antisocial behavior

After gathering and culling all the life history data, the diagnostician provides a rating for each item (0=no evidence of trait; 1=some evidence for trait; 2=trait definitely present). The cutoff scores for one to be deemed a clinical psychopath are as follows: (1) On the 20-item PCL-R, the cutoff score is 30, (2) on the 12-item PCL:SV, the cutoff score is 18.

Woe to the ‘empty soul’ who exceeds these cutoff scores. They have the terrible affliction called psychopathy, with all its defining characteristics, dreary course and immutability.