Empathy Versus Offending, Aggression and Bullying: Taking Stock and Moving Forward

• In Event: The Basic Empathy Scale and its Application in Criminological Research

Abstract

Low empathy, or a diminished ability to experience or understand the emotions of others, has consistently been linked to a host of antisocial and criminal behaviors, particularly violence. However, the empirical evidence for this link is mixed at best. This paper will examine recent empirical evidence from around the world which links low empathy, measured using the Basic Empathy Scale (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006), with aggression, bullying, and offending. The results suggest that although the BES is valid, reliable, and very widely used measure of empathy, it is not without its limitations. While low empathy was found to be associated with an increased likelihood of offending in some circumstances, this was not always the case. In addition, greater empathy was found to be associated with increased social anxiety amongst young people in prison. This paper concludes by highlighting the implications of the results for successful approaches to reducing offending, aggression, and bullying and sets out a research agenda for the next generation of empathy research.

Authors

• David Farrington, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge

• Darrick Jolliffe, University of Greenwich