[gamblor956]

Psycopathy is a defined condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is published by the American Psychiatric Association. The criminal justice system had nothing to do with the creation of the term.

But you're right--it's not an "actual medical illness." Mental conditions are "disorders", not "medical illnesses" since they are chronic/permanent conditions.

[fleitz]

Really? Can you point me to where in the DSM it defines 'psychopathy', if you find an edition that old you may want to look up another disorder that stems from criminology commonly referred to as 'homosexuality', ironically homosexuality used to be part of 'sociopathy' which was closely related to 'psychopathy'.

[gamblor956]

You need the DSM V, the newest edition. In prior editions, psychopathy was not distinguished from sociopathy. I imagine that you could find it by looking through the index, however I do not have a copy of the DSM V.

I'm not sure why you bring up the characterization of homosexuality in older, long-since discarded versions of the DSM. The DSM is merely a reflection of the current state of consensus regarding psychological diagnoses. It's not an authoritative guide. As consensus changes, so does the DSM.