Citation

Tehrani JA, Brennan PA, Hodgins S, Mednick SA. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 1998; 33(Suppl 1): S81-5.

Affiliation

University of Southern California, Social Science Research Institute, Los Angeles 90089-0375, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9857784

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between criminal violence and mental illness. Our data suggest that mentally ill persons tend to have an increased risk for committing violent offenses, and that the violent offending by these individuals tends to be recidivistic. Our findings suggest that parents who have both committed violent offenses and experienced a psychiatric hospitalization increase the risk of violent offending among their offspring. We propose the hypothesis that mentally ill parents transmit a biological characteristic which may genetically predispose their child towards criminal violence. Prenatal disturbances during critical periods of fetal development may provide clues regarding the etiology of criminal violence.

Language: en