Citation

Pallone NJ, Hennessy JJ. J. Offender Rehabil. 2000; 31(1): 87.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J076v31n01_06

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In connection with the development of their “tinder-box” model for the analysis of criminal aggression, the authors have maintained a “running count” of empirical studies published in the past 40 years that have examined violent criminal offenders for the presence or absence of brain dysfunction. In various publications, we have reported on the ratios between the relative incidence of neuropathology among offenders arrayed by type of violent crime and the overall incidence in the general population. In Spring 1999, the Federal Centers for Disease Control put the incidence in the general population at “slightly more than 2%.” With the CDC figure as a base rate, the relative ratios for neuropathology among violent offenders range from highs of 47:1 for homicide offenders and 48:1 offenders; through midrange levels of 43:1 for juvenile offenders, 39:1 for assault offenders, and 33:1 for incest offenders; to lows of 6:1 for “one-time aggressives.” Implications are drawn for standards of criminal culpability.