Citation

Falligant JM, Alexander AA, Burkhart BR. J. Sex. Aggress. 2017; 23(3): 291-299.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13552600.2017.1362271

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Intelligence differences exist between sex offenders and non-sex offenders in adult populations, but comparable intelligence differences are not consistently found among juveniles. However, juveniles may differ on measures of intelligence across offence-related variables used to subclassify adults. The purpose of the present study was to determine if between- and within-group differences exist in a sample of 925 juveniles adjudicated for illegal sexual and non-sexual behaviours across offence-related variables. The results suggest that juveniles adjudicated for illegal sexual behaviour outperformed juveniles adjudicated for non-sexual offences on Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) performance, though full-scale intelligence quotients scores for both groups were lower than would be expected in the general population. Unlike adult offenders, juveniles adjudicated for illegal sexual behaviour do not tend to differ on WASI performance across offence-related variables. These results provide additional evidence that these juveniles adjudicated for illegal sexual behaviour are categorically distinct from adults who sexually offend.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescents; cognitive performance; Illegal sexual behaviour; juvenile delinquency