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Abstract
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The authors document the childhood neuropsychiatric and family characteristics of nine male subjects who were clinically evaluated as adolescents and were later arrested for murder. Those subjects are compared with 24 incarcerated delinquents who did not go on to commit violent offenses. The future murderers displayed a constellation of biopsychosocial characteristics that included psychotic symptoms, major neurological impairment, a psychotic first-degree relative, violent acts during childhood, and severe physical abuse. The authors relate this combination of factors to prediction of violence and discuss ethical issues that are involved in intervention to prevent violence.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this research by Lewis et al. was to identify the psychological, neurological, and experiential factors present in juvenile male murderers prior to their committing murder.
METHODOLOGY:
This study was a quasi-experimental, retrospective longitudinal study of 9 murderers and a control group of 24 non-murderer delinquents, neither of which were randomly selected. No matching was done between the groups. Secondary information, gathered through face-to-face interview, was used to determine the subjects prior neuropsychical and experiential histories. Secondary data from police arrest records, newspapers, and a telephoned report from a corrections officer were used to identify the group of murders, and secondary data from police arrest records were used to identify the control group. The psychological, neurological, and experiential data was collected for the 9 murderers when they were between 12 and 18 years old. Five boys had been evaluated in a juvenile correction facility, two during psychiatric hospitalizations, one while serving time in prison, and one while in a juvenile clinic. The 24 non-murderers had not murdered and had no arrests for serious felonies six years after they had been neuropsychical evaluated. The evaluation was done at a juvenile detention facility when they were between 10 and 16 years old. Only a preliminary psychiatric assessment and information exists for one of the 9 boys. Detailed neurological data on prior physical abuse were not available for this boy either. Complete data was available for 22 of the 24 boys; two were lacking neurological information. Some of the 24 boys had moved out of state; some of their offenses may not have been known. Neuropsychical symptoms were considered positive if they were explicitly mentioned and an example was given in the records. A juvenile was considered to have been abused by his parents or guardians if the abuse was more severe than being struck with an open hand or beaten with the leather part of a belt or switch on the buttocks only. Chi-Square data analysis was done using Yates' correction.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
All 9 subjects had performed acts of extreme violence (including sexual assaults, robbery at knifepoint, assault with a knife, choking a bird at age 2 and throwing a dog out the window at age 4 as children and adolescents, often several years before they had committed murder. The correlation to the control group was X=2.9, p<.10, p>.05. Psychotic symptoms, paranoid ideation in particular, were prevalent in the 9 subjects prior to their committing murder. Three of the subjects had been psychiatrically hospitalized during adolescence. The correlation to the control group was X=5.1, p<.05. Seven subjects (data were not available for the 9th) had severe neurological impairment: three had histories of grand mal seizures and abnormal EEGs, three had lapses of conscious contact with reality and psychomotor epileptic symptoms, one was macrocephalic and had an abnormal EEG. Six had received severe head injuries in their childhood. The correlation to the control group was X=6.4, p<.02. All 9 subjects had a first-degree relative who had been psychiatrically hospitalized and/or demonstrably psychotic The correlation to the control group was X=3.6, p<.10, p>.05. Seven subjects had been severely physically abused by their parents. The correlation to the control group was not significant. The combination of all five variables most strongly differentiated murders from non-murderers (X=9.9, p<.005).
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author states, "Our findings suggest that violence alone is not as good a predictor of future aggression as is violence coupled with neuropsychiatric vulnerabilities, parental brutality, and parental psychosis." (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Homicide Offender
KW - Psychological Factors
KW - Neurological Factors
KW - Male Offender
KW - Juvenile Male
KW - Male Violence
KW - Biological Factors
KW - Juvenile Violence
KW - Homicide Causes
KW - Violence Causes
KW - Offender Characteristics
KW - Child Male
KW - Child Offender
KW - Child Violence
KW - Late Childhood
KW - Late Adolescence
KW - Early Adolescence
Language: en |