NCJ Number
39871
Date Published
1975
Length
22 pages
Annotation
DESCRIPTION OF A STUDY OF THE ETIOLOGY AND PREVALENCE OF THE NEUROPSYCHIATRIC SYNDROME 'EPISODIC BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS' AMONG A CRIMINAL POPULATION.
Abstract
THIS MONOGRAPH IS EXTRACTED FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CRIMINOLOGY, HELD ON AUGUST 5, 1975 IN SAN PAULO, BRAZIL. THE TOPIC OF INVESTIGATION, EPISODIC BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS, IS A TYPE OF INTERMITTENT AND RECURRENT MALADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR, OF A NEUROLOGICAL OR PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ORIGIN. THE EPISODIC BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS ARE SUBDIVIDED INTO TWO CLASSES: 1) EPISODIC INHIBITIONS, SUCH AS NARCOLEPSY, CATALEPSY AND CATATONIA, AND 2) EPISODIC DISINHIBITIONS, SUCH AS EPILEPSY. IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT MANY IMPULSIVE, AGGRESSIVE CRIMINALS SUFFER FROM THE LATTER DISORDER. THIS STUDY, CONDUCTED IN MARYLAND'S FACILITY FOR DEFECTIVE DELINQUENTS, PATUXENT INSTITUTION, TESTED THAT HYPOTHESIS. THE SUBJECTS WERE 352 RECIDIVIST OFFENDERS CONVICTED PRIMARILY OF VIOLENT AGGRESSIVE ABNORMAL CRIMES. SOME CORRELATION WAS FOUND BETWEEN ABNORMAL ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM (EEG) PATTERNS AND SUBJECTS WHO DEMONSTRATED EPISODIC PSYCHOPATHOLOGY. THIS FINDING WAS NEGATED, HOWEVER, BY THE FACT THAT THE PREVALENCE OF TEMPORAL LOBE EPILEPSY AMONG A POPULATION NOTED FOR REPEATED AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR WAS SUPRISINGLY LOW. IN FACT, ONLY 2 OF THE 92 SUBJECTS TESTED SHOWED TEMPORAL SPIKE ABNORMALITIES. THE RESULTS ARE DISPLAYED ON SEVERAL CHARTS AND GRAPHS....MSP