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Recurrent Criminal Behavior and Executive Dysfunction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Manuel Fernando Santos Barbosa  and
Luis Manuel Coelho Monteiro
Manuel Fernando Santos Barbosa*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Porto
Luis Manuel Coelho Monteiro
Affiliation:
Instituto Superior de Ciencias de la Salud – Norte, Porto, Portugal
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to F. Barbosa, Facultad de Psicología y Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Porto, Rua Dr. Manuel Pereira da Silva, 4200-392 Porto (Portugal). Phone: +351 22 6079700. Email: fbarbosa@fpce.up.pt
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Abstract

Objective:

To experimentally test the hypothesis that people who repeatedly participate in forms of non-violent crime exhibit an executive deficit detected in tests of high ecological validity, having changes in prefrontal functioning as neurophysiologic basis.

Participants and Methods:

A battery to assess executive dysfunction was administered – the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) –to an experimental group of 30 inmates convicted of crimes against property (mean age = 39.3, SD =9.98), and a control group of 30 (mean age = 32.7, SD = 11.8), all male.

Results:

The group of recurrent inmates performed significantly worse than the control group in their global scores on the battery, as well as in the majority of subscales.

Conclusion:

Without removing from consideration the fact that sample size was not very large and, primarily, alerting ourselves to the dangerous hypothesis of a “frontal criminogenesis,” the authors interpret criminal recurrence and resistance to penal measures in terms of the scarcity of control that individuals from the experimental group have over their behavior and its respective consequences.

Objetivo: Verificar experimentalmente la hipótesis de que las personas que participan repetidamente en delitos no violentos exhiben un déficit ejecutivo en pruebas de alta validez ecológica, y cambios en su funcionamiento prefrontal como substrato neurofisiológico.

Participantes y Métodos: Se administró una batería para evaluar la disfunción ejecutiva – el Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) –a un grupo experimental de 30 presos condenados por crímenes contra la propiedad (edad = 39,3, DT = 9,98) y a un grupo control de 30 personas (edad = 32.7, DT =11.8), todos varones.

Resultados: el grupo de presos reincidentes obtuvieron puntuaciones significativamente peores que las del grupo control en la batería, así como en la mayoría de las subescalas.

Conclusión: sin dejar de considerar el hecho de que ninguna de las muestras era de tamaño muy grande y, especialmente alertando acerca de la hipótesis peligrosa de una “criminogénesis frontal”, los autores interpretan le reincidencia criminal y la resistencia a las normas del código penal en términos de la falta de control que los individuos del grupo experimental tienen sobre su comportamiento y sus consecuencias respectivas.

Keywords

criminal recurrencecriminal behaviorneuropsychologyexecutive dysfunctionreincidencia criminalcomportamiento criminalneuropsicologíadisfunción ejecutiva
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , May 2008 , pp. 259 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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