NCJ Number
147200
Journal
American Journal of Psychiatry Volume: 149 Issue: 9 Dated: (September 1992) Pages: 1252-1257
Date Published
1992
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether neurocognitive factors could distinguish between delinquents brought before a juvenile court in a large urban area from nondelinquent status offenders brought before the same court.
Abstract
Psychological tests were administered to 216 adolescents, aged 13-15 years, who appeared before a large urban juvenile court. A total of 110 delinquents (65 male and 45 female) were compared to 106 high-risk nondelinquents (65 male and 41 female) on the WISC-R subtests, the Wide Range Achievement Test, and the Memory for Designs Test. Discriminant analysis revealed that the male delinquents could not be distinguished from the comparison group of male status offenders by scores on any of the measures. Among the female subjects, scores on reading, arithmetic, digit span, and picture completion subtests and the Memory for Designs Test differed significantly between groups, with some findings favoring status offenders and others favoring delinquents. The findings did not support the hypothesis that inferior intelligence is an independent risk factor for delinquent behavior. 2 tables and 54 references