NCJ Number
228593
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 36 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 1203-1217
Date Published
November 2009
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examined intelligence quotient (IQ), executive functioning (EF), and related decisionmaking processes in young males involved with the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom.
Abstract
Findings show that the young offender group had a lower estimated IQ score compared with existing norm data. After excluding participants with a below-average estimated IQ score, a subsample of young offenders used for examining the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) results did not differ from their available norms in IQ. Additionally, young offenders differed on one variable of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the number of perseverative errors, implying difficulty in reversal learning and changing behavior that was once rewarded. This finding is in line with other research showing problems with perseveration under changing conditions of reward and punishment in antisocial groups. The WCST has been found to activate different neural circuits during the different stages of performance with the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal region's being involved in working memory and the mid-ventrolateral prefrontal region's being active during attentional set shifting. The present finding of impaired performance in shifting behavior, together with the finding of impaired performance on the Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift (IE/ED) test, is consistent with literature suggesting antisocial groups do not show global prefrontal deficits. Data were collected from 104 12- to 18-year-old young male offenders recruited from the Youth Offending Service in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Table, figures, and references