Intellectual Quotient of Juveniles Evaluated in a Forensic Psychiatry Clinic After Committing a Violent Crime

• NCJ Number: 229709
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 55 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2010 Pages: 229-231
• Author(s): Manuel Lopez-Leon, M.D.; Richard Rosner, M.D.
• Date Published: January 2010
• Length: 3 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: This work was presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, February 19-24, 2007, in San Antonio, TX.

Annotation

The purpose of this preliminary study is to evaluate if there is a difference between the intelligence quotient (IQ) of 27 adolescent defendants referred to the Belevue Hospital Center Forensic Psychiatry Clinic after committing violent crimes, and those adolescents in the same age group in the general population of the United States, as defined by the norms of the psychometric testing instrument Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fourth edition (WISC-IV).

Abstract

The IQ scores and sub-scores were compared to IQ scores of the general population (mean of 100, SD of 15) using a Z-test. The mean for the Full Scale IQ was 82.93. The means for the subtests - which include Processing Speed Index, Perceptual Reasoning Index, Verbal Comprehension Index, and Working Memory Index - were 78.48, 87.78, 86.70 (p less than 0.05), and 90.78 (p of 0.09), respectively. There is a statistically significant difference in the IQ scores of the violent juveniles studied when compared to the general population. 1 figure and 15 references (Published abstract)