NCJ Number
131988
Journal
Criminology Volume: 29 Issue: 3 Dated: (1991) Pages: 101-111
Date Published
1991
Length
11 pages
Annotation
A cohort of 216 Danish young adults was used to study the effects of pregnancy and birth complications on the developing child with specific attention paid to subsequent violent offending.
Abstract
The three groups consisted of children at high risk for deviant behavior because of a schizophrenic mother or father or a character-disordered mother or psychopathic father and children of parents with no psychiatric history. Character disorders were defined as inadequate personality, alcoholism, drug abuse, situational neuroses, suicidal tendencies, and short-term depressive reactions. Among the pregnancy and perinatal complications studied were anemia, edema, X-ray examinations during third trimester of pregnancy, placenta previa, eclampsia, medical stimulation of labor, forceps, ruptured uterus, and umbilical cord prolapse. The findings, which compared the 15 violent offenders, 24 property criminals, and 177 nonoffenders in the cohort, indicated that delivery events predicted adult violent offending, especially in high risk subjects and recidivistically violent offenders. 4 tables and 34 references (Author abstract modified)