Juvenile offenders and accurate perception of time.

Abstract

In the present study, 72 juvenile offenders and 24 high school boys with no criminal history were tested on how accurately they could estimate the passage of 15-, 30-, 60-, and 120 sec. periods of time. Hypotheses predicted significant differences between the accuracy of time estimations by juvenile offenders and high school students across and among all four trials and also between trials of time estimation by 24 violent juvenile offenders and 24 nonviolent juvenile offenders across and among the trials. Analysis indicated that these mostly Hispanic juvenile offenders produced significantly less accurate time estimations than nonoffending high school students, but no significant differences were found between estimates by violent juvenile and nonviolent juvenile offenders. The results are consistent with previous research indicating that deficits in ego functioning may be associated with the presence of maladaptive and antisocial behavior.