Psychiatric aspects of dangerous behavior: the retarded offender.

Abstract

The genesis of dangerous behavior can be discussed from several points of view. As psychiatrists we have limited ourselves almost exclusively to psychodynamics or psychopathology, totally neglecting the role of intelligence. Are the mentally retarded dangerous? What types of crimes do the mentally retarded commit? Is the mentally retarded offender, often called the defective delinquent, treatable? Should special or separate facilities be provided for the retarded offender? How well does the retarded patient do when he is returned to the community? These are but a few of the important questions that might be asked concerning the relationship between mental retardation and dangerous or antisocial behavior. Our interest in the retarded offender at Patuxent Institution has paralleled the increasing recent interest in the United States and elsewhere in the problem of mental retardation. In October 1961, the late President John F. Kennedy appointed a distinguished panel of doctors, lawyers, scientists, judges and civic leaders to review the field of mental retardation and, after a year of intensive work, the panel submitted its report to the President(7). Subsequently, in February 1963, the President sent a special message to the Congress on this important subject, and legislation has been enacted to implement the recommendations of the panel. One result of the work of the panel and its recommendations has been a renewal of interest in the problem of mental retardation and antisocial behavior. The history of criminological literature during the past 70 years or so reveals what might be termed a pendulum effect. At the turn of the century mental retardation was seen