Relationship between executive function and violent crime in male juveniles

Abstract

Objective To explore the relationship between executive function and violent crime among male juveniles. Methods The subjects were 107 juvenile offenders with violent crime, 107 offenders with nonviolent crime, and 107 male juveniles in vocational school as normal controls. All the participants were administered to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Short Form (WAIS-SF), Intra/Extra Dimensional Set Shift (IED), Stockings of Cambridge (SOC) and Spatial Working Memory (SWM) in the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) and conducted analysis of variance and covariance. Results (1)There was no significant difference in IQ between violent group (98.3±5.1) and nonviolent group (103.8±5.5, P>0.05), However, both violent and nonviolent groups were significantly lower than normal control group (98.3±4.3, all P 0.05). A significant group difference at mean moves (3, 5-move) that reflected more moves were taken by the violent group than the normal control group (all P 0.05). There was no significant difference in mean initial thinking time(4-move) and mean initial thinking time(5-move) between violent group and nonviolent group(all P>0.05). However, both violent and nonviolent groups were significantly shorter in comparison to normal control group on the SOC test. In addition, violent group was significantly more than nonviolent group in between errors, and higher strategy score than normal control group on the SWM test (all P 0.05), but no statistically significant changes were found for the other executive functioning indicators. Conclusion Male juveniles with violent crime may have executive function deficits even IQ being controlled. Key words: Adolescent; Violence; Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery; Executive function