Perinatal difficulties, head and face trauma, and child abuse in the medical histories of seriously delinquent children.

The authors compared the medical histories of incarcerated and nonincarcerated delinquent children. Incarcerated delinquent children were significantly more likely than nonincarcerated delinquents to have sustained severe head and face injury. Differences were evident by age 2. Perinatal difficulties and psychiatric impairment were also significantly more prevalent in the histories of incarcerated delinquents. Especially violent incarcerated children had more perinatal difficulties, accidents, injuries, and ward admissions than did their less violent incarcerated peers. The authors suggest that the combination of early CNS trauma, parental psychopathology, and social deprivation is responsible for the serious, often violent, delinquency that is now prevalent.

Parental criminality and medical histories of delinquent children.

In clinical practice the authors observed that many of the delinquent children of psychiatrically impaired and/or criminal parents had remarkably adverse health histories. To test their clinical impression they systematically compared the medical histories of 20 delinquent children with criminal parents and 85 delinquent children with less obviously maladapted parents. They found a strong association between paternal criminality and serious medical problems in these delinquent children. On the basis of this finding the authors suggest that the behavioral manifestations resulting from such physical illness or neglect, although they appear genetic in nature, may reflect the physical and psychological consequences of parental neglect and/or battering.

Impact of institutional experience on the behavior and development of retarded persons.

A program of research on the effects of institutional experience on retarded persons was described. The importance of such research for theory construction, use by clinicians, and construction of social policy was discussed, as was the value of both longitudinal and cross-institutional studies. We stressed that any comprehensive understanding of the effects of institutional experience requires a consideration of: (a) the characteristics of the retarded person, (b) his preinstitutional life experience, (c) the nature of the institution, and (d) a range of criterion behavior on the part of the resident.

Juvenile delinquency, adult criminality, and adult psychiatric treatment: an epidemiological study.

This report explores some associations among juvenile-delinquency, subsequent criminality, and subsequent psychiatric treatment. A sample of 255 males known to the juvenile court 25 years prior to the study is examined in terms of subsequent documented psychiatric treatment and/or criminal activity. Of the 255 former delinquents, 6% were known later to both criminal justice and psychiatric systems, 6% to psychiatric systems only, 28% to the criminal justice system only, and 60% to neither. Delinquents with later psychiatric histories were twice as likely to be known to the criminal justice system than were those without psychiatric histories. Those with adult psychiatric histories were also significantly younger at the time of their first delinquent offense and committed more juvenile offenses than the nonpsychiatric group. Only 2 of the 16 individuals later known to both systems were diagnosed sociopathic. The findings are discussed.

Relationship of institution size to quality of care: a review of the literature.

The existing empirical literature on the relationship of institution size and quality of care was reviewed. Quality of care was discussed along four dimensions: (a) resident-care practices, (b) behavioral functioning, (c) discharge rates, and (d) extent of parental and community involvement. Care has been found to be generally more adequate in smaller institutions. However, considerable variation in quality of care has been reported among small community-based facilities. Little evidence was found that the behavioral functioning of residents is different in institutions of different sizes. There are essentially no data on discharge rates of institutions of different sizes. There is some evidence suggesting that parental and community involvement may be enhanced in community-based facilities.

Preinstitutional social deprivation, responsiveness to social reinforcement, and IQ change in institutionalized retarded individuals.

Mentally retarded individuals who had been examined on a task measuring responsiveness to social reinforcement after 3 weeks and after 3 years of institutionalization were examined after 6 years of institutionalization. IQ changes were also examined. For familially retarded subjects, a linear decrease in responsiveness to social reinforcement and a linear increase in IQ was found from the 1st to the 6th year of institutional life. No changes in responsiveness to social reinforcement or IQ were found over the 6 years for nonfamilially retarded subjects.