[Acute effects of alcohol and chronic alcoholism as causes of violent crime]. / Akute Alkoholwirkung und chronische Alkoholabhängigkeit als Determinanten von Gewaltdelinquenz.

To study the influence of alcohol and psychosocial variables on delinquent behavior, we coded data from the psychiatric evaluation of 254 defendants using a standardized score sheet, analyzing correlations between acute intoxication at the time of the crime (ICD 10:F10.0), diagnosis of alcohol dependency according to ICD 10 (F10.2), psycho-biographical variables, criminal history, and parameters relating to the index offence. We found that 64.6% of all defendants studied were intoxicated when committing the crime and 25.6% suffered from alcohol dependency. Alcohol intoxication correlated to occurrence of violent crime, cruelty in committing the index offence, and earlier convictions. Logistic regression, with demographic and psychosocial variables entered as covariables, revealed acute alcohol intoxication but not alcohol dependency as a predictor of violent crime (odds ratio 2.3, P = 0.02). Alcohol intoxication and dependency were also independent predictors of earlier convictions (intoxication, odds ratio 4.4, P = 0.0001; dependency, odds ratio 3.6, P = 0.003). Our findings support the hypothesis that acute alcohol intoxication, not dependency, influences violent crime in a direct manner. However, alcohol dependency predicts criminal recidivism.

[Homicides--the sociodemographic background of the offender and the behavioral symptoms]. / Tötungsdelikte--soziodemographischer Hintergrund der Täter und tatspezifische Merkmale.

The authors examined 261 forensic-psychiatric reports to determine whether persons convicted of criminal homicide differed from persons convicted of other crimes with regard to personal biography, sociodemographic milieu, and character traits. Both groups were found to come from similarly disadvantaged social backgrounds. Murderers could not be distinguished on the basis of biographical data alone. The parameters found to be distinctive of murderers were: site of the crime, criminal-victim relationship, motive for the act, intoxication at the time of the crime, and the perpetrator's opinion regarding the purpose and intent of the homicide. The present findings confirm some of the results obtained by other authors on this topic.

Violence, criminal behavior, and the EEG: significance of left hemispheric focal abnormalities.

The authors studies the relationship of EEG abnormalities and violent criminal behavior in 222 defendants referred for psychiatric evaluation. There was no connection between the number of violent offenses and EEG abnormalities in general. Focal abnormalities, however, especially of the left hemisphere, were related to a significantly higher number of violent offenses. In many cases these abnormalities were accompanied by mental retardation, epilepsy, or earlier brain damage. The findings suggest that impairment of left hemisphere functions may enhance the propensity for violent behavior in a subgroup of offenders.