Young sex offenders: Background, personality, and crime characteristics in a Swedish forensic psychiatric sample

Abstract

This is a descriptive study based on a file review of all 56 young (15-20 years old) sex offenders (YSOs) referred for forensic psychiatric assessment in Sweden during 1988-1995. Reliably extractable data, including file-based psychopathy ratings with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991), were obtained from the complete clinical files of all offenders. Historical and clinical offender characteristics and victim and crime-related features are described and discussed in light of earlier reports. Hyperactivity/inattention, language disorders, and neurologic/neuropsychiatric disorders were prevalent in the histories of the offenders, but only a few were diagnosed as having psychopathy. We conclude that the studied YSOs in most respects were similar to subjects in various North American and British samples in exhibiting an array of individual and psychosocial risk factors, academic failure, and juvenile delinquency. These similarities support the concept that experiences and models from foreign settings could be applied in the development of empirically based assessment and treatment procedures for YSOs in Sweden, and possibly in other Nordic countries.