Prevalence of pervasive developmental disorder in juvenile court cases in Japan

Abstract

The aim of the study is to survey the prevalence of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) in juvenile cases encountered in the family courts of Japan by examining the characteristics of juvenile cases with PDD. We investigated family court juvenile cases (N = 428) in terms of sex, age (14–19 years), type of crime, background, and environmental factors such as adverse childhood experiences (ACE). Cases encountered in four family courts in Japan between April 2006 and March 2007 were studied. Of the total number of investigations or randomized trials, 1.3% to 6.7% were encountered at three family courts. In addition, 18.2% of the cases came from the section dealing with unique crimes. Juvenile delinquents with PDD had more severe environmental factors than general population in Japan. In the PDD group, the rate of sex-related crimes was significantly higher than in the general population referred to family courts.

Keywords:

• child maltreatment
• sex offender
• criminal behavior
• forensic psychiatry and psychology
• pervasive developmental disorder

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Ms Setsuru Umeshita of the Kobe family court Amagasaki office, Mr Naoki Aso of the Sapporo family Court, Ms. Noriko Miyata of the Tokyo Family Court's Hachioji Office, and Mr Toshiki Aoki, Mr. Makoto Yokoi, Ms Kazumi Kinno at the Tokyo Family Court for their assistance in data collection.