Neuropsychological Assessment of Adult Offenders

ABSTRACT

This report is primarily concerned with reporting on the normative results obtained on a large sample of serious adult offenders. An expanded Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery was administered to 584 adult offenders (OF), 132 normal controls (NC), and 494 acute psychiatric patients (PP). Subjects were between 18 and 44 years of age. Descriptive statistics for all neuropsychological measures are reported. Impairment analyses indicate substantial neuropsychological impairment in the OF and PP groups, especially on measures of executive function and verbal capacities. The neuropsychology of the prefrontal cortex and of Attentional Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Conduct Disorder is reviewed. This review, in the context of the present findings, supports a working hypothesis that the executive deficits and behavioral disinhibition of offenders represent heterotypic continuities of brain dysfunction among some children with disruptive behavior disorders. Implications for research, the potential of neuropsychology for offenders, and the early identification and remediation of high-risk children are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive deficits
• executive function
• Halstead-Reitan battery
• neurodevelopmental disability
• prefrontal cortex

Notes

NC, Normal Controls; OF, Offenders; PP, Psychiatric Patients.