[Cerebral dysfunction, neurologic symptoms and persistent deliquency. II. Results of the Heidelberg Delinquency...

In a multidimensional model, the "Heidelberg Delinquency Study" explores biological, biographical, psychological and social factors that may be important to the development and persistence of violent crimes. After a survey of the literature in part I (22) the empirical results in the areas of neurological anamnesis, neurological findings and nonfocal neurological ("soft") signs and their correlations with other variables, e.g. criminal relapses, are reported. In our population of 129 adult offenders we found a high relevance of nonfocal neurological signs. These symptoms were associated with problems in social adjustment and conduct disorder in childhood, cognitive impairment, reduced emotional response, externalizing attributional style and a pattern of rapid delinquent relapses.