Specific reading retardation, hyperactive child syndrome, and juvenile delinquency

The purpose of the study was to ascertain the extent to which a specific reading retardation leads to criminal development in adolescent and to what factors such development is due in these cases. For this purpose, 224 adolescents with a specific reading retardation were investigated. A relatively large number of these (12.1%) were prone to criminality between the ages of 15 and 20 years, whereas the severity of the specific reading retardation did not seem to contribute to this propensity. Symptoms of hyperactivity, on the other hand, seemed to contribute to criminal behaviour.