Performance on the Trail Making Test among parolees.

Abstract

Traditional psychosocial treatment and rehabilitation approaches for criminals are notoriously ineffective. It Is possible that this failure is due, in part, to the lack of recognition of biological factors in the causation of criminal behavior. The psychogenic perspective has been dominant In explaining and treating criminal behavior, although there is little substantive evidence for this view. On the other hand, evidence for biogenic factors, specifically organic brain dysfunction In criminals, has been accumulating. Evidence for this perspective points toward a causal relationship between a high Incidence of neuropsychological deficits and criminal behavior. Implicated In this evidence are the frontal lobes of the brain which synthesize Information about the outside world. This provides the means by which behavior of the organism Is regulated In accordance with the effects produced by its actions. The purpose of the present study was to Investigate possible links between brain function and criminal behavior with a parolee sample. The Trail Making test was administered to parolees. The results were broken down by violent versus nonviolent offenders. The results showed statistical significance for test performance between the violent and nonviolent groups. The violent offenders made statistically significantly more errors, and took significantly more time to completion on both tests. However, the difference In performance with regard to total number of errors was not clinically significant. Differences In time to completion were significant.