Abstract

The incidence and nature of structural brain dysfunction was investigated in a pilot study sample of individuals currently assigned the Nebraska Penal Code designation of mentally disordered sexual offender. It was hypothesized that the sexual offenders would show a significantly higher incidence of dysfunction than a psychosocially normal group as evidenced by computed tomography scan measures, regional cerebral blood flow, and neuropsychological instruments. The hypothesis was tested by two different methods. One method used a 160 by 160 printout of density numbers generated by computer from computed tomography scans administered to the sexual offenders. The second method used mean blood flow data generated from a Harshaw TASC-5 Regional Cerebral Blood Flow analysis system. Additionally, the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Test Battery was administered as a measure of the behavioral correlates of brain dysfunction. Preliminary analyses indicate that 50‥ of the sexual offenders tested showed brain dysfunction as demonstrated by decreased density measures, decreased blood flow, and performance deficits on the Luria Battery. The implications of these findings, if confirmed, are substantial on issues of criminal responsibility, sentencing, treatment, and rehabilitation of the sex offender. Case reports of the patients studied are presented.

References

1.
Oppenheimer
,
H.
,
Clinical Psychiatry: Issues and Challenges
,
Harper and Row
,
New York
,
1971
.
2.
Roth
,
M.
, “
Recent Progress in the Psychiatry of Old Age and Its Bearing on Certain Problems of Psychiatry in Earlier Life
,”
Biological Psychiatry
, Vol.
5
, No.
2
,
10
1972
, pp.
103
125
.
3.
Dewhurst
,
K.
,
Oliver
,
J. E.
, and
McKnight
,
A. L.
, “
Socio-Psychiatric Consequences of Huntington's Disease
,”
British Journal of Psychiatry
, Vol.
116
, No.
532
,
03
1970
, pp.
255
258
.
4.
Stevens
,
J. R.
, “
Psychiatric Implications of Psychomotor Epilepsy
,”
Archives of General Psychiatry
, Vol.
14
, No.
5
,
05
1966
, pp.
461
471
.
5.
Mignone
,
R. J.
,
Donnelly
,
E. F.
, and
Sadowsky
,
D.
, “
Psychological and Neurological Comparisons of Psychomotor and Nonpsychomotor Epileptic Patients
,”
Epilepsia
, Vol.
11
, No.
4
,
12
1970
, pp.
345
359
.
6.
Flor-Henry
,
P.
, “
Ictal and Interictal Psychiatric Manifestations in Epilepsy: Specific or Nonspecific?
Epilepsia
, Vol.
13
, No.
6
,
12
1972
, pp.
773
783
.
7.
Johnson
,
J.
, “
Sexual Impotence and the Limbic System
,”
British Journal of Psychiatry
, Vol.
111
, No.
473
,
04
1965
, pp.
300
303
.
8.
Hierons
,
R.
and
Sauuders
,
M.
, “
Impotence in Patients with Temporal-Lobe Lesions
,”
Lancet
, Vol.
2
, No.
7467
,
08
10
1966
, pp.
761
763
.
9.
Blumer
,
D.
, and
Walker
,
A. E.
, “
Sexual Behavior in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
,”
Archives of Neurology
, Vol.
16
,
01
1967
, pp.
37
43
.
10.
Hoenig
,
J.
and
Hamilton
,
C. M.
, “
Epilepsy and Sexual Orgasm
,”
Acta Psychiatrica et Neurologica Scandinavica
, Vol.
35
, FASC. 4,
1960
, pp.
448
456
.
11.
Shukla
,
G. D.
,
Srivastava
,
O. N.
, and
Katiyar
,
B. C.
, “
Sexual Disturbances in Lobe Epilepsy: A Controlled Study
,”
British Journal of Psychiatry
, Vol.
134
,
03
1979
, pp.
288
292
.
12.
Lishman
,
W. A.
, “
Brain Damage in Relation to Psychiatric Disability After Head Injury
,”
British Journal of Psychiatry
, Vol.
114
, No.
509
,
04
1968
, pp. 373.
13.
Regestein
,
Q. R.
and
Reich
,
P. R.
, “
Pedophilia Occurring After Onset of Cognitive Impairment
,”
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
, Vol.
166
, No.
11
,
11
1978
, pp.
794
798
.
14.
Revised Statutes of Nebraska
, Vol.
IIA
, Article 29, Sections 2911-2921,
1979
.
15.
Golden
,
C. J.
,
Purisch
,
A. D.
, and
Hammeke
,
T. A.
,
The Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery: A Manual for Clinical and Experimental Uses
,
University of Nebraska Press
,
Lincoln
,
1979
.
16.
Hammeke
,
T. A.
,
Golden
,
C. J.
, and
Purisch
,
A. D.
, “
Standardized, Short and Comprehensive Neuropsychological Test Battery Based on Luria's Neuropsychological Evaluation
,”
International Journal of Neuroscience
, Vol.
8
, No.
3
,
1978
, pp.
135
141
.
17.
Moses
,
J.
and
Golden
,
C. J.
, “
Cross-Validation of the Discriminative Effectiveness of Standardized Luria Neuropsychological Battery
,”
International Journal of Neuroscience
, Vol.
9
, No.
3
,
1979
, pp.
149
155
.
18.
Purisch
,
A. D.
,
Golden
,
C. J.
, and
Hammeke
,
T. A.
, “
Discrimination of Schizophrenic and Brain Injured Patients by a Standardized Version of Luria's Neuropsychological Tests
,”
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
, Vol.
46
, No.
6
,
12
1978
, pp.
1266
1273
.
19.
Golden
,
C. J.
,
Moses
,
J. A.
,
Zelazowski
,
R.
,
Graber
,
B.
,
Zatz
,
L. M.
,
Horvath
,
T. B.
, and
Berger
,
P. A.
, “
Cerebral Ventricular Size and Neuropsychological Impairment in Young Chronic Schizophrenics: Measurement by the Standardized Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery
,”
Archives of General Psychiatry
, Vol.
37
, No.
6
,
06
1980
, pp.
619
623
.
20.
Golden
,
C. J.
,
Graber
,
B.
,
Moses
,
J. A.
, and
Zatz
,
L. M.
, “
Differentiation of Chronic Schizophrenics With and Without Ventricular Englargement by the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery
,”
International Journal of Neuroscience
, Vol.
11
, No.
2
,
1980
, pp.
131
138
.
21.
Deshmukh
,
V. D.
and
Meyer
,
J. S.
,
Noninvasive Measurement of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in Man, Spectrum
, Jamaica, NY,
1978
.
22.
Obrist
,
W. D.
,
Thompson
,
H. K.
, Jr.
, and
Wang
,
H. S.
, “
Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Estimated by 133Xe Inhalation
,”
Stroke
, Vol.
6
, May/June 1975, pp.
245
256
.
23.
Golden
,
C. J.
,
Graber
,
B.
,
Coffman
,
J.
,
Berg
,
R.
,
Bloch
,
S.
, and
Brogan
,
D.
, “
Brain Density Deficits in Chronic Schizophrenia
,”
Psychiatry Research
, Vol.
3
, No.
2
,
10
1980
, pp.
179
184
.
24.
Golden
,
C. J.
,
Graber
,
B.
,
Blose
,
I.
,
Berg
,
R.
,
Coffman
,
J.
, and
Bloch
,
S.
, “
Difference in Brain Densities Between Chronic Alcoholic and Normal Control Patients
,”
Science
 0036-8075, Vol.
211
, No.
4481
,
30
01
1981
, pp.
508
510
.
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.