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Psychopathic traits and age of crime onset in male juvenile delinquents

2013; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 11; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/1477370813495759

1741-2609

Pedro Pechorro, João Marôco, Rui Abrunhosa Gonçalves, Cristina Nunes, Saúl Neves de Jesus,

Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis

The aim of this study was to examine the role of psychopathic traits in the crime onset age of male juvenile delinquents. A group of early crime onset ( n = 102), a group of late crime onset ( n = 102), and a non-delinquent group ( n = 102) were formed from a sample of 306 male youths from Portuguese juvenile detention centres and schools. Results showed that early crime onset participants scored higher on psychopathic measures, self-reported delinquency, crime seriousness and conduct disorder than late crime onset participants, and the non-delinquent participants. Psychopathic-traits scores showed significant associations with age of crime onset, age at first encounter with the law, age of first incarceration, self-reported delinquency, seriousness of crime and conduct disorder.