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Huntington's Disease Presenting With Sexual Offenses: Four Cases

NCJ Number
152462
Journal
Journal of Forensic Psychiatry Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: (May 1994) Pages: 184-187
Author(s)
C Dumughn; P Sugarman
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
G. Huntington described, in 1872, a familial condition of the nervous system leading to progressive movement disorder, mental deterioration, and death.
Abstract
In his paper, Huntington mentioned that male sufferers of this condition often displayed inappropriate sexual behaviors. More recent studies of families with Huntington's disease have confirmed this association. This paper describes four cases of probable Huntington's disease, presenting with sexual offenses to English forensic psychiatric services. It is often during the lengthy prodromal period before the onset of obvious movement disorder that social deterioration is noticed, including criminality or deviancy. These cases suggest that, in addition to experiences of child sexual abuse and family disruption, the four young men described here shared a common underlying biochemical defect, probably related to dopaminergic activity in the basal ganglia of the brain, which is excessive in persons with Huntington's disorder. Dopamine has a central role in the promotion of sexual behavior. 9 references