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Intellectual Quotient of Juveniles Evaluated in a Forensic Psychiatry Clinic After Committing a Violent Crime

NCJ Number
229709
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 55 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2010 Pages: 229-231
Author(s)
Manuel Lopez-Leon, M.D.; Richard Rosner, M.D.
Date Published
January 2010
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The purpose of this preliminary study is to evaluate if there is a difference between the intelligence quotient (IQ) of 27 adolescent defendants referred to the Belevue Hospital Center Forensic Psychiatry Clinic after committing violent crimes, and those adolescents in the same age group in the general population of the United States, as defined by the norms of the psychometric testing instrument Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fourth edition (WISC-IV).
Abstract
The IQ scores and sub-scores were compared to IQ scores of the general population (mean of 100, SD of 15) using a Z-test. The mean for the Full Scale IQ was 82.93. The means for the subtests - which include Processing Speed Index, Perceptual Reasoning Index, Verbal Comprehension Index, and Working Memory Index - were 78.48, 87.78, 86.70 (p less than 0.05), and 90.78 (p of 0.09), respectively. There is a statistically significant difference in the IQ scores of the violent juveniles studied when compared to the general population. 1 figure and 15 references (Published abstract)