title: Mental illness and criminal violence.
abstract: This article examines the relationship between criminal violence and mental illness. Our data suggest that mentally ill persons tend to have an increased risk for committing violent offenses, and that the violent offending by these individuals tends to be recidivistic. Our findings suggest that parents who have both committed violent offenses and experienced a psychiatric hospitalization increase the risk of violent offending among their offspring. We propose the hypothesis that mentally ill parents transmit a biological characteristic which may genetically predispose their child towards criminal violence. Prenatal disturbances during critical periods of fetal development may provide clues regarding the etiology of criminal violence.
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, Social Science Research Institute, Los Angeles 90089-0375, USA.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Tehrani
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hodgins
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mednick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012306:Risk; D018433:Twin Studies as Topic; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*