title: Brain anatomy of persistent violent offenders: more rather than less.
abstract: Most violent crimes in Western societies are committed by a small group of men who display antisocial behavior from an early age that remains stable across the life-span. It is not known if these men display abnormal brain structure. We compared regional brain volumes of 26 persistently violent offenders with antisocial personality disorder and substance dependence and 25 healthy men using magnetic resonance imaging volumetry and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). The violent offenders, as compared with the healthy men, had markedly larger white matter volumes, bilaterally, in the occipital and parietal lobes, and in the left cerebellum, and larger grey matter volume in right cerebellum (effect sizes up to 1.24, P<0.001). Among the offenders, volumes of these areas were not associated with psychopathy scores, substance abuse, psychotropic medication, or global IQ scores. By contrast, VBM analyses of grey matter revealed focal, symmetrical, bilateral areas of atrophy in the postcentral gyri, frontopolar cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex among the offenders as compared with the healthy men (z-scores as high as 5.06). Offenders with psychopathy showed the smallest volumes in these areas. The larger volumes in posterior brain areas may reflect atypical neurodevelopmental processes that underlie early-onset persistent antisocial and aggressive behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Niuvanniemi Hospital, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland. jari.tiihonen@niuva.fi
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tiihonen
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Mikko P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Laakso
authors.forename: Sheilagh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hodgins
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Testa
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: Eila
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Repo-Tiihonen
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vaurio
authors.forename: Hilkka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Soininen
authors.forename: Hannu J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Aronen
authors.forename: Mervi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Könönen
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Giovanni B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Frisoni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000503:physiopathology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*