Vol. 4, No. 2, 1998 Page 3 
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Vol. 4, No. 2, 1998 Page 3 |
"Recent studies have indicated that up to 75% of young offenders have some sort of
cognitive deficit, including learning disability. In 1991/92, males represented 80-90% of the cases
that came to the attention of the youth justice system. Boys with severe learning disabilities are
more than twice as likely to engage in delinquent activities as boys not so affected. They are also
more likely to be arrested. This does not mean that learning disabilities lead to delinquency, but
rather that learning disabilities place a young person in an increased risk category."
Yude Henteleff, Q.C.,
Honorary Solicitor, Learning
Disabilities Association of Canada,in
"Special Needs Children and the Youth
Justice System: 'Sliding off the Scales of
Justice,'"
1996
"[Various] studies over a period of nearly 40 years... suggest a relative incidence of
neuropathology among violent offenders many times in excess of that found in the general
population, at ratios ranging from a high of 31:1 in the case of homicide offenders through 21:1
among `habitual aggressive' offenders to a low of 4:1 in the case of `one-time aggressives.' We
propose that, though such discrepancies do not confirm neuropathology as univariately causative
of criminal aggression, neither is it reasonable to believe that they are simple artifacts of chance."
Nathaniel J. Pallone and James J.
Hennessy, presentation to the 35th
Annual Meeting of the Academy
of Criminal Justice Sciences,
Albuquerque, NM, March 14, 1998
"Many neuroscientists now believe that one key factor in violent behavior is a failure of
impulse control. In at least a subset of violent offenders, the inability to control certain drives and
desires may lead to acts of violence and aggression. No one believes that a simple neurochemical
produces antisocial behavior, but evidence from several laboratories indicates that the
neurotransmitter serotonin is a key player in impulse control."
Nancy Touchette, in the Journal of
NIH Research, February 1994
"New insights about the causes of violent behavior are... challenging the notion that
violence is something a person always does on purpose and should be punished for. Now it
appears that many types of violence, especially impulsive violence, may be just like other mental
disorders-a dysfunction of the brain-that can be treated and prevented."
Ronald Kotulak,
in Inside the Brain, 1996
"The best philanthropy is a search for cause, an attempt to cure evils at their source."
John D. Rockefeller