Neuropsychological disorders in juvenile delinquents

Juvenile delinquents are young people who break the law. They are usually males of low socio-economic status and low education, and are more exposed to brain damage risk factors, especially drug use, and have a higher prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These characteristics suggest a delay in the development of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is related to neuropsychological functions such as language, memory, attention, and executive functions. To assess the evidence of a delay in the development of prefrontal functions, a search was conducted for studies that evaluated neuropsychological functions in inmate juvenile delinquents, comparing them to a control group, and only 14 articles were found with these characteristics. The review showed that, despite methodological issues on task selection and on the composition of control groups, there is evidence that juvenile delinquents have disorders on neuropsychological functions such as language comprehension, visuospatial working memory, selective and sustained attention, and components of executive functions such as cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and planning. These findings agree with the hypothesis that there is a developmental delay in the prefrontal functions of juvenile delinquents. Understanding the deficits juvenile delinquents have on neuropsychological functions is crucial to design prevention and treatment programs for juvenile delinquency.