Association of Poor Childhood Fear Conditioning and Adult Crime

ObjectiveAmygdala dysfunction is theorized to give rise to poor fear conditioning, which in turn predisposes to crime, but it is not known whether poor conditioning precedes criminal offending. This study prospectively assessed whether poor fear conditioning early in life predisposes to adult crime...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of psychiatry 2010-01, Vol.167 (1), p.56-60
Main Authors: Gao, Yu, Raine, Adrian, Venables, Peter H., Dawson, Michael E., Mednick, Sarnoff A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation
Adult
Amygdala - physiopathology
Biological and medical sciences
Child Behavior - physiology
Child Behavior - psychology
Child Development - physiology
Child, Preschool
Cohort Studies
Conditioning, Classical - physiology
Crime
Crime - psychology
Crime - statistics & numerical data
Criminals - psychology
Criminals - statistics & numerical data
Criminology
Ethnic Groups - psychology
Ethnic Groups - statistics & numerical data
Family
Fear & phobias
Fear - physiology
Female
Galvanic Skin Response - physiology
Humans
Male
Mauritius
Medical sciences
Neuropsychology
Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Punishment
Scientific imaging
Social Class
Social Environment
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Summary:ObjectiveAmygdala dysfunction is theorized to give rise to poor fear conditioning, which in turn predisposes to crime, but it is not known whether poor conditioning precedes criminal offending. This study prospectively assessed whether poor fear conditioning early in life predisposes to adult crime in a large cohort. MethodElectrodermal fear conditioning was assessed in a cohort of 1,795 children at age 3, and registration for criminal offending was ascertained at age 23. In a case-control design, 137 cohort members with a criminal record were matched on gender, ethnicity, and social adversity with 274 noncriminal comparison members. Statistical analyses compared childhood fear conditioning for the two groups. ResultsCriminal offenders showed significantly reduced electrodermal fear conditioning at age 3 compared to matched comparison subjects. ConclusionsPoor fear conditioning at age 3 predisposes to crime at age 23. Poor fear conditioning early in life implicates amygdala and ventral prefrontal cortex dysfunction and a lack of fear of socializing punishments in children who grow up to become criminals. These findings are consistent with a neurodevelopmental contribution to crime causation.
ISSN:0002-953X
1535-7228
DOI:10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09040499