Aetiology of Offender Types and Forensic Neuroscience: 2020 Summary
Week One: Offender Typologies
Accountability
"Not punishable is the person who commits a crime, that cannot be accounted to this person because
of his defective development or mental disorder."
3 Levels Accountability
1. Fully accountable: no disorder, or disorder is unrelated to offense
2. Diminished accountability: severe mental disorder which was of influence at time of offence
(this used to be divided in to three sections, the other two people slightly and greatly
diminished)
3. Fully unaccountable: offence is fully the result of mental disorder that they have/had at time
of offence
TBS order
For 150 years, Dutch Penal Law has 2 sanctions: punishment for those who committed a crime, and
custodial measure for those who did but are found diminished accountable or fully unaccountable
TBS = with compulsory psychiatric treatment in a TBS institute (for crimes that would have a 4+ year
sentence at least).
- TBS with conditions if compulsory psychiatric treatment does not seem to be necessary to prevent
recidivism
The main three personalities in crime: Antisocial personalities, psychosis and aggression
Reactive and proactive aggression:
Reactive = hot, high arousal, anger/hostility, response to threat or provocation
Proactive = driven by personal gain, cold, low arousal, dominance/bullying
- most psychotic offenders show reactive aggression
Subtyping of offenders with a psychotic/schizophrenic disorder: early starters, late starters, and first
offenders who are within late starters
Early starters = offenders who begin offending before the start of their psychotic disorder,
probably the result of conduct issues and substance usage
Late starters = begin criminal behaviour after start of psychotic disorder, probably due to
positive symptoms e.g. hallucinations, delusions
First starters = in their 30s or older when they suddenly commit a very violent offence
First offenders are interesting because schizophrenia is usually already full-blown by the early 20s, so
it’s strange for something like this to happen out of the blue at a later age. It’s also less likely for
someone to offend the older they get.
Early starters have much more conduct problems (almost 90%) signs compared to normal offenders
(with no psychotic disorder) - so conduct problems are early signs of schizophrenia, or is highly
comorbid. A diagnosis of ASPD is much more common in early starters.
In first offenders we see no signs of antisocial traits, and in late starters less.
Week One: Offender Typologies
Accountability
"Not punishable is the person who commits a crime, that cannot be accounted to this person because
of his defective development or mental disorder."
3 Levels Accountability
1. Fully accountable: no disorder, or disorder is unrelated to offense
2. Diminished accountability: severe mental disorder which was of influence at time of offence
(this used to be divided in to three sections, the other two people slightly and greatly
diminished)
3. Fully unaccountable: offence is fully the result of mental disorder that they have/had at time
of offence
TBS order
For 150 years, Dutch Penal Law has 2 sanctions: punishment for those who committed a crime, and
custodial measure for those who did but are found diminished accountable or fully unaccountable
TBS = with compulsory psychiatric treatment in a TBS institute (for crimes that would have a 4+ year
sentence at least).
- TBS with conditions if compulsory psychiatric treatment does not seem to be necessary to prevent
recidivism
The main three personalities in crime: Antisocial personalities, psychosis and aggression
Reactive and proactive aggression:
Reactive = hot, high arousal, anger/hostility, response to threat or provocation
Proactive = driven by personal gain, cold, low arousal, dominance/bullying
- most psychotic offenders show reactive aggression
Subtyping of offenders with a psychotic/schizophrenic disorder: early starters, late starters, and first
offenders who are within late starters
Early starters = offenders who begin offending before the start of their psychotic disorder,
probably the result of conduct issues and substance usage
Late starters = begin criminal behaviour after start of psychotic disorder, probably due to
positive symptoms e.g. hallucinations, delusions
First starters = in their 30s or older when they suddenly commit a very violent offence
First offenders are interesting because schizophrenia is usually already full-blown by the early 20s, so
it’s strange for something like this to happen out of the blue at a later age. It’s also less likely for
someone to offend the older they get.
Early starters have much more conduct problems (almost 90%) signs compared to normal offenders
(with no psychotic disorder) - so conduct problems are early signs of schizophrenia, or is highly
comorbid. A diagnosis of ASPD is much more common in early starters.
In first offenders we see no signs of antisocial traits, and in late starters less.
