Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2019 Nov-Dec;67:101508. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2019.101508. Epub 2019 Oct 24.
Neurological disorders can be mis-diagnosed as psychiatric ones. This might happen to pedophilia emerging as a symptom of brain insult (i.e. acquired pedophilic behavior). This paper aims to delineate a behavioral profile that might help to identify defendants whose pedophilic behavior is likely to be the consequence of a neurological disorder. Through a systematic review of the literature, seventeen clinical and behavioral variables of the modus operandi and victimology that can distinguish between acquired and developmental pedophilic behavior have been collected. Seven of these were found to be consistent behavioral indicators (i.e. red flags) for acquired pedophilia. Cluster hierarchical analysis on the seventeen variables collected through the systematic review of the literature on cases of acquired pedophilic behavior was applied to a new dataset including 66 Italian closed cases of pedophilia. Stepwise regression and correlation analyses were carried out to further examine the differences between the clusters identified in the cluster analysis. Results revealed that the new sample was partitioned into two clusters. Individuals with ascertained acquired pedophilia were grouped together. The clusters widely differed for the prevalence of red flags (mean number of red flags in each cluster: 2.14 ± 0.79 vs 4.96 ± 0.93, p < 0.001), while no between cluster difference emerged for the other clinical and behavioral variables. Regression analysis provided a robust model that included the three most significant red flags that explain over 64.5% of the variance (absence of masking, spontaneous confession and offenders older age). An organic origin of pedophilic behavior should be suspected if red flags are present in a defendant charged with pedophilia. In those cases, an in depth trans-disciplinary neuroscientific investigation is advocated. The behavioral profile identified might help to provide a proper assessment of defendants.
神经系统疾病可能被误诊为精神疾病。这种情况可能发生在作为脑损伤症状出现的恋童癖（即获得性恋童癖行为）中。本文旨在描述一种行为特征，该特征可能有助于识别那些其恋童癖行为可能是神经障碍后果的被告。通过对文献的系统回顾，收集了 17 种与作案手法和受害者学相关的临床和行为变量，可以区分获得性和发展性恋童癖行为。其中 7 种被认为是获得性恋童癖的一致行为指标（即危险信号）。对通过对获得性恋童癖病例文献的系统回顾收集的 17 个变量进行聚类层次分析，并将其应用于包括 66 例意大利封闭恋童癖案例的新数据集。对聚类分析中确定的聚类进行逐步回归和相关分析，以进一步检查它们之间的差异。结果表明，新样本被分为两个聚类。确定为获得性恋童癖的个体被归为一类。这两个聚类在危险信号的出现频率上存在广泛差异（每个聚类的危险信号平均数量：2.14±0.79 与 4.96±0.93，p<0.001），而其他临床和行为变量在聚类之间没有差异。回归分析提供了一个稳健的模型，该模型包含三个最重要的危险信号，它们可以解释超过 64.5%的方差（无掩饰、自发认罪和犯罪者年龄较大）。如果被告被指控恋童癖且存在危险信号，则应怀疑其恋童癖行为的器质性起源。在这些情况下，提倡进行深入的跨学科神经科学调查。所确定的行为特征可能有助于对被告进行适当的评估。
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