Psychosocial maladjustment and criminal responsibility--results of a catamnestic study

The introduction in 1968 of the legal concept of Grave Abnormal into the penal code, Development of the Personality Amounting to a Disorder made possible criminal exculpation on the basis of psychosocial maldevelopment. Statistically established criteria for its application have hitherto been lacking. A corpus of 276 offenders on probation under this legal provision has now been compared statistically with a control group homogeneous in respect of the significant parameters. It has been possible to arrive at differentiated syndromes which are well characterised by the corresponding criteria in the penal code.