Crime Growth: Early mental ills fuel young-adult offending
By Bruce Bower
A new study offers a rare glimpse of the psychiatric profiles of children most likely to commit crimes as young adults. It also suggests that childhood mental disorders substantially contribute to criminal behavior by adults.
Youngsters who exhibited emotional ailments, such as depression and anxiety disorders, along with substance abuse or other behavior problems had the greatest chance of getting arrested for serious and violent crimes by age 21, say psychologist William E. Copeland of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and his colleagues.