Behavioral measures of impulsivity and the law

Abstract

The General Theory of Crime proposes that crime is explained by the combination of situational opportunity and lack of self-control. Impulsivity is one of the important components of selfcontrol. Because behavioral measures of impulsivity are becoming more commonly utilized to assess forensic populations, this manuscript provides an overview of three current behavioral measures. In doing so, an example of their application is provided using a group of individuals likely to come into contact with the legal system: adolescents with Conduct Disorder. Earlier age of onset of Conduct Disorder symptoms has been shown to be an important predictor of the persistence of poor outcomes into adulthood including participation in criminal activities. This study found differential behavioral profiles across distinct measures of impulsivity by those with childhood-versus adolescent-onset Conduct Disorder. Legal implications for defining behavioral deficits using behavioral measures of impulsivity and their current limitations are discussed. KeywordsImpulsivity; Conduct Disorder; Adolescence; Continuous Performance Task; Stop Task; Delay DiscountingThere is no such crime as a crime of thought; there are only crimes of actioñ Clarence DarrowTypically it is not an individual's goal to become incarcerated or otherwise experience consequences from the law, yet so frequently people behave in a manner that will most certainly lead to this outcome. Consider the case of Mr. A.W. who, in December 2007, was arrested after stealing a woman's Honda Accord in Durham, NC. Although auto theft is not rare, what is remarkable about the crime is that the theft occurred while the woman had just stepped out of her car to speak with police officers at an active crime scene that was being filmed by a crew from the local ABC news affiliate (WTVD, 2007). While this situation presented some opportunity for crime (the door was left open with the key in the ignition) it also included very clear deterrents (presence of police and being filmed). The failure of these deterrents to prevent this crime demonstrates that this individual observed the opportunity for immediate gain within this situation, yet lacked the ability to inhibit behavior despite the strong likelihood of negative consequences. This combination of opportunity and lack of control plays an important role in explaining criminal activity. In fact, the General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990) proposes that all crime can be explained by the combination of situational opportunity and lack of self-control of the The following is an overview of some of the current approaches to behavioral impulsivity assessment that will provide a basis for understanding the potential utility of these types of instruments for informing the legal process. NIH Public Access Utility of Behavioral Measures of Impulsivity for Informing the Legal ProcessThere are a variety of aspects of the law in which impulsivity assessment may play a role, ranging from criminal culpability and sentencing, to requi...

Criminal conviction, impulsivity, and course of illness in bipolar disorder

“…BIS‐11 scores were not higher but response inhibition was more severe in subjects with conviction histories, resembling results from offenders with schizophrenia (55). This suggests that, in some clinical populations, self‐reported impulsiveness may not accurately reflect the propensity for impulsive behavior (23) and underscores the importance of functional measures related to impulsivity (25).…”

“…Inability to delay response for a larger reward can be measured by tasks requiring a choice between smaller‐sooner and larger‐later rewards, or by free‐operant tasks. These aspects of impulsivity are increased in bipolar disorder (24), especially with recurrent or complicated course of illness (22, 24) and are also components of low self‐control, a construct that is considered to be central to criminal behavior (25, 26). These aspects have not been investigated relative to history of criminal behavior in bipolar disorder.…”

Development and initial assessment of a new paradigm for assessing cognitive and motor inhibition: The bimodal virtual-reality Stroop

“…Yet, available measures of inhibition/impulsivity are often considered unsatisfactory or incomplete as they are associated with low sensitivity and poor predictive value, especially among clinical populations (e.g. with psychiatric and/or neurological impairments; Mathias et al, 2008;Moeller et al, 2001;Reynolds et al, 2006). The main goal of this study was to develop a single, yet more complete, assessment of inhibition/impulsivity using virtual reality.…”

“…Thus, computerized assessments are better suited to evaluate acute states of inhibition/impulsivity, especially among clinical populations (e.g. Mathias et al, 2008;Moeller et al, 2001).…”

Profile of male adolescents with conduct disorder on intellectual efficacy, cognitive flexibility, cognitive coping, impulsivity and alexithymia: A comparison with high-risk controls

“…Firstly, deficits in cognitive flexibility 10 , in particular the ability to shift cognitive set according to changing contingencies, have been described using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test 11 : adolescents with CD seem to perform more poorly than community controls 5,12 , although some found them to perform equally well 13 . Secondly, deficits in inhibition are well documented [14][15][16] , in particular in some aspects of behavioral inhibition, such as the ability to refrain from responding before the stimulus is fully processed, as measured by the behavioral task of Immediate and Delayed Memory, IMT/DMT 17 : this type of impulsive behavioral response was observed more frequently in adolescents with disruptive behavior 18,19 or with CD 20,21 , compared with community adolescents.…”