To Örebro University

BACKGROUND: There are different research approaches regarding the causes and possible overrepresentation of dyslexia in criminals. One approach focuses on sociological explanations such as under-stimulation at home, while another focuses on the importance of cognitive neurobiological dysfunctions. In several studies, poor memory for digits and poor verbal learning ability have been found in non-criminal dyslexics.

AIM: To compare memory performance in two groups of dyslexics, namely, juvenile delinquents and junior college students, in order to discuss their dyslexic problems in the light of sociocultural and cognitive neurobiological approaches.

PARTICIPANTS: Two groups of male adolescent dyslexics: 11 juvenile delinquents (mean age 18.55 years, SD = 2.07), all of them convicted for severe offences, and 11 junior college students (mean age 17.09 years, SD = 0.83).

RESULTS: Matched-samples t-tests indicate that there is no difference in memory performance between the two different groups of dyslexics, which supports the accuracy of the diagnoses of dyslexia in the group of juvenile delinquents.

CONCLUSIONS: The present results show that the memory performance of dyslexic juvenile delinquents does not differ from that of dyslexic junior college students. A sociocultural approach, therefore, cannot plausibly explain the high prevalence of reading and writing difficulties among juvenile delinquents.