Mental disorders and charges of violent offences. A study of male adolescent remand prisoners

This study describes associations between mental disorders and charges of violence among remanded adolescents.100 15–17 year old boys from East Denmark, consecutively remanded during one year, were interviewed with SCAN, K-SADS and SCID-II to obtain past year ICD-10 diagnoses.There was no statistically significant association between the occurrence of a violent charge and mental disorders in general (OR = 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI)[0.24; 4.38]). An association was found between violent charge and non-danish ethnicity (OR = 7.58, [1.60; 35.92]).Previously reported association between violence and mental disorder among adults were not replicated in this male adolescent remand population. A developmental hypothesis is proposed.