Exploration of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Health Risk Behaviors (HRBs) in Male Recidivist Violent Offenders: Indian Scenario

Abstract

Aggression and violent behavior are widespread in the world and cause serious threats to public safety. Violent criminal recidivism rates remain very high among certain groups of offenders. In India, the quantum of total violent crimes is continuously increasing from 2009 to 2019. Adverse childhood experiences can affect the development of a child in many ways, leading to highly maladaptive behaviors, such as serious, violent, and chronic (SVC) delinquency. This study was done as a case-control method among recidivist violent offenders and controls to examine the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on violent criminality. The questionnaire included the World Health Organization Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE- IQ) and standardized measures of Health Risk Behaviors (HRBs). Thirteen categories of adverse childhood experiences of the recidivist violent offenders and controls were measured. Bivariate analysis showed that there was a significant relation (p < 0.001) between ACEs and violent criminality in cases (M = 72.14, SD = 6.80, N = 35) and controls (M = 44.91, SD = 5.39, N = 32). The largest correlation was found between collective violence and household violence (r = 0.813). Bivariate correlation analyses were highly significant between total ACE score and criminality (r (35) = 0.927, p < 0.001). The results reveal that household violence, community violence and collective violence experienced by recidivist violent offenders were nearly double the rate of the control group. Findings emphasize the need for evaluations of ACEs in recidivist offenders for better rehabilitation strategies and also the necessity for preventive efforts at all levels.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40653-021-00434-1.

Keywords: Adverse childhood experiences; Aggression; Health risk behaviors; Offenders; Recidivism; Violence.

Fig. 1

Theoretical considerations on the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), health risk behaviors (HRBs) and serious, violent, chronic (SVC) deliquents

Fig. 2

Demographic information on civic status (a), education (b) and work status over the last 12 months (c) of participants in percentage