Evidence is steadily accumulating to support a neurodevelopmental basis for pedophilia. This includes increased incidence of non-right-handedness, which is a result primarily of prenatal neural development and solidified very early in life. Minor physical anomalies (MPAs; superficial deviations from typical morphological development, such as un-detached earlobes) also develop only prenatally, suggesting them as another potential marker of atypical physiological development during the prenatal period among pedophiles. This study administered the Waldrop Physical Anomaly Scale to assess the prevalence of MPAs in a clinical sample of men referred for assessment following a sexual assault, or another illegal or clinically significant sexual behavior. Significant associations emerged between MPA indices and indicators of pedophilia, including penile responses to depictions of children, number of child victims, and possession of child pornography. Moreover, greater sexual attraction to children was associated with an elevated craniofacial-to-peripheral anomalies ratio. The overall sample demonstrated a greater number of MPAs relative to prior samples of individuals with schizophrenia as well as to healthy controls.

No abstract

Adult men's height results from an interaction among positive and negative influences, including genetic predisposition, conditions in utero, and influences during early development such as nutritional quality, pathogen exposure, and socioeconomic status. Decreased height, reflected specifically as a decreased leg length, is strongly associated with increased risk of poorer health outcomes. Although prior research has repeatedly shown that pedophiles are shorter than nonpedophiles, the largest study to date relied on self-reported height. In the present study, pedophiles demonstrated reduced measured height and reduced leg length as compared with teleiophiles. Given the prenatal and early childhood origins of height, these findings contribute additional evidence to a biological, developmental origin of pedophilia. In addition, the magnitude of this height difference was substantially larger than that found in children exposed to a variety of early environmental stressors, but similar to that seen in other biologically based neurodevelopmental disorders.

Neuropsychological evaluations are increasingly performed in forensic contexts, including in criminal settings where security sometimes cannot be compromised to facilitate evaluation according to standardized procedures. Interpretation of nonstandardized assessment results poses significant challenges for the neuropsychologist. Research is limited in regard to the validation of neuropsychological test accommodation and modification practices that deviate from standard test administration; there is no published research regarding the effects of hand restraints upon neuropsychological evaluation results. This study provides preliminary results regarding the impact of restraints on motor functioning and common neuropsychological tests with a motor component. When restrained, performance on nearly all tests utilized was significantly impacted, including Trail Making Test A/B, a coding test, and several tests of motor functioning. Significant performance decline was observed in both raw scores and normative scores. Regression models are also provided in order to help forensic neuropsychologists adjust for the effect of hand restraints on raw scores of these tests, as the hand restraints also resulted in significant differences in normative scores; in the most striking case there was nearly a full standard deviation of discrepancy.