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We describe a project in which a group of Danish children with schizophrenic mothers (high-risk children) have been periodically assessed and followed since 1962. The number of registered criminal offenses in the children, their schizophrenic mothers, and their fathers was found to be higher than for comparison groups. The implications for high-risk research and hypotheses on the relation of schizophrenia and criminality are discussed.

R isk, vulnerability, and protection have been defined in a number of different ways (1-3). One model of protection that has been proposed is the "compensatory model" (1, 4). According to this model, a protective factor is one that helps an individual to compensate in the face of risk factors or high levels of stress. Children who are at risk, but who have enhanced qualities of strength, can overcome the risk and have successful life outcomes. This model is based on the assumption that competence or success in the face of risk suggests a higher than normal level of resources.The current study uses the compensatory model of protection to examine whether individuals with criminal fathers who do not become criminal themselves might be protected from such an outcome because of heightened responsiveness of the autonomic nervous system. This responsiveness is theorized to reflect enhanced attentional or emotional processing (5). Our unique study group allowed us to assess whether this biological "strength" characterized individuals who were protected from criminal outcomes.One other recent study has suggested that orienting responsiveness may play a role in protecting individuals from serious criminal outcomes. Raine et al. (6) found that orienting responsiveness measured at age 15 was greater in delinquent adolescents who had desisted from crime by age 29 than in both delinquent adolescents who had become adult criminals and nondelinquent, noncriminal comparison subjects. The current study attempted to replicate these findings in a distinct group of subjects at high risk for criminal behavior.

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