A Study of the XYY Syndrome in Tall Men and Juvenile Delinquents

Two New Cases of XYY Chromosome Complement: And a Review of the Literature

“…The (Case 1) patient had been convicted of rape at the age of 14 and therefore shows a similarity to the 20 cases of sexual crimes among XYY men described in the literature (16,18,21,37). Although he was of normal intelligence, he did not progress well in school (44), and the patient in Case 2 had no better than borderline intelligence similar to the retardates (6,7,19,33) and retarded criminals (5,7,12,23,41).…”

“…Both patients were convicted of offences prior to age 18, similar to the patients of Price (30). In addition both were quite suspicious and even paranoid toward the environment, and the patient in Case 1 suffered from an acute paranoid schizophrenia illness that is similar to the cases described by Abdullah (1) and Marinello (21).…”

“…Although he was of normal intelligence, he did not progress well in school (44), and the patient in Case 2 had no better than borderline intelligence similar to the retardates (6,7,19,33) and retarded criminals (5,7,12,23,41). Other similarities include the preoccupation with fire (11,21,23) and the normal anatomy and physiology except for tallness.…”

“…On the one hand, approximately 1:500-1:900 live male newborns have this complement (3,9,24,39) but very few seem to come to clinical attention; on the other hand, surveys of institutions for the retarded (6,18), the mentally ill (2,12,16,22), the criminally insane (5,9,18,28,30) and the aggressive offender (11,21,23,26,38) have all shown a higher incidence of the XYY complement than would be expected in the general population. Some investigators (4,15) have tried to explain these individuals, in mental institutions and prisons, on the basis of their being tall and therefore more likely to be considered as dangerous by judges and psychiatrists.…”

“…There were a number of case reports that pointed out the incidence of sexual crimes (20 cases), especially against minors, (16,18,(21)(22)(23) and of arson, (six cases -11, 19, 21, 23). Of those cases described in detail there are at least 11 with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or "chronic functional psychosis" (1, 2, 9, 11, 12,29), with an additional four cases of very severe schizoid personality (7,12,21). In addition, some of the 47 patients found in maximum security hospitals were probably schizophrenic, although the psychiatric description or diagnosis was not included in many of the case reports.…”