Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:1211-1216
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Race bias in the diagnosis and disposition of violent adolescents
DO Lewis, SS Shanok, RJ Cohen, M Kligfeld and G Frisone
The authors compared psychiatric symptoms, violent behaviors, and medical
histories of an entire one-year sample of adolescents from the same
community who were sent either to the correctional school or the only state
hospital adolescent psychiatric unit serving the area. The initial
hypothesis that the incarcerated group would be equally disturbed but more
violent than the hospitalized group was contradicted. Violence as well as
severe psychiatric symptomatology was equally prominent in the two groups.
The most powerful variables distinguishing the groups were race, accidents,
and injuries (especially head injury), and sex. The medical and social
implications of the findings are discussed.
