Awareness of the offense and perception of the victim among juvenile sex offenders.

INTRODUCTION: The present work presents data on research into adolescents who committed sex offenses, carried out in the Apulia Region of southern Italy and focused in particular on the perpetrators' perception of the peculiar profile of the criminal act committed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three University sections of the School of Medicine, Bari University, took part in this research: Criminology and Forensic Psychopathology, Psychiatry and Juvenile Neuropsichiatry, working in collaboration with the Department for Juvenile Justice and the Community, and the Center for Juvenile Justice in Apulia. In total, 31 subjects were included in the study, all Juvenile Sex Offenders. A detailed questionnaire was employed to obtain all the relevant information of criminological concern. DISCUSSION: Among most of the minors considered, a very poor awareness emerged of the peculiar type of offense committed, and of its consequences on the victims and the social context. RESULTS: This finding highlights an evident contradiction and confusion between legislative provisions in the area of sex offenses and rape, and the perspectives of juveniles and adolescents. CONSLUSIONS: There is an evident need for legislative norms to adopt registers that are more accessible to the complex juvenile world, that cannot be assimilated to the adult world.

Depressive and adjustment disorders - some questions about the differential diagnosis: case studies.

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders in youth are still problematic because in this age the clinical presentation is atypical, and the diagnostic tools and the therapies are the same as that used for the adults. Mood disorders are categorically divided into unipolar disorders (major depressive disorder and dysthymic disorder) and bipolar disorder in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition, Text Revision), but mood symptoms are also comprised in the diagnostic criteria of the adjustment disorder (AD), which occur in many different psychiatric disorders, and may also be found in some physical conditions. The differential diagnosis is not much addressed in the midst of clinical investigation and so remains the major problem in the clinical practice. AIMS: The associations between some variables and the depressive disorder and AD were analyzed to make considerations about differential diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reported a retrospective study of 60 patients affected by depressive disorder and AD. The analysis has evaluated the association between some variables and the single diagnostic categories. We have considered 10 variables, of which 6 are specific to the disorders, and 4 have been considered related problems. RESULTS: The statistical analysis showed significant results for the associations of 3 variables (prevalent symptoms, treatment, and family history) with the single diagnostic categories. CONCLUSION: The discriminate analysis resulted in statistically significant differences between patients with depressive disorders and those with AD on 3 variables, of which 2 are specific to the disorders, and 1 is included in the related problems. The other variables were weakly associated with the single diagnostic categories without any statistically significant differences. The 3 variables that were associated with the single diagnostic categories support the distinct construct validity of the 2 diagnostic categories, but, to date, it is difficult to establish if these variables can be considered diagnostic predictors. On the other hand, the other variables did not support the distinct construct validity of the 2 diagnostic categories, which suggest an overlapping and dimensional concept. The spectrum approach could unify categorical classification that is essential with a dimensional view. Combination of dimensional and categorical principles for classifying mood disorders may help to reduce the problems of underdiagnosis and undertreatment.