Dermatoglyphics in Juvenile Delinquence

Aim. The author develops complete digital dermatoglyphic investigations, on the basis of a pathological perspective, on a group of delinquents from Moldova (North-East part of Romania). Materials and methods. The study was performed on a group of 105 teen-agers and young delinquents with ages between 16 and 26 years, imprisoned in the Penitentiary of Iaşi, coming from different districts (the district of Iaşi, especially) of Moldova. Results. The main observation to be made is that the large range of blamable actions committed by the delinquents, from robbery up to crime, is correlated with the presence – in their fingerprints – of some important malformative sketches (distortions or anomalies) bearing deep pathological significance. At the level of the whole sample, the frequency they record differs sensibly from that of the reference group of Moldova, being nevertheless situated between the values found out by the author in other severe brain disorders, such as autism, IEP and epilepsy. Conclusion. All these observations demonstrate that such anomalies had been formed as early as the pre-natal period, when the papillary ridges are also finished up, under the action of some hereditary or teratogeneous factors, while bursting of an aggressive behaviour from the part of their carriers occurs in post-natal periods, at different ages, earlier or later (in the case under study: at juvenile ages), as a function of the severity of the disorders having occurred at brain level in the prenatal period and, equally, as a function of multiple external circumstantial (social, family) factors which they have to face. Most of the digital distortions here under analysis had been also evidenced on other European groups of delinquents, with the exception of two, namely: the extremely high ratio of the raketoid-type loops – on fingers IV and V, especially – and that of the bilateral and individual monomorphism, anomalies representing the personal contribution brought by the author to the list of digital dermatoglyphic indicators, for a precocious tracing of the persons risking commitment of severe offences, at least at the level of Moldova, the region from which the investigated subjects come.