Pedophilia and Neurobiologic Abnormalities. The State of Knowledge in 2009: A Literature Review

Abstract

Sexual crimes, and in particular pedophiliac conduct mark the general public. No casual factor has been
identified in a formal way up to now. The medical corps started addressing the problem in the middle of the 19th
century. The conception of pedophilia has since evolved from moral concerns to an anatomo-physiological model.
Consequently, the research is on indentifying the neurobiologic abnormalities which could explain such sexual
deviance. Several neuropsychologic abnormalities have been identified in pedophiles. The most conclusive data
shows a lower than average intellectual capacity and an over-representation of left-handers. Most structural and
functional imaging studies find cerebral abnormalities. However, the results obtained are contradictory depending
on the teams. Nevertheless, the ensemble of data from neuropsychologic and imaging research have given way to
the first etiologic model. Pedophilic deviance could only be the behavior of a precocious problem of cerebral
development. Cognitive and neurobiologic abnormalities identified by the teams completed the clinical picture of
pedophiles