Executive Functioning and Offending Behavior: An Updated Meta-Analysis

• Published date: 01 April 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548231225260
• Author: Rebecca L. Griffith,Sarah Nowalis,Amalia Monroe-Gulick
• Date: 01 April 2024

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2024, Vol. 51, No. 4, April 2024, 528 –551.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548231225260

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2024 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

528

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING AND OFFENDING

BEHAVIOR

An Updated Meta-Analysis

REBECCA L. GRIFFITH

The University of Kansas

SARAH NOWALIS

Bowling Green State University

AMALIA MONROE-GULICK

The University of Kansas Libraries

Executive (dys)functioning is a known risk factor for offending behavior. A meta-analysis was conducted to understand dif-

ferences in executive functioning across justice-involved and non-justice-involved groups. Across 37 studies, justice-

involved groups performed significantly worse on measures of executive functioning compared with controls, with a

random-effects grand mean effect size of Cohen’s d = 0.55. However, 84.8% of the variance in effect size was due to

between-study heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses and meta-regression were conducted to examine differences across age

group (adult vs. adolescent), the measure of executive functioning, and intelligence quotient (IQ). Age group was a significant

moderator such that there was a significant overall random-effects effect size for adults (Cohen’s d = 0.72) but not for ado-

lescents (Cohen’s d = 0.18). The type of executive functioning measure and IQ were non-significant in random-effects

models. Results indicate that, for adults, a robust difference in executive functioning performance exists between justice-

involved and non-justice-involved groups. Clinical and correctional policy implications are discussed within the Risk-Needs-

Responsivity framework.

Keywords: executive functioning; meta-analysis; offending behavior; criminal legal system

Increasingly, the field of neuropsychology is informing research on risk factors for offend-

ing behavior. A growing body of research focuses on neuropsychological impairment

among individuals that may portend risk for or maintenance of offending behavior. Indeed,

neuropsychological factors are shown to relate to the onset, continuity, and desistance of

offending behaviors over time (Moffitt, 1990; Raine et al., 2005; Séguin, 2004). Executive

functioning is one such neuropsychological factor that encompasses interrelated skills that

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Rebecca L. Griffith,

Department of Psychology, The University of Kansas, 1000 Sunnyside Ave., Lawrence, KS 66045; e-mail:

rebecca.griffith@ku.edu.

1225260CJBXXX10.1177/00938548231225260Criminal Justice and BehaviorExecutive Function and Offending a Meta-Analysis

research-article2024

Griffith et al. / EXECUTIVE FUNCTION AND OFFENDING A META-ANALYSIS 529

assist in higher-order planning and problem-solving to accomplish goal-directed behavior

(Diamond, 2013). Impairments in executive functioning have consistently been linked to

various offending behaviors, including sexual offending, problematic substance use, violent

behavior, delinquency, aggression, and conduct disorder (Morgan & Lilienfeld, 2000;

Ogilvie et al., 2011). In fact, it has been argued that neuropsychological impairments in

areas like executive functioning may be a key mechanism mediating the association between

genetic vulnerabilities and psychosocial influences on offending behavior (Friedman et al.,

2008; Raine & Yang, 2006). Thus, it is important to characterize the association between

executive functioning and offending behavior.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING

Executive functioning comprises interrelated abilities that govern goal-directed behavior

and self-regulation, including resisting temptation, thinking before acting, mentally playing

with ideas, and staying focused (Diamond, 2013). A significant challenge to understanding

the relation between executive functioning and offending behavior is in the diverse nature

of executive functioning itself (Miyake et al., 2000). Debate exists about what functions

comprise executive functioning and if separate functions can be subsumed under one cen-

tral executive function (Diamond, 2013; Miyake et al., 2000). There is a general consensus

that inhibition—the ability to control one’s actions and attention, working memory—the

ability to retain and manipulate information to execute a goal, and cognitive flexibility—

mental set shifting, are three core component parts of executive functioning (Hofmann

et al., 2012). By integrating these three components, one can reason, problem-solve, and

plan.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOR

Given that executive functioning involves self-regulation and planful cognition and

behavior, deficits in these skills are highly correlated with psychopathology involving cog-

nitive and behavioral impulsivity (e.g., attention deficit disorder, conduct disorder, antiso-

cial personality disorder) as well as delinquency and criminality (Ogilvie et al., 2011; Yang

et al., 2022). However, researchers prudently eschew reporting a direct causal relationship

as executive functioning deficits are often the consequence of a multitude of possible risk

factors, and thus executive functioning likely acts as a mediating mechanism between any

number of insults and later offending behavior. Justice-involved populations often report

higher rates of insults to brain health such as exposure to prenatal teratogens (Burd et al.,

2010), high rates of traumatic event exposure (Dierkhising et al., 2013), underprivileged

home and school environments (Maschi et al., 2008), and traumatic brain injury (O’Rourke

et al., 2016). A large body of evidence has consistently shown that incarcerated individuals

often have structural and functional abnormalities in regions of the prefrontal cortex respon-

sible for executive functioning (Yang & Raine, 2009). Thus, there may be an equifinality of

risk factors that impact brain health/prefrontal cortex functioning and thereby preclude

healthy development of executive functioning and put an individual at a higher risk for

becoming involved in the justice system.

Indeed, previous meta-analysis have found connections between deficits in executive

functioning and broad types of offending behavior across adult and adolescent populations