47,XYY Karyotype and Borderline Personality Disorder: An Italian Judicial Case and a Review of the Literature

During the 1960s and the 1970s, some studies postulated that Jacobs' Syndrome can lead to aggressive and/or criminal behavior, but the statistical certainty was questioned. In the 1990s new discoveries in neuroscience and genetics brought new attention to a possible biological component of deviance. In this context forensic psychiatrists were required to express opinions about a young Italian man afflicted by 47,XYY karyotype (Jacobs’ Syndrome) and Borderline Personality Disorder who had frequent violent behaviors against his relatives, being therefore accused of “abuse against family members or partners” (art. 572 Italian Penal Code). The Court disposed for an evaluation of his mental conditions, his imputability and his possible social dangerousness, analyzing the influences on behavior from both his mental and genetic conditions.