Seruca, Tânia Catarina MiraSilva, Carlos Fernandes da2015-10-242015-10-242015Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 26(5), 699-717. doi: 10.1080/14789949.2015.10548561478-9949http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/4030This study sought to analyse the relation between executive functions and criminal recidivism. We assessed a set of cognitive abilities associated with executive functioning in a group of recidivist offenders (n = 19), primary offenders (n = 25) and non-offenders (n = 30). Our results, tested with nonparametric statistics and Monte Carlo method, revealed that there were no executive differences between both groups of offenders but, when compared with non-offenders, the recidivists showed a worse performance in Trail Making Test part B, and the primary offenders presented a significant lower score on Porteus Maze Test Age score. This study suggests that there can be a different pattern of executive functioning deficits associated with the offenders’ criminal record: recidivism may be more related to mental flexibility impairments and primary offenders’ antisocial behaviour may be aggravated by planning deficits.engCriminal recidivismExecutive functionsNeuropsychological assessmentMental flexibilityPlanningjournal article10.1080/14789949.2015.1054856