Biological Approach Forensics Ao1 Flashcards
Atavistic form
Tendency to revert to an ancestral type
A explanation for criminal behaviour suggesting that criminals have an innate personality is a throwback to primate forms - determined by their physiological makeup
Lombrosso says
Offenders possess similar characteristics to lower primates and this could explain their criminality
Offenders were seen by him as lacking evolutionary dev
Their savage and untamed nature meant they would find it impossible to adjust to demeans of a civilised society and would inevitably turn to crime
He saw offending as natural tendency rooted in genes of those who engage with it
Offending was innate so offenders can’t be blamed
His Ideas are evolutionary
What did lombroso measure
Ppls height weight span of arms eye colour
Lombroos said all criminals have
Dark skin high cheekbones extra toes or nipples
He said women’s are short
Lombroso deemed to be father of …
Modern criminology
Lombroso investigated
Facial and cranial features of hundreds of Italian convicts
After examining 4000 living and 400 dead criminals
He concluded the majority of crimes were accounted for by atavistic characteristics
Somato types meas
Body types
Who identified somatotypes and how many
4 somatot types
Kretschemer
Genetic explanations for crime suggests …
That would be offenders inherit a gene or a combo of genes that predispose them to commit a crime
2 people who studied genetic explanations of offending behaviour
Christiansen 1977
Crowe 1972
Christiansen 1977
Studied 3500 twins in Denmark and found concordance rates for offending 35% MZ twins and 13% for DZ twins
Crowe 1972
Looked at adopted children whose biological mother had a criminal record
50% of the children at risk of a criminal record at age 18 compared to to 5% control group whose mother didn’t have a criminal record
Diathesis stress model
Considering genetics and offending behaviour
Criminal beh may be geneticall/biologically pre disposed but is triggered by environmental factors
Eg being raised in a dysfunctional environment or having criminal role models
Who founded candidate genses in offendeing and how
Tiihonen 2014 analysed over 900 offenders and revealed abnormalities on to genes that may be associated with violent crime
MAOA GENE
CDH13 GEENE
MAOA gene
Which controls dopamine and serotonin the the brain. High levels are associated with aggressive behaviour
CDH13 GENE
which regulates neural pathways and contribute to maintaing excitru and inhib synapses high levels also founf in app
However this research so far hasn’t been replicated
Neural explanation of offending beh
Much of the evidence in this area has investigated individuals diagnosed with and ( APD) antisocial personality disorder formally known as psychopathy
APD is associated with reduced emotional responses, a lack of empathy for others and this is a condition characterised by many convicted criminals
Eg less activity in the frontal lobe of a psychopath vs Normal person
Phineas gage
Railway worker - catastrophic Damage to prefrontal lobes caused by a metal bolt catapulting through cheek and up through eye into brain (pre frontal area)
Recovered physically but went from being sober quiet family man to a violent drunk
Prefrontal lobes keep behaviour in check - moderate impulses
Raine research in neural explanations
Raine et al also founf an 11% reduction in brain matter of the pfc in people w APD compared to controls
Across many studies of the APD brain raine found that individuals with anti social personalities ha reduced activity in pre frontal cortex - parts that regulate emotional behaviour
What is a mirror neuron
A type of brain cell that fires when you do an action and also when you simply watch someone else doing the same action they help us understand and interpret the actions of others
Eg you see ppl racing and your heart starts racing trying to see which will finish first
Keysers 2011
Research suggests that APD can experience empathy but more sporadically then a normal person
Found when offenders were aksed to empathise with a person showing pain on a film did their empathy reaction activate this is controlled by mirror neurorns
Suggest taht APD individuals are not totally without empathy but may have a neural switch which can be turned on or off
Unlike a normal Brian where it’s permanently switched in
