biological explanation

Question 1

Brain injury- studies

Answer 1

Link between BI and offending. Williams found 60% of 196 inmate sample recalled one or more head injuries in youth. Group tended to be younger at time of first offence, high recividist rates, more time in prison than rest of sample

Question 2

Acquired Brain Injuries

Answer 2

Incidents such as falls, cause developing brain to misfire (brain not fully mature until mid-20s). Impulse control, forward planning last aspects to develop. ABI disrupts development, behaviour=reckless, higher likelihood of offending

Question 3

What does amygdala do to aggression

Answer 3

Abnormalities in size, structure and activity of amygdala correlate with criminal behaviour
Raine (1997) found reduced metabolic activity in left amygdala of psychopathic murderers
Raine (1990) found children who failed to exhibit a fear response to loud unpleasant sound more likelyto have committed a crime 20 years later
Pardini-ppts with reduced amygdala volume 3x more likely to show aggression, violence and psychopathic traits

Question 4

Amygdala and aggression- studies

Answer 4

Raine (1997) found reduced metabolic activity in left amygdala of psychopathic murderers
Raine (1990) found 3 year olds who failed to elicit fear response to loud tone were more likely to go on and commit crime 20 years later (explained by abnormal amygdala)
Pardini et al- found 26y/o males w reduced amygdala volume were 3x more likely to be aggressive, violent and psychopathic than those with a regular amygdala

Question 5

XYY syndrome

Answer 5

1 in 1k males born with additional Y chromosome. Physical and Behavioural differences- taller, low intelligence, impulsive, naughty

Question 6

XYY syndrome- studies

Answer 6

Jacobs et al- found XYY chromosome pattern is overrepresented in prison population

Question 7

+

Answer 7

+BI- Fazel et al. Swedish registry of violent criminals. Of those who had experienced an ABI, 8.8% had committed a violent crime in comparison to 3.3% of a matched control group
+Application to assessing criminal culpability- increased awareness for brain injuries in system, neural injury viewed the same way as mental health in court.
bio expl to have an important influence on court decision making

Question 8

-

Answer 8

• BI Fazel counter- correlational, not causal. Individuals w/ ABI also more likely to experience MI, or abuse drugs. These may create predisposition to offend
• AMYGDALA, Role of OFC- amygdala heavily influenced by OFC, which isn’t part of limbic system. reduced OFC functioning is associated with agg and outbursts
• XYY- Re and Birkhoff meta-analysis concluded no link between XYY and offending behaviour w/ 50 years of evidence. Prevalence likely due to XYY people unable to integrate seamlessly into society.