Biological Explanation of Crime and Anti-social Behaviour

Question 1

Biological Explanation

Answer 1

Suggests the causes of offending reside within an individual.

Question 2

Brain Injury

Answer 2

Link between brain injury and offending, particularly injury from childhood.

Question 3

Huw Williams et al - Brain injury

Answer 3

Analysed data from 196 inmates from one UK prison.

60% recalled a history of one or more head injuries in their youth. The sample group was also younger at time of first offence, recorded higher rates of reoffending and spent more time in prison over the last 5 years than rest of sample.

Question 4

Connection between brain injury and offending

Answer 4

• Acquired brain injuries are incidents resulting in brain damage like falls or sporting accidents.
• They cause the developing brain to misfire.
• The brain is not fully mature until mid 20s.
• Impulse control/forward planning are the last to develop.

Question 5

How can an ABI disrupt development?

Answer 5

Individual fails to move beyond the reckless and risk taking behaviour that is associated with childhood.

Injured brains can destabilise mood, concentration and decision making, making offending behaviour more likely.

Question 6

Amygdala and Aggression

Answer 6

Almond shaped structure located in temporal lobe in both brain hemispheres. Part of the brains startle response.

Abnormalities in size, structure and activity correlate with increased aggression making criminal behaviour more likely.

Question 7

Adrian Raine - Amygdala and Aggression

Answer 7

• His 1997 study reduced metabolic activity was observed in several brain areas of murderers, such as left amygdala.
• 1990 study he investigated fear response in 1,795 three year olds. Electrodes were placed on fingers and played an unpleasant sound and other was silence following a tone. After 2 decades the children who committed crime were the ones who didn’t show fear to the first tone. Raine explained this as abnormal amygdala functioning.

Question 8

Dustin Padrini et al. - Amygdala and Aggression

Answer 8

Conducted neuroimaging scans on a group of 26 year old men divided on whether the size of their amygdala was normal or reduced.

Researchers returned 3 years later and the reduced amygdala group were 3x more likely to be aggressive, violent and show psychopathic traits than the others.

Question 9

XYY Syndrome

Answer 9

1 in 10,000 males are born with an additional Y chromosome.

• No effect on testosterone levels / sexual development.
• Physical and behavioural differences like being taller, lower intelligence, impulsive and behavioural difficulties.

Question 10

XYY and Crime - Patricia Jacobs et al.

Answer 10

• Chromosome survey of male patients at a state hopital in Scotland.
• Found that men with XYY were over represented in prison populations (15 per 10,000) compared to gen pop.

Question 11

Support for Brain Injury: Seena Fazel et al

Answer 11

• Analysed data from swedish population register from 1979 to 2009.
• Examined association between traumatic brain injury and convictions for violent crime.
• Individuals that experienced ABI: 8.8% committed a violent crime compared to 3% in a matched control group
• Physical trauma to brain may be a precursor to violent crime.

Question 12

Competing Brain Injury

Answer 12

Relationship between BI and offending is not necessarily casual, other variables may influence.

• People with sustained serious head injuries are more likely to experience mental illness or be alcohol/drug abusers.
• These factors may cause the predisposition to offend rather than the brain injuries.

Question 13

Weakness of Amygdala

Answer 13

Other brain areas are implicated

• Research suggests the amygdala doesn’t operate alone and is influenced by the OFC in the frontal lobe.
• OFC thought to regulate self-control and its reduced functioning is associated with increased aggression adn violent outbursts.
• Suggests influence of amygdala on aggression and crime is hard to disentangle.

Question 14

Weakness of XYY

Answer 14

Lack of evidence, not a credible exp of crime

• Laura Re and Jutta Birkhoff’s Meta analysis considered 50 years of evidence and concluded there was no link between XYY and offending behaviour.
• Although there is a prevalence of XYY men in prison, this could be explained by social factors like XYY makes it harder for men to integrate into society and find work.

Question 15

Application

Answer 15

New ways to assess criminal culpability.

• Williams et al 2010 investigation argue for increased awareness of brain injuries throughout criminal justice system like screening young people when they first offend.
• Recommend that neural injury should be viewed in the same way mental health is in court and taken into account as part of sentencing.

Bio explanations can be of importance influencing decision making during criminal trials.

Question 16

Individual Differences

Answer 16

Huw Williams et al states there is a lack of research on women with ABIs, but the small research suggests that there is similar effects to those observed in males.

XYY only effects bio males and cannot be applied to females. Research into gender differences in amygdala function shows conflicting results, some reporting no difference (Wrase et al 2003).

Implications of sex differences have not been fully established.