Biological explanations of offending behaviour

Question 1

What are the biological/historical explanations of offending behaviour?

Answer 1

atavistic form

Question 2

What is atavistic form?

Answer 2

‘Offenders are genetic throwbacks or primitive sub species that are ill suited to conforming to the rules of modern society’.
Such individuals are distinguishable by particular physiological, cranial and facial characteristics.
This was the ‘idea’ that…
Criminals were genetic ‘throwbacks’ and biologically different from non-criminals.
Offenders lack evolutionary development.
They are considered savage untamed and will find it impossible to adjust to society.
Deterministic attitudes towards crime.

Question 3

What are some of the features for criminals?

Answer 3

Narrow sloping brow
Strong, prominent jaw
High cheekbones
Facial asymmetry
Dark skin
Extra toes, nipples or fingers

Question 4

Who is Lombroso?

Answer 4

The Father of modern Criminology.

Question 5

What did Lombroso do and conclude?

Answer 5

Lombroso investigated the facial and cranial features of hundreds of Italian convicts both living and dead.

After examining the skulls of 3839 living criminals, and 383 dead criminals, it was concluded that 40% of the crimes were accounted for by atavistic characteristics.

Question 6

What are the limitations of the biological/historical explanations of crime?

Question 7

What are twin studies?

Answer 7

This is where psychologists try to establish whether there is a genetic link to behaviour. By looking at the differences between MZ and DZ twins.

Question 8

What are family studies?

Answer 8

This is where the psychologist study families to see if crime runs in families.

Question 9

What are adoption studies?

Answer 9

This is where psychologists try to determine whether behaviours are as a result of nature or nurture.

Question 10

What did Christensen (1977) find when doing a twin study?

Answer 10

3500 twin pairs in Denmark
found concordance rates of 35% (MZ) and 13% (DZ) which suggest not just behaviour might be inherited but also predisposing traits.

Question 11

What did Crowe (1972) find when doing a twin study?

Answer 11

Children adopted whose biological mother had criminal record had 50% chance of having criminal record by age of 18.
Those without the biological mother- 5% risk.

Question 12

What’s some further research into genetics?

Answer 12

Price et al (1966)
It was suggested XYY syndrome may be a biological cause of criminal behaviour.
XYY syndrome is a genetic abnormality, usually occurs as a random event during the formation of sperm cells. (Man decided on the sex of a baby)
Individuals with XYY syndrome are more likely to be aggressive as they produce more testosterone.

Question 13

How were candidate genes studied?

Answer 13

Tihonen et al (2014), genetic analysis of 900 abnormalities on two genes responsible for crime.
MAOA (controls dopamine and serotonin linked to aggressive behaviour)
CHD13 (linked to substance abuse and ADHD)
Individuals with high-risk combination, 13 times more likely to have a history of violent behaviour.
However, it has not been replicated yet which questions the validity.

Question 14

What is the diathesis-stress model?

Answer 14

If genetics do have influence on offending, likely that its moderated partly by environmental factors.
Elsewhere, we have seen how the diathesis-stress model has been applied to schizophrenia. A tendency towards criminal behaviour may come about through the combination of genetic predisposition and biological or psychological trigger - for example, being raised in a dysfunctional environment or having criminal role models

Question 15

What are the strengths of the biological explanations of crime?

Question 16

What are the limitations of the biological explanations of crime?

Question 17

What is the neural explanation for crime?

Answer 17

Antisocial personality disorder (APD).

Question 18

What is APD?

Answer 18

Most research conducted on people with APD.
Anti social personality disorder used to be referred to as psychopathy. This is a condition that is often seen in the criminal population.
APD is associated with reduced emotional response, lack of empathy and no regard for the feelings of others.

Question 19

How does brain damage link to aggression?

Answer 19

Albert Fish suffered frontal lobe damage when he fell out of a tree - Fish was a child rapist and cannibal.

Fred West was in a coma for 8 days after a motorbike accident and was unconscious for a further 24 hours two years later after falling off a fire escape - Fred West was a team serial killer with his wife.

Richard Speck suffered head injuries after being hit on the head with a claw hammer when he was 5 years old, fell out of a tree twice and ran headfirst into a steel girder when he was 15 - Speck was a mass murderer who tortured raped and murdered eight student nurses.

Charles Whitman - mass murder of Texas university student.

Phineas Gage - very aggressive and abusive towards his wife.

Question 20

What did Raine et al do?

Answer 20

Adrian Raine has conducted many studies of the APD brain, reporting that there are several dozen brain-imaging studies demonstrating that individuals with antisocial personalities have reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that regulates emotional behaviour. Alongside this, Raine and his colleagues (2000) found an 11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex of people with APD compared to controls.

Question 21

What did Keysers do and find?

Answer 21

Keysers carried out research with APD patients;
He found they can empathise in some situations but unlike ‘control’ individuals they have an on/off switch.
Individuals in a control have empathy switched on permanently. Suggesting that
APD brains function in a localised way differently to a control group.

Question 22

What was the aim for Raine et al’s study?

Answer 22

In find out if there is a difference in the structure of brain activity between people who have committed murder (NGRIs) and non-murderers. In particular, Raine looked at the role played by the prefrontal cortex, the corpus callosum, the amygdala, the medial temporal lobe (MTL)/hippocampus and the thalamus in predisposing people towards aggression. Raine wanted to see if the findings of studies linking brain structure to aggression in animals could be generalised to humans.

Question 23

What sample was used?

Answer 23

41 offenders pleading NGRI to the crime of murder and 41 Controls. The NGRIs were 39 men and 2 women (mean age 34.3); 23 had a history of brain damage, 3 with a history of drug abuse, 6 suffered from schizophrenia, 2 with epilepsy and 7 with other emotional or learning disorders. The Controls were people of the same age and sex with no history of crime or mental illness, except 6 Controls who had schizophrenia.

The NGRIs should be considered an opportunity sample; Raine does not describe how the Control group was recruited so that may be considered to be an opportunity sample too.

Question 24

What did Raine et al do and find?

Answer 24

participants were tested at the University of California. Each was injected with the glucose tracer and then performed the Continuous Performance Task (CPT) for 32 minutes. Then the PET scan was carried out. Raine used other experimental controls. The participants were allowed to practice the PT ten minutes before the glucose tracer was injected to make sure they were all equally familiar with it. Raine made sure none of the participants (NGRIs or Controls) was on medication; the NGRIs had been kept medication-free for 2 weeks before the PET scan.

Findings - The PET scan was broken down into digital “slices” and “boxes”, enabling Raine to measure the relative amount of tracer present in the brain’s 4 cortical regions (the “lobes” on the outside of the brain) and the 4 sub-cortical regions (structures tucked away deeper inside the brain). As expected, the NGRIs showed less activity in the frontal lobe, especially the prefrontal cortex which is associated with rational thinking, self-restraint and memory. There was also less activity in the parietal lobe, which is associated with abstract thinking (such as “morality” or “justice” but more activity in the occipital lobe (vision). In the sub-cortical region, the NGRIs had less activity in the corpus callosum: the “bridge” of nerve fires connecting the brain’s two hemispheres (associated with long-term planning). There was also an imbalance of activity between the left and right hemispheres in the limbic system. There was less activity on the left and more on the right in the amygdala and MTL/hippocampus, more activity on the right side of the thalamus. These are areas of the brain associated with aggression in animals.

Question 25

What are the strengths of the neural explanations for crime?

Question 26

What are the limitations of the neural explanations for crime?