Brain injury (biological explanations) Flashcards
Prefrontal Cortex (general role)
Role of prefrontal cortex is planning, decision-making and working memory. Contains personalities and has input on our emotional response and control our social inhibitors.
Prefrontal Cortex (explain criminal behaviour)
If damaged:
-less control over impulses as unable to manage emotional to social stimuli
-inability to make decisions, poor impulses control by acting before thinking (unpredictable behaviour)
-poor cognitive skills
e.g. Phineas Gage
Hypothalamus (general role)
Responsible for the production of essential hormones that help temperature regulation, thirst, hunger, sleep and mood
Hypothalamus (explain criminal behaviour)
If damaged:
-lack of regulation of NS
-interpret social stimuli incorrectly sending impulses to the pituitary gland leading to increases testosterone
-poor regulation of ‘flight/flight’
-reduced ability to sense danger
Hippocampus (general role)
Has an important role intaking STM and converting them into LTM’s
Hippocampus (explain criminal behaviour)
If damaged:
-unable to learn from mistakes as less likely to link past experiences to new experiences
-unable to link emotion response to memories so don’t learn how to respond correctly to fearful stimuli
-problem creating episodic memories
Amygdala (general role)
Responsible for the perception of emotions as well as controlling agression
Amygdala (explain criminal behaviour)
If damaged:
-damage could mean no control over aggression
-can’t perceive emotions well so may not feel empathy towards a victim, leading to criminal behaviour
-unable to regulate appropriate hormones
e.g. Charles Whitman
Types of Brain injury
Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)
e.g. stroke, haemorrhage, tumour, infection
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
e.g. road traffic accidents, assaults, falls
Williams (2010)
Found that 60% of young people in custody report having experienced some kind of traumatic brain injury. Thought that brain injuries from falls or sporting accidents etc., can lead immature brains to ‘misfire’band can interrupt the development of young peoples’ ability to restrain their impulses and actions. This supports brain injury as an explanation of criminal behaviour as damage to the PFC increases the likelihood that they will be more risk taking and reckless and have a lack of social inhibitions
Kreutzer et al (1991) and Finland research
Found out of 74 patients, 20% were arrested pre-injury and 10% post-injury. They also found in all cases the arrest occurred after alcohol or drug consumption. This criticises the explanation as the 20% arrested pre-injury suggest that injury didn’t factor into behaviour. The primary cause seemed to be drug use that can lead to TBI causing crime.
Raine et al (1997)
Found that murderers who pleaded NGRI had low hippocampus volume and reduced left and greater right volume in the amygdala. This supports the idea that damage to the brain or less normal brain activity can lead to criminal behaviour. Therefore left is responsible for a lack of fear and right is over sensitive to threat.
Case studies
They are abnormal due to being on a unique individual with a specific brain injury. For example, Phineas Gage who had a rod through his head. Therefore it is hard to say that this is the average cause. This lowers the credibility.
Application - various screening tools are available and new tools are also in development.
The Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool (CHAT) has recently developed a section including assessment for brain injury. Successfully validate in young offenders. Therefore this can be applied and help reduce crime from brain injury.
Application - pre-screening
Pre-screening can identify issues/brain injury and allow early intervention. This gives a method of reducing crime as we can provide treatment. This is useful as it reduces recidivism/social effect.
