Crime - what makes a criminal Flashcards
biological explanation of crime
crime is a result of genetics, brain structure, biochemistry, hormones and evolutionary drive.
what parts of the brain are linked to crime
pre - frontal cortex, temporal lobe, corpus collosum and amygdala
behaviourists explanation of crime
people learn crime from poor parenting when parents dont adequately socialise their children into society
cognitive explanation of crime
criminals have distorted thinking patterns of which there are 52
psychodynamic explanation of crime
an overactive ID and under active superego, leads people to act on impulse
describe the findings of Mednick
an adoption study to find out if crime is linked to genetics. the sample was adopted danish men. he compared their criminal records to their biological and adoptive parents. Mednick found that those whose bio parents were criminals were twice as likely to become criminals.
describe the findings of Brunner
Brunner syndrome is a disorder characterised by intellectual disability, impulsive and aggressive behaviour associated with deficient function of the monoamine oxidase A enzyme
describe the case of Charles Whitman
Charles is a former US marine, who killed 16 people. he was found to have an astrocytoma brain tumour in the region of the amygdala. he had left letters saying he could not rationally pinpoint any specific reason for doing this
describe lombrosso’s idea of criminality
a criminal mind was inherited and could be identified by physical features and defects. he also claimed the born criminal had a liking for tattoos, cruel and wicked games and their own language was through a primeval slang
describe the study by eron
measured the level of violence in TV programmes watched by 7-8 year olds and their aggressiveness and found a positive correlation. as teenagers there was an even stronger correlation in boys but not girls.
describe the study by jahoda
investigated the aggression of children of the Ashanti people. male children are given names dependent on the day of the week they are born on. ‘monday’ boys are more calm but ‘wednesday’ are more aggressive, as 22% of violent offences were commited by boys with a wednesday name and only 7% with monday. suggesting cultural expectation may have influenced the children.
describe sutherlands theory into crime
the differential association theory - criminal behaviour is learnt through communication and social interaction in small intimate groups.
aim of Raine et al
to build on previous research testing if, serious violent individuals pleading NGRI have relatively localised brain dysfunction in areas linked to crime e.g. pre-frontal cortex and corpus callosum + if serious violent individual pleading NGRI show no dysfunction in other brain areas which have not been linked to crime e.g. cerebellum
method + design of Raine et al
quasi experiment + matched participant
sample of Raine et al
41 pps (39M, 2F) charged with either murder or manslaughter
6 - schizophrenia
23 - head injury
3 - psychoactive drug abuse
2 - epilepsy
3 - learning disability
2- personality disorder
control group of Raine et al
41 pps (39M, 2F)
matched by age and gender.
the 6 murders with schizophrenia were matched with 6 non-murders with schizophrenia. the remaining 35 pps had no history of psychiatric illness
procedure of Raine et al
1.all offenders were in custody and kept medication free for two weeks.
2. 10 mins before FDG tracer, pps had a trial at the CPT task
3. 30 secs before FDG tracer, pps started the actual CPT task.
4. 32 mins after tracer was injected pps had a PET scan
results of Raine et al
1.murders had reduced glucose metabolism in the prefrontal cortex and corpus collosum
2. abnormal asymmetry in the amygdala
3. no difference in areas linked to mental illness but not violence e.g. cerebellum
conclusions of Raine et al
murders pleading NGRI had a significant difference in the metabolism of glucose in a number of brain areas compared to non- murders
application - olds
conducted trials on biosocial intention programme.
female sample who were pregnant
intervention had 9 home visits before Childs birth and 23 after
the mothers received information about reducing smoking, alcohol and increasing nutrition
the intervention showed a 52.8% decrease in arrests an 63% reduction in convictions whose mothers had the intervention compared to the control
application - lewinson
conducted 450 facial reconstruction operations in a prison population and observed their behaviour post surgery for 10 years.
operations were for receding chins, deformed ears and facial scars.
there was an immediate psychological change and increased cooperation with authority.
recidivism was 42% compared to the typical 75%
application - raine
study on 100 children with low resting heart rates, they were matched with a control group.
the children received a 3 part intervention: nutrition (omega 3 and calcium), physical exercise and cognitive stimuli.
children were followed up at 11 and 17.
results showed children at 11 could focus better and had more more mature brains than the control.
at 17 the children were less cruel and less likely to pick fights.
