Paper 3 - Forensic Psychology - Biological Approach

Question 1

What are the 2 biological explanations of offending?

Answer 1

Atavistic form
Neural and Genetic explanations of offending

Question 2

Define atavistic form

Answer 2

Atavistic form: a biological approach to offending that attributes criminal activity to the fact that offenders are genetic throwbacks or a primitive subspecies ill suited to conforming to the rules of modern society. Such individuals are distinguishable by particular facial and cranial characteristics

Question 3

Describe L’Huomo Delinquente

Answer 3

Lombroso believed that offenders were lacking evolutionary development (in their appearance) and that their savage and unusually appearance meant that it would be impossible for them to adjust to the demands of normal civilisation and therefore they would inevitable turn to crime

Question 4

What factors may effect L’Huomo Delinquente

Answer 4

Cranial characteristics could be:
Narrow, sloping brow
A strong prominent jaw
High cheekbones
Facial asymmetry
Other physical markers may include: dark skin, extra toes nipples or fingers
He also said that other factors may include insensitivity to pain, tattoos, unemployment, use of Slang

Question 5

When and by who was L’Huomo Delinquente by and when?

Answer 5

Lombroso
1876

Question 6

What research did Lombroso do?

Answer 6

He examined cranial and facial features of living and dead criminals: This was due to a rape of a 3 year old girl, who remembered a obscure tattoo.
383 dead and 3839 living criminal skulls (but when you die you skull shape changes
He concluded that 40% of all criminal acts could be accounted for by people with atavistic characteristics

Question 7

What specifically did Lombroso say about Murderers

Answer 7

Murderers were thought to have bloodshot eyes , strong jaws, long ears and curly hair

Question 8

What specifically did Lombroso say about sexual deviants

Answer 8

Sexual deviants were said to have glinting eyes, swollen, fleshy lips and projecting ears

Question 9

What specifically did Lombroso say about fraudsters

Answer 9

Fraudsters were thought to have lips that were thin and reedy

Question 10

What are the positive evaluations for the Atavistic form?

Answer 10

General for Lombroso’s approach

Question 11

What are the negative evaluations for the Atavistic form?

Answer 11

General against Lombroso’s approach
Contradictory evidence
Methodological issues
Incomplete theory

Question 12

Explain the positive evaluation of the Atavistic form: General for Lombroso’s approach

Answer 12

■ Shifted the emphasis in crime research away from moralistic discourse towards a scientific and credible realm.
■ The atavistic characteristics was the foundation of criminal profiling

Question 13

Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: General against Lombroso’s approach

Answer 13

• Many of the features that Lombroso identifies are more likely to be found among people of African descent.
• Lends support to the Eugenics movement – ‘uncivilised, primitive and savage’

Question 14

Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: Contradictory Evidence

Answer 14

■ There is limited support to the argument of ‘sub-species’ in terms of lower intelligence
■ Sharma et al. (2015) – 202 participants (101 convicted offenders and 101 ’normal’ controls)
- Emotional intelligence and criminal behaviour
- Criminals did score lower on EI domains including management of own emotions, and others emotions
Goring (1913) - 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals – physical or mental abnormalities (using a control group)
- No evidence that offenders are a distinctive group with unusual facial or cranial features/ characteristics.

Question 15

Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: Methodological issues

Answer 15

Lombroso did not compare his sample to a non-criminal
control group
- Significant difference may have disappeared
- Failed to account for other variables: people he studied had a history of psychological disorders or chromosomal abnormalities- confounding variable
(Cause and effect)

Question 16

Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: Incomplete theory

Answer 16

■ Facial and cranial differences may be influenced by other factors such as poverty or poor diet rather than being an indication of delayed evolutionary development
■ In later work, the view was less extreme: criminals could be made as well as born due to a range of environmental factors

Question 17

What is the Neural Explanation of Offending?

Answer 17

any explanation of behaviour (and its disorders) in terms of dsy(functions) of the brain and nervous systems. This includes the activity of brain structures such as the hypothalamus and neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine

Question 18

What study did Crowe do?

Answer 18

Adoption studies

Question 19

What was the method and results of adoption studies

Answer 19

Crowe (1972) compared a group of adopted children whose biological other had a criminal method to a control group who mothers didn’t have a criminal method
It was found that if a biological mother had a criminal record 50% of the adopted children also had one by the time that they were 18
Whilst in the control group, only 5% of the adopted children had a criminal record by the time that they were 18

Question 20

What does Crowe (1972) suggest

Answer 20

This suggests that regardless of the changed environment
This suggests that adopted children with mothers with criminal records seemed biologically predisposed to criminality

Question 21

Describe a study on danish adoptees?

Answer 21

Around 14,500 Danish Adoptees
The concordance rates for criminality between the adoptees and their adopted and biological parents were compared

Question 22

Describe the results of the danish adoptee study?

Answer 22

13.5% of adoptees with parents (A or B) without criminal convections had one themselves
14.7% of adoptees with one criminally convicted adopted parent A
20% had one criminally convicted biological parent B
24.5% had 1 criminally convicted biological and adoptive parent AnB

Question 23

What study did Bruner do?

Answer 23

Family study

Question 24

Explain the family study

Answer 24

Bruner et al (1993) large family in the Netherlands
He investigated anti social behaviour and criminal behaviour: rape, arson and exhibitionism (paraphilla)
“Brunner syndrome” is a genetic condition only found in men
It is general in families of lower IQ (Bruner found a family average of 85 IQ)
The cause of this is a deficiency in the MAOA enzyme responsible for the metabolism of serotonin which leads to increased aggression

Question 25

Where was the family in the family study located?

Answer 25

Netherlands

Question 26

What gene helps controls dopamine and serotonin?

Answer 26

MAOA

Question 27

What are the different genetic theories?

Answer 27

The candidate gene
Abnormal sex genes
Diathesis stress model

Question 28

What are the different neural explanations of offending?

Answer 28

Mirror neurones
NGRI

Question 29

What did Tiihonen et al research?

Answer 29

The candidate gene

Question 30

Explain the layout of the study into a candidate gene?

Answer 30

Tiihonenn (2014) conducted a genetic analysis of 900 Finnish offenders

Question 31

What were the results of the Finish study?

Answer 31

They identified the MAOA enzyme and protein coding and that they were lower than normal which could indicate increased probability of offending

Question 32

Explain the MAOA enzyme in reference to offending?

Answer 32

The MAOA enzyme was found to control dopamine and serotonin
And when there are low levels of serotonin and dopamine there is aggression

Question 33

Explain the protein coding

Answer 33

They found higher levels of this protein which is linked to substance abuse and attention deficit disorder

Question 34

What are the conclusions of the Candidate Gene study?

Answer 34

Individuals with abnormalities on both “genes” were 13X more likely to have a history of violent behaviour

Question 35

Explain the research into abnormal sex genes?

Answer 35

Jacobs et al (1965) found a higher % of people from prison population had the atypical sex chromosome pattern XYY

Question 36

Why would abnormal sex genes cause increased offending rates?

Answer 36

This led to an increase in testosterone and therefore violence however, people with this chromosomal abnormality are more likely to be hyperactive, impulsive and have lower IQ which may explain their criminality
High levels of ADHD
High levels of ASD
Taller on average

Question 37

What was the abnormal sex gene?

Answer 37

XYY

Question 38

Briefly explain the diathesis stress model?

Answer 38

The idea that psychopathy is due to a genetic predisposition but triggered by a biological or psychological trigger

Question 39

How did Ripke build on the diathesis stress model?

Answer 39

Ripke, further found that psychological trauma such as child abuse can affect the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal system

Question 40

What is the main symptom of APD?

Answer 40

Anti personality disorder
Reduced emotional responses and a lack of empathy for others

Question 41

Explain the very general research into neural explanation of crime

Answer 41

Evidence suggests there may be neural differences in the brains of criminals and non criminals
Most of this research in this area has investigated individuals diagnosed with APD (psychopathy)

Question 42

What did Raine 1997 investigate?

Answer 42

41 not guilty for reason of insanity (NGRI) and 41 controls

Question 43

Explain the NGRI study?

Answer 43

41 not guilty and 41 controls
Participants wore headphones and were instructed to press a button when they heard a beep. This involves concentration and should activate the prefrontal cortex
Results

Question 44

Explain the results of the NGRI study?

Answer 44

Prefrontal cortex: lower levels of activity hear indicated poor decision making and erratic behaviour
Amygdala: heightened activity here indicated high levels of aggression
Thalamus: lower levels of activity - linked to poor decision making

Question 45

When was the mirror neurone research?

Answer 45

2011

Question 46

What did the mirror neurone study find?

Answer 46

Found that only when criminals were asked to empathise with others (person being depicted on film experiencing pain), their empathy reactions was activated.

Question 47

Explain the significance of the mirror neurone study?

Answer 47

This is controlled by mirror neurons. This suggests that APD individuals do experience empathy, although it is not an automatic response due to the fact that these neurons fire in response to the observed physical actions of others (not verbal). So sometimes, people with APD can experience empathy however, this is more sporadic than neurotypical humans.

Question 48

Explain the evaluation of the candidate gene

Answer 48

Tiihonen et al. (2014)
Violent and non violent criminals
78 rated as extremely violent
1,154 murders, manslaughters, attempted murder and battery
“warrior gene” (which, if faulty leads to higher aggression)- non-violent criminals did not have this
Alcohol and drug abuse is shown to cause hyperactivity in dopamine levels
All extremely violent criminals had consumed drugs or alcohol before committing their crimes

Question 49

Explain the evaluation of the twin studies?

Answer 49

Lange (1930)- study was poorly controlled and judgements related to zygosity were based on appearance and not DNA testing.

Studies with twins use small sample sizes and may not represent the whole population

Confounding variable: most twins are reared in the same environment
- Concordance rate may be due to shared learning experiences and not genetics

Question 50

Explain the evaluations of the adoption studies?

Answer 50

It is very hard to separate the genetic and the environment
- Late adoption means that infancy and childhood would have been spent with biological parents so they had regular contact with biological parents
- Difficult to access the environmental impact the biological parents might have had

• Criminality could be due to inherited emotional instability or mental illness (Andrew and Bonta, 2006)
• Mednick et al. (1984)- adoption only leads to petty offenses not violent crimes

Question 51

What previous study can be used to evaluate the diathesis stress model approach of crime?

Answer 51

Mednick (1984) Danish Adoptees study

Question 52

Explain the negative evaluation of the adoption studies: Methodological issues

Answer 52

It is very hard to separate the genetic and the environment
- Late adoption would mean regular contact with biological parents so it would be difficult to access the environmental impact the biological parents might have had

• Criminality could be due to inherited emotional instability or mental illness (Andrew and Bonta, 2006)
• Mednick et al. (1984)- adoption only leads to petty offenses not violent crimes

Question 53

What are the 2 general negative evaluations of the biological approach to offending?

Answer 53

Biological reductionism
Biological determinism

Question 54

Explain the negative evaluation of the biological approach to offending: biological reductionism

Answer 54

Criminality is complex and genetic and neural explanations are
simplistic and inappropriate.
Katz at al. (2007) – crime does run in families but so does emotional instability, social deprivation and poverty.
- Exposure to crime rather than poverty
No study has found 100% concordance rate between MZ twins and often they have been low.

Question 55

Explain the negative evaluation of the biological approach to offending: Biological determinism

Answer 55

‘criminal gene’
■Presents ethical problems for our legal system since it negates free will
■Raises the ethical question surrounding what society does with people who carry ‘criminal genes’
■Presents problems for society and implications for sentencing
Eg the Mobley Defence (genetically predisposed to be a murderer)