genetic and neural explanations

Question 1

genetic explanations

Answer 1

suggests that crininals inherit a gene or a combination of genes that prepidose them to commit a crime

Question 2

twin studies lange (1930)

Answer 2

investigated 13MZ and 17DZ twins where one twin had served time in prison - Lange found 10 of the MZ and only 2 of the DZ twins had a co-twin who was also in prison suggesting genetics play a role

Question 3

Chritianses 1997

Answer 3

studied 87MZ and 147 DZ and found concordance of 33% for MZ and 12% for DZ which supports the idea that offending behaviour may have a genetic component

Question 4

candidate genes -Tiihonen et al

Answer 4

analysed 900 offenders and revealed abnormalities between 2 genes associated with violent crime the MAOA gene and CHD13 gene.
individuals with this high risk combination were 13 times more likely to have a history of violent behaviour

Question 5

diathesis stress model

Answer 5

a tendancy to criminal behaviour may come from a combination of genetic predisposition and biological

Question 6

APD

Answer 6

APD is associated with reduced emotional responses a lack of empathy for the feelings of others. this is a condition that characterises criminals

Question 7

Raine

Answer 7

conducted many studies of APD brain

reported individuals with anti-social behaviours have reduced activity in the pre frontal cortex

Question 8

Raine et al

Answer 8

found an 11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the pre frontal cortex of people with APD.

Question 9

Mirror neurons

Answer 9

criminals with APD experience empathy but less frequently than most

Question 10

keyers et al2011

Answer 10

found only when criminals were asked to empathise did their empathy reaction activate

this suggests ADP individual are not totally without empathy but may have a neural switch that can be turned on and off

Question 11

problems with twin studies

Answer 11

• early studies had little control
• zygosity was based on appearence rather than dna testing and as a result lack validity
• involve small samples
• twins may be an unusual sample themselves

Question 12

support for the diathesis stress model of crime

Answer 12

Medenick et al study

Question 13

Medenick et al study

Answer 13

looked at 13,000 danish adoptees and defined criminal as having at least one criminal conviction

Question 14

what were the percentages for medenick et al study?

Answer 14

neither adoptee nor biological parent- adoptees = 13.5%
when either biological = 20%
both adoptive and biological = 24.5%

Question 15

problems with adoption studies

Answer 15

presumed separation of environmental and genetic factors in adoption is complicated as many are adopted late so most of their childhood is spent with biological parents
-most adoptees see their biological parents regularly

Question 16

biological reductionism

Answer 16

reducing offending bahaviour to offending behaviour to neural or genetic is too simplistic

Question 17

biolgical determinism

Answer 17

criminal gene created a dilemma as legal system is based on premise that criminals have personal and moral responsibility
only in cases of mental illness can someone say they’re not acting under own free will
this raises issues about criminal gene