what makes a criminal?

Question 1

what physiological explanation of criminal behaviour did lombroso claim?

Answer 1

that there were physical differences between criminals and non-criminals, and that criminals could be identified by physical characteristics

Question 2

what physiological explanation of criminal behaviour did sheldon claim?

Answer 2

people could be classified into three body shapes, which correspond with three different personality types

Question 3

what did the belief in physiognomy lead to?

Answer 3

eugenics

Question 4

what do modern physiological explanations suggest criminal behaviour is caused by?

Answer 4

genetics; hormones; low arousal levels

Question 5

what genetic evidence did brunher find?

Answer 5

that a genetic mutation in five men from the same family results in MAOA deficiency and impaired serotonin metabolism, which is likely linked to retardation and aggression

Question 6

what hormonal evidence did dabbs find?

Answer 6

out of 11 prison inmates with the highest testosterone levels, 10 had committed violent crimes. of the 11 lowest, 9 had committed non-violent crimes.

Question 7

what does dabbs research suggest?

Answer 7

high levels of testosterone may be related to committing violent crimes

Question 8

what low arousal evidence did raine and lui find?

Answer 8

a strong correlation between physiological measures (such as skin conductance, EEG, heart rate) taken at 15 and the number of offences committed by 24

Question 9

what did raine and lui’s research show?

Answer 9

that criminals had a lower heart rate, skin conductance and more slow wave EEG activity than non-criminals

Question 10

who was phineas gage?

Answer 10

he survived a severe brain injury which damaged his frontal lobe, and distinctly changed his personality

Question 11

evaluating physiological explanations

Answer 11

reductionist as it ignores social factors; deterministic; cannot explain all crimes; biased samples; nature removes responsibility; ethnocentric; individualistic

Question 12

what are non-physiological explanations of criminal behaviour?

Answer 12

social explanations and cognitive explanations

Question 13

what are social explanations of criminal behaviour?

Answer 13

upbringing; learning from others

Question 14

how does upbringing explain criminal behaviour?

Answer 14

farrington tested the hypothesis that problem families produce problem children, so devised a longitudinal study on men from 8-32

Question 15

what did farrington’s study find?

Answer 15

by the age of 20, 48% with convicted fathers also had a conviction compared to 19% without.
54% of those with convicted mothers also had a conviction compared to 23% without.

Question 16

how does learning from others explain criminal behaviour?

Answer 16

sutherland proposed differential association theory- that we learn to be criminals through social interactions with others

Question 17

what is differential association theory?

Answer 17

you become a criminal when you accept the norms and values of the group, in preference to the norms and values of non-criminal groups

Question 18

how does morality explain criminal behaviour?

Answer 18

links to kohlberg’s theory of moral development, and explains that criminals are at a lower level of moral development to the general population

Question 19

evaluating non-physiological explanations

Answer 19

soft determinism; is all crime immoral?; most research is longitudinal which increases extraneous variables; suggesting nurture restores criminal responsibility through having a choice on how to behave

Question 20

what did raine (1997) believe?

Answer 20

there was a relationship between low levels of activity in the pre-frontal cortex and violent behaviour

Question 21

how did raine (1997) look at brain abnormality?

Answer 21

used PET scans to look at murderer’s brains

Question 22

what was raine’s (1997) hypothesis?

Answer 22

that seriously violent offenders have localised brain damage in the pre-frontal cortex, the amygdala, the thalamus or the hippocampus

Question 23

what were raine’s (1997) participants?

Answer 23

41 murderers all charged with murder/manslaughter and had pleased ‘not guilty by reasons of insanity’
matched with 41 non-murderers on characteristics such as sex age, and 6 with schizophrenia

Question 24

what was raine’s (1997) study?

Answer 24

a quasi experiment, IV was murderers/non-murderers

Question 25

what were the PET scans used for in raine’s (1997) study?

Answer 25

looked at the amount of metabolic activity in different parts of the brain. participants were given a continuous activity to activate the frontal lobes

Question 26

what did raine’s (1997) study find?

Answer 26

that there were differences in murderer’s brains: reduced activity in pre-frontal cortex, corpus callosum, left hemisphere had less activity than the right, abnormal asymmetries in amygdala/thalamus- however both groups had similar performance in the task

Question 27

what did raine (1997) conclude?

Answer 27

it is unlikely violence is due to a single brain mechanism, but that there is a link between brain activity and a predisposition for violence

Question 28

why is it important to cut crime with biology?

Answer 28

early intervention is key as important cognitive growth happens in the womb and the first two years

Question 29

what biosocial risk factors did raine (2013) list?

Answer 29

children of mothers who smoke during pregnancy have a 3x increase of becoming violent offenders; birth complications increase risk for ASB/crime; poor nutrition in pregnancy doubles rate of ASB

Question 30

what do raine’s (2013) biosocial risk factors show?

Answer 30

that early maternal care is very important in the prenatal and postnatal periods of brain development

Question 31

what did olds (1998) find?

Answer 31

intervention condition- monthly visits during pregnancy and first two years, advised on smoking, alcohol, nutrition/ normal condition- received standard care.
15 year-follow up showed 63% reduction in convictions for those in the intervention condition

Question 32

what did raine find?

Answer 32

studied children with a low resting heart rate, who were then put into an intervention programme that involved nutrition, physical exercise, and cognitive stimulation.
at 11 this group could focus better, brain matured, and arousal levels increased.
at 17 they scored lower on conduct disorder ratings and were less cruel and likely to bully.