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CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY - Coggle Diagram
CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
EXPLANATIONS OF CRIMINALITY
BIOLOGICAL
Brain Injury
Phineas Gage
4ft temping iron through his head during railway construction:
damaged prefrontal cortex
recovered but became fitful, irreverent and indulged in fantasies, started swearing
Fazel et al 2011: compared traumatic brain injury with convictions for violent offences: those with ABI 8.8% committed a crime vs those without 3% committed a crime: some correlation but not whole explanation and only correlational: other influences
Fred West: motorbike accident, sever brain injury, started having violent mood swings, murdered 12 women/children
Amygdala
In the temporal lobe, part of the limbic system, in both hemispheres
regulates fear response (fight or flight)
Raine et al 1997: found lower metabolic activity including in the amygdala in NGRI murderers: correlational
Raine et al 1990: desensitisation to fear in children (lack of reaction to loud, unpleasant noise) resulted in higher likelihood of committing a crime when older
Pardini et al 2014: used neuroimaging in 26 year old men, found a smaller amygdala correlated with a 3 times higher likelihood for showing aggressive traits
XYY syndrome
Within et al 1976: 4591 men in the top height distribution checked for XYY syndrome: found 12 cases
Found 42% XYY men involved in crime vs 9.3% XY men
lower intelligence and taller than average
ISSUES AND DEBATES
NGRI murderers: if criminal behaviour can be explained biologically it can lead to issues concerning being excused for committing crimes due to insanity which puts communities at risk of danger
Social control: if neuroimaging can predict criminality even in children (Raine 1990) there is a debate concerning if it is our responsibility to monitor this on a wider scale: predestination
SOCIAL