External Factors Affecting Criminal Behavior

The human personality is shaped in three ways. The first being DNA. This is what is engrained in one’s mind from the moment they are born through a combination of brain structure and genetics, also known as one’s human nature. The second is how one is raised and the environment one grows up in. Whether physical and emotional needs are being met greatly affects the personality of a person. This is known as how one is nurtured. Finally, external factors can affect one’s personality like head injuries, brain tumors or illnesses. This knowledge can be applied by the police force to determine who is at a higher risk to commit crimes and who is likely to commit crimes again after finishing sentencing. Although viewed as controversial, with this knowledge, the justice system can attempt to track people that are predisposed to committing crimes and create resources so that

In the case of Donta Page, at nine months old, Page was thrown out of a car window, suffering severe emotional trauma as well as significant brain trauma. Page continued to endure abuse from his family resulting in multiple head injuries as a child (Raine, 2013). An extreme example of external factors affecting criminal behavior is the case of a father named Michael, who was sentenced for the custody of child pornogrophy but right before his sentencing he had his brain scanned because of headaches and they found a tumor in the part of the brain responsible for control over emotions. Once the tumor was removed, Michael completed a therapy program and his sentence was dropped. This circumstance was unusual but it shows the lack of control humans have in the world around them that can influence them in strange ways. One study showed that, “50% to 60% of violent repeat offenders suffer from some form of brain impairment. And 10% to 20% may have suffered their brain damage from a severe blow to the head...” (Raine,