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Xplanations of crime emphasize physiological and neurological factors that may predispose a person to commit crimes
Psychological and biological way to understand crime
Cases of antisocial personality disorder
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Recommended: Xplanations of crime emphasize physiological and neurological factors that may predispose a person to commit crimes
It is not about all criminals being psychologically abnormal. It is which ones are normal and which ones are not. Neuroscience has shown the possibility that not all criminals have the same type of brain. Some brains of criminals are different from the rest of the public. Many criminals are characterized with antisocial personality disorder. Those who are more severe are referred to as psychopaths. When studying the brain scans of both control groups of people with no disorders, the scans showed the anti-social groups to have a reduction in two sections of the frontal lobe. While they were afflicted in the front of the brain, the psychopaths were also deformed in other parts of the brain and showed there was a large reduction in the
In my opinion, the author defends a good but also complex perspective. '' The criminal activity itself should be taken as evidence of brain abnormality'', says Eagleman, however, what about the percentage of criminals that are not carriers of the genes that contribute to performing violent crimes? Are they going to be sent to rehabilitation too and exonerated from incarceration even when there is proof of no brain
Torgersen, S. (2009). The nature (and nurture) of personality disorders. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 50(6), 624-632. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00788.x
DK, a 20 year old, white female displays characteristics of a personality disorder, specifically a cluster B “Dramatic” personality disorder. Cluster B personality disorders include antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic disorders (Comer, 2015). People with a “Dramatic” personality disorder display dramatic, erratic, or emotional behaviors, which hinder their ability to have meaningful, long-lasting relationships with others (Comer, 2015). In the particular case of DK, her behaviors seem to correlate with borderline personality disorder.
Anti Social Personality Disorder is also known as ASPD. “About 2.5 to 3.5 percent of people have ASPD. This condition is much more common in men than in women.” (Lees McRae College) Everyone has their own personality and not one person is exactly the same. “People with anti social personality disorder are also called sociopaths.” (Leedom) Different causes are particular to look for when diagnosing this disorder. Though rare, it is important to understand the disorder as well as its symptoms, treatment and strategies. “Lifetime prevalence for ASPD is reported to range from 2% to 4% in men and from 0.5% to 1% in women. Rates of natural and unnatural death (suicide, homicide, and accidents) are excessive.” (Black, 2015)
Many studies suggest that there are significant differences in the brain between individuals who possess antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy). While not all people who possess an antisocial personality disorder will become serial killers, every serial killer studied has an antisocial personality disorder; “Neuropsychological testing revealed abnormalities in all subjects tested” (Blake, Pincus, and Buckner 1642). Brain injury, brain abnormalities, or mental illness affects all the serial killers tested. Even if all serial killers had some type of abnormality in the brain, would that mean that they were doomed to become a serial killer? According to the experimental findings discussed in Neurologic Abnormalities in Murderers; 64.5% of serial killers have a frontal lobe dysfunction and 29% have temporal lobe abnormalities. The frontal lobes of the brain “control the essence of our human...
The criminal brain is considered “abnormal” and to be “the imperfect brain”. He felt that
Avoidant Personality Disorder From the moment a person is born, his or her personality begins to take shape. In infancy, childhood, and later adolescence, the individual explores a multitude of behaviors. Of all the behaviors, or personalities, the person experiences, one of them will stick with them until the day they die.
Definition: mental condition in which a person lacks any regard for right and wrong, disregards people’s feelings, show no guilt for their actions, negligent when it comes to fulfilling responsibilities. People with this disorder tend to have alcohol and drug problems and turn into criminals
Avoidant Personality Disorder, (APD), is one of the most socially hindering types of psychological problems known to humanity. From the moment a person is born, they begin to develop their own identity, their own personality. Many different factors come into play during the development of one’s personality. Unfortunately, each individual personality may also contain a personality disorder.
It is a fact that criminals have a smaller brains than law abiding citizens. Often, offenders share particular physical traits such as, being young males, muscular, having lower than average IQ, and a impulsive personality. Serial offenders are usually hyperactive and difficult children If a person has a low IQ, it is proven to be directly related to their tendency to be commit impulse actions that provide an immediate payoff. For instance, a rape or a mugging would provide a criminal with an immediate payoff. It is proven that crime often runs in families. In fact, chronic criminals are proven to be three times more likely to have criminal children. However, despite this information, scientists have no basis to come to any conclusions with this data. Therefore, one must consider other possible factors that may create a criminal mind, to come to a reasonable decision as to how one is developed.
Personality disorders such as antisocial personality disorder, psychopath and sociopath are mainly linked to offenders. To diagnose an individual with a personality disorder their personality characteristics have to be outside the norm of the society. The two main ways to diagnose personality disorder is through ICD and DSM. However, personality disorders are hard to diagnose, for example, many people who have never committed a crime in their lives can be classed as ‘psychopaths’ or ‘sociopaths’ (Pakes and Winston 2007). “Personality disorders are mental health conditions that affect how some...
Understanding Psychology and Crime; Perspectives on Theory and Action, New York. PENNINGTON, D ( 2002) , Introducing Psychology: Approaches, Topics and Methods, London, Hodder Arnold TANNENBAUN, B, (2007),Profs link criminal behaviour to genetics [online] , Available at: http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2007/11/profs_link_criminal_behavior_to_genetics [accessed 16th October 2011]. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/41182390/Explanations-of-Criminal-behaviour
Criminality constitutes strategic mannerisms characterized by apathy to misery inflicted on others, egocentricity and depressed self-control. Habitual criminal behaviour seeks to satisfy the offender’s desires for material prestige, power or pleasurable feelings regardless to damage inflicted to victim or society. Such behaviors extend mistrust, fuel prejudice, and largely corrupt social cohesion. Biological, psychological and environmental attributes are thought to heavily influence antisocial and criminal behaviour. Numerous studies have proven that active emulation, genetic predispositions and psychosocial labeling are all complementary to development and expressions of criminal behaviour. There has historically been a myriad of theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour through different perspectives, all which constitute intricate paradigms that play a role in expressio...
Theories that are based on biological Factors and criminal behavior have always been slightly ludicrous to me. Biological theories place an excessive emphasis on the idea that individuals are “born badly” with little regard to the many other factors that play a part in this behavior. Criminal behavior may be learned throughout one’s life, but there is not sufficient evidence that proves crime is an inherited trait. In the Born to Be Bad article, Lanier describes the early belief of biological theories as distinctive predispositions that under particular conditions will cause an individual to commit criminal acts. (Lanier, p. 92) Biological criminologists are expected to study the “criminal” rather than the act itself. This goes as far as studying physical features, such as body type, eyes, and the shape or size of one’s head. “Since criminals were less developed, Lombroso felt they could be identified by physical stigmata, or visible physical abnormalities…characteristics as asymmetry of the face; supernumerary nipples, toes, or fingers; enormous jaws; handle-shaped or sensible ears; insensibility to pain; acute sight; and so on.” (Lanier. P. 94). It baffles me that physical features were ever considered a reliable explanation to criminal behavior. To compare one’s features to criminal behavior is not only stereotypical, but also highly unreliable.
I now know that criminology prefer to highlight the correlations between crimes’ social climates and criminals’ psychological states of mind. While some argues that criminal behavior is a result of individuals’ association with criminal peers, other claims that crime is a reflection of an individual’s genetic disadvantages. I have come to learn that there are no universally agreed formulas on decoding crimes and criminal behaviors. What we have, however, is a manual full of academic opinions and subjective views that have emerged alongside of the development of criminology. At the same time, the volume of conflicting perspectives that I have stumble upon in studying criminology reminded me again that the success of our current assessment models has yet to be determined. Thus, the study of criminology is an appropriate practice that will further prepare me to conduct meaningful research on legal studies and to provide accurate and in-depth findings in the near