Criminal psychology What makes a criminal Biological OCR

Criminal psychology What makes a criminal? (Biological) OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Background OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology What makes a criminal? • Most people today would assume that criminals are created due to nurture and people are not born disposed to commit crime. However, in the 1800 s this was different. • Cesare Lombroso suggested in 1876 that criminals were a different species to the rest of humanity (homo-deliquens) and that these sub -humans can be identified by physical features such as the length of the toes and fingers. • Today no one would agree that this was a valid assessment of criminality but there are some researchers who believe biology still plays a large part in whether someone turns out to be a criminal or not. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Introversion, Extroversion, Criminal • • • Adrian Raine is a psychologist who has been studying biological explanations of crime since the 1990 s. One biological explanation of crime could be to do with whether you are an extrovert or introvert. Introverts have a higher resting heart rate and tend to want to avoid activities that would raise their heart rate further and cause them stress. Extroverts have a lower resting heart rate and need to engage with more sensation or thrill-seeking behaviour to raise their heart rate. It could be that extroverts are more likely to commit crimes than introverts. An area of the brain that he focuses on is the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain regulates behaviour, in particular self-control. With an impaired prefrontal cortex an individual would find it more difficult to control themselves when they feel like acting in a certain way. Low activity in the prefrontal cortex can be indicated by the low resting heartbeat that extroverts have. Could an impaired prefrontal cortex be an explanation of crime? OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology The prefrontal cortex • • • Raine et al. (1997 a) used a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner to investigate the differences between the brains of murderers and non-murderers. He wanted to find out if the murderers had an impaired prefrontal cortex. This is a condition that can be inherited through genes, birth complications or the mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy. A sample of 1795 children from Mauritius who exhibited antisocial and aggressive behaviour were found to have a low resting heart rates (associated by a low functioning prefrontal cortex). Raine believes that this heart rate is a clear indicator for aggressive behaviour (Raine et al. 1997 b). Raine, however, makes it clear that biology cannot account for aggressive behaviour alone, and social factors like family, upbringing and environment can have clear effect on someone. Unlike other psychologists, however, Raine argues that it is a combination of social and biological factors that contribute to crime. He calls this a biosocial approach. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology The ‘Warrior Gene’ • Hans Brunner in 1993 wrote about a gene that was associated with aggressive behaviour. • This gene, which the media called ‘the warrior gene’, is actually called MAOA and is responsible for the production of an enzyme also called MAOA (monoamine oxidase-a). • MAOA breaks down excess amounts of the neurotransmitter ‘serotonin’ (which can affect the brain’s ability to regulate anger). • If there is a lack of MAOA to break down the serotonin, too much serotonin in the body could be an explanation of aggression. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology It runs in the family • Brunner investigated a family in the Netherlands. In this family was an abnormally large number of males displaying aggressive, violent and antisocial behaviour associated with a type of mental retardation. • Analysing urine samples from five of the males in the family, Brunner found the family had a point mutation that affected the amount of MAOA that males in that family produced (little to none). • This meant the males had an excess of serotonin which may have impaired their ability to regulate anger – another biological explanation of crime. In this case, the crimes committed by the five men included rape, arson and assault. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Non-biological explanations of crime • • Despite Brunner’s and Raine’s findings which suggest that biology is a factor that determines criminal behaviour, there has been evidence to the contrary. Farrington and West identified a number of factors that may determine criminality from a longitudinal study with 411 eight-year-old boys that they interviewed from boyhood to adulthood. These interviews were correlated to their juvenile records and they found that typical crime risk factors included poor parenting, poverty, history of family criminality, low school attainment and risk taking. Edwin Sutherland in 1939 also claimed that criminality could be explained by ‘differential association’ – simply knowing people who committed crime meant you were more likely to pick up the mind-set, culture and skills of a criminal. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology A lack of morality? • • • Kohlberg would explain criminality as a cognitive problem, with underdeveloped morality at the heart of it. People who are still in an immature stage of morality, such as the preconventional stage, would only see ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in terms of what they can get away with. Palmer and Hollin (1998) compared 126 male offenders (mainly burglary and theft) aged 13 to 21 with 332 mixed-gender non-offenders aged 13 to 22. Each group filled out two questionnaires: a sociomoral reflection measure which measured moral reasoning, and a delinquency checklist which measured how delinquent the individual was acting. Results showed the offenders were the least moral – working at Kolhberg’s preconventional level. This was especially evident in relation to their delinquent behaviour. This reveals that cognitive ideas should also be considered with social and biological factors in answer to why people turn to crime, suggesting that when tackling this topic we should take a more holistic rather than reductionist viewpoint. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Key research: Raine et al. (1997 a) Brain abnormalities in murderers indicated by positron emission tomography OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Aims • To measure brain activity in both cortical (cerebral cortex) and subcortical (corpus callosum, hippocampus, thalamus) areas using PET scans on a group of murderers who had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Sample Murderers group • 41 individuals • 39 men, 2 women • Mean age 34. 3 • All charged with murder or manslaughter • All pleaded NGRI • 6 had schizophrenia • 23 had a history of drug abuse • 2 had affective disorders • 2 had epilepsy • 3 had a history of hyperactivity and learning difficulties • 2 had passive aggressive or paranoid personality disorders OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 Control group • 41 individuals • Matched by gender • Mean age 31. 7 • No previous convictions of murder or manslaughter • 6 had schizophrenia • No other history of psychiatric illness 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Controls • All offenders kept medication-free for two weeks before scanning. • Tests to ensure that being right or left handed made no effect on behaviour. • Tests to ensure that 23 murderers with head injuries showed no difference in brain functioning (except for the corpus callosum – one of the areas where differences between murders and non-murders was expected). OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Procedure • Participants had to complete a continuous performance task (CPT) where they had to find targets on a screen and press a button when the target was found. This task should engage the prefrontal cortex and it lasted 32 minutes. • Participants were given 10 minutes to practise the CPT and were then injected with a glucose tracer that would allow the PET scan to measure brain activity. • Once the CPT was completed participants were placed in a PET scan and their brains were scanned 10 times at 10 mm intervals. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Results • • Within the cerebral cortex there was no difference in activity within the temporal areas. There was more activity in the occipital area for the murderers. The murderers also had less activity in the corpus callosum. This could suggest inappropriate emotional expression and an inability to grasp the consequences of an action. Murderers also had less activity in the left side of the amygdala and the hippocampus. But they had more activity in the right side of the thalamus. The reduction of activity in the prefrontal areas might explain impulsive behaviour with a loss of self-control. Differences in the amygdala suggest that the murderers had a lack of fear which in turn could lead to more violent behaviour. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Conclusions • • • Raine et al. make it clear that although this study does reveal biological differences in the brain functioning of murderers and non-murderers, it does not reveal one single brain mechanism that leads to violence. Instead they suggest that it is a more complex, combination of processes that increase the chances of violence. They also state that the findings do not mean that the murderers are not responsible for their actions and that violence is not caused by biology alone. They also make clear that findings in this study cannot be generalised to other types of crime that are not murders, and that the PET scan cannot be used to diagnose people who are likely to become murderers. They conclude by stating that differences in brain activity is just one of many factors that could lead an individual to violent crime. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Application: Biological strategies for preventing criminal behaviour OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology How to prevent future violence • Raine’s study identifies that biology has an important part to play in the reason why violent crime has been committed, but what can be done about it? • In 2013, Raine identified three biosocial factors that could be risks for antisocial behaviour in children. 1. Mothers who smoke and drink alcohol during pregnancy. 2. Poor nutrition of a mother during pregnancy nearly doubles the rate of antisocial behaviour. 3. Early maternal care pre- and post-birth also has significant impact. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Olds (1998) • Olds (1998) was a study that investigated how effective interventions were at reducing crime. • 400 low class women were split into two groups. One group received standard pre- and postnatal care. • The other group received home visits from nurses during pregnancy and after pregnancy. Advice was given on reducing smoking and alcohol and advice on how to meet the child’s needs. • A 15 -year follow-up showed a 52. 8% reduction in arrests and 63% reduction of convictions. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Biological interventions • In the Mauritius study the group of children with a low resting heart rate (the group more likely to commit crimes) were matched with a control group and received a three-part intervention: 1. Nutrition – a balanced nutritious diet was provided. 2. Physical exercise – sessions of structured games, gym and free play. 3. Cognitive stimulation – a curriculum consisting of toys, art, crafts, drama and music was adopted. • Follow-up studies showed that the children with the intervention could better focus their attention at 11 and showed significantly less bad behaviour (less cruel, not hot tempered and less likely to bully). This suggests that nutrition can be an important factor to consider when preventing crime. • OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Criminal psychology Omega-3 • • • It has been suggested that fish oil like omega-3 can reduce antisocial and aggressive behaviour. Raine (2003) used 100 children and had them take a fish oil supplement with their daily juice drink. After six months parents reported a reduction in delinquency, aggression and attention problems. However, Raine as ever points out that even with biological interventions like nutrition, it still doesn’t completely end criminal behaviour. There are other factors to consider. There is no ‘quick fix’ when it comes to designing effective interventions to reduce crime. Social issues, cognitive patterns and biological factors should all be addressed for an effective intervention to take place. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited