what makes a criminal flashcards

what is a self-fulfilling prophecy

where once a person is labelled as a criminal and treated as such by society, it becomes internalised and part of their self identity which affects their behaviour, making them more likely to actually become a criminal

support for self-fulfilling prophecy

jahoda found that in the ashanti tribe of west africa, boys are named after the day of the week they are born on which comes with predictions on their temperaments. for example, boys born on mondays are said to be placid whilst boys born on wednesdays are said to be aggressive. police records show that boys born on wednesdays have higher arrest numbers than monday’s boys.

what is a self-serving bias

a person who tends to credit themselves with their successes and their failures to something else

support for the self-serving bias

scully and marolla found that of 114 convicted rapists, 40% blamed the victim and 60% blamed alcohol or drugs for their crimes. no rapist faulted themselves for their crime. a self-serving bias allows criminals to justify their criminal behaviour whilst maintaining a pristine self-image.

chemical imbalance

one theory suggests that testosterone is associated with offending behaviour

support for chemical imbalance

dabbs took saliva samples from male prisoners and found that inmates who committed sexual or violent crimes had higher testosterone levels than others who committed property crimes or fraud and also broke more prison rules. this suggests a link between testosterone and crime

brain dysfunction theory

raine suggests that low activity in the frontal lobe, amygdala, and hippocampus makes a person more likely to commit crime.

aims and hypothesis of raine

aim: to investigate potential brain abnormalities in prisoners pleading not guilty by reason of insanity compared to non-criminals.

hypothesis: NGRIs will have localised brain dysfunction

hypothesis: NGRIs will not have dysfunction that is linked to mental illness and not violence

sample of raine

41 murderers (39 male, 2 female) pleading not guilty by reason of insanity and controls matched on age, gender and mental illness (6 criminal schizophrenics were matched with 6 non-criminal schizophrenics)

methodology of raine

all NGRIs had imaging done to attempt to prove diminished capacity. they were injected with a glucose tracer and did various tasks whilst in a PET scan machine. levels of activity in the brain was tracked through glucose metabolism

findings of raine

NGRIs has less activity in the prefrontal and parietal areas of the brain, and less activity in the left side of the amygdala and hippocampus and more in the right side than controls

conclusion of raine

some deficits in the brain may pre-dispose criminals towards violent behaviour and make them more likely to commit a violent crime

what is the frontal lobe associated with

having a conscience and feeling remorse or guilt. if a person if deficient in this area, it may lead to them committing crimes like murder as they won’t feel bad about their actions

what is the amygdala associated with

regulating emotions. if a person if deficient in this area, they are likely to commit crimes like domestic abuse as they cannot control what they feel nor how strongly they feel it, resulting in the suffering of the people around them due to the drastic highs and lows.

what is the hippocampus associated with

controlling anger. if a person is deficient in this area, they may be more likely to commit crimes like assault as if they get fired up they are unlikely to be able to control themselves, so they may start fights.

one biological application

pharmacotherapy

what is pharmacotherapy

the use of medication to prevent sexual offenders re-offending, also known as chemical castration but is much less invasive and reversible.

support for pharmacotherapy

maletzsky found that sex offenders who received treatment were significantly less likely to reoffend sexually than those who didn’t receive treatment, and they were also more likely to follow the rules of their parole.

how is phramacotherapy done

the drugs are meant to reduce abnormally high sex drives by modulating testosterone levels, which reduces male libido and makes recidivism less likely. MPA is an example of pharmacotherapy, which is taken orally or injected, and breaks down testosterone and inhibits its production, decreasing sexual drive as well as the likelihood of violent behaviour.

another biological strategy

PET scans and omega 3 fish oils

what is PET scans and omega 3 fish oils

PET scans detect differences in activity levels of areas of the brain which may encourage offending behaviour and can be aided with dietary supplements

support for omega 3 fish oils

aylesbury prison found a significant reduction in violence when prisoners were given the supplement

how are omega 3 fish oils given

the pet scans detect abnormalities in the activity levels of areas of the brain which may encourage aggression and therefore offending behaviour, which can be helped with the fish oils stimulating those areas of the brain so they function better, reducing offending behaviour.