bio explanation 3 - neural - offending

Antisocial personality disorder (APD)

• evidence suggests there may be neural differences in brain of criminals and non - much of evidence in this area has investigated individuals diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder formerly referred to as psychopathy

• APD: condition marked by persistent pattern of disregarding and violating rights of others from childhood / early adolescence into adulthood. Key features: deceitfulness, recklessness, irresponsibility, lack of remorse

Reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex - raine et al

• raine’s extensive research on the APD brain, including numerous brain imaging studies, indicates reduced activity in PFC among individuals w antisocial personalities - PFC is crucial for regulating emotional behaviour - raine reported an 11% decrease in grey matter volume in PFC of individuals w APD compared to control groups

Mirror neurons - keysers et al 2011

• recent research indicates w APD possess the capacity for empathy though it manifests less consistently than in others

• His study revealed that their empathy response, mediated by mirror neurons, only activated when explicitly instructed to empathise, such as with someone in pain depicted on film - suggests APD individuals don’t lack empathy entirely but may have a neural ‘switch’ for it, unlike the more consistently active empathy in neurotypical brains

Ao3 - supporting research for link between crime and frontal lobe

• Kandel and freed reviewed evidence of frontal lobe damage (including PFC) and antisocial behaviour, people w such damage tended to show impulsive behaviour, emotional instability and an inability to learn from their mistakes - front lobe = planning behaviour

• Provides credibility to idea that brain damage may be a causal factor in offending behaviour

• More research should explore this potential cause of offending to see if it may be a cause / effect of offending behaviour

Ao3 - strength = high reliability and scientificity of Kandel and freed

• Reviewed findings from multiple studies that employed objective measurement techniques and standardised research protocols to assess frontal lobe damage and associated behaviours like measurements of brain lesions and deficits on neuropsychological tests

• This provides a comprehensive and empirically supported argument for a link between neural factors and antisocial behaviour