Brain Dysfunction in Criminal Behavior

 

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Chapter 1

Brain is a mystery. There are so many secrets that remain unrevealed, and so many questions stay unanswered. Only a few of us know how the mind works, but even those are unable to see the whole picture. All the answers may be found deep inside the brain. Knowing them may prevent us from doing something we do not want to do. For instance, why do people kill? Research shows that the roots of psychopathy can be traced in the brain. Thus, those who committed crimes could have been born to do so. In this paper, we will find out whether it can be the explanation of criminal behavior or not. Criminology and psychology professor Adrian Raine of the University of Pennsylvania was the first one who managed to penetrate into the minds of murderers and study the dysfunctions of their brains.

What is the nature of criminals?

Every psychopath, before committing his sin or sins, used to be just an innocent child. Besides, there were no signs in killers' childhood that they would soon turn into horrible monsters. None of them wished to become what they have become.

The problem is that at a subconscious level psychopaths differentiate between right and wrong, but they do not have the feeling of what is right and wrong. What is worse, they do not have the normal feeling of aversion and disgust when they kill people. A specific part of the human brain is involved in the generation of emotions, and this part is deformed in psychopaths’ brains. Scientists believe that, apart from biology, there are also environmental aspects that influence their way of thinking and acting. Additionally, psychopaths are smart and sly. It is hard to control them. However, they tend to control your emotions and induce your fears.

Are criminals born or made?

In Adrian Raine's book “The anatomy of violence” the main point is that every act we ever perform, whether we are sane or not, is the physical effect of a complex combination of genetic, developmental, and experiential factors that make us who we are at the moment of action. That brings us back to the biological basis. When we compare the scan of an ordinary person’s brain and the one of a murderer's brain, we will see that certain bright sections in the ordinary person’s brain are dark in the murderer's brain. In most cases, the murderers' brain dark sections show that they miss conscience, and it makes quite an impact on their deeds. Still, the important question is: are criminals born or made?

Let us observe, for example, two different lifelines of Chris Benoit and James H. Fallon. The first one was a professional wrestler who killed his wife and his son in 2007, and then killed himself. The second one is a neuroscientist who has never killed anyone in his life. Chris Benoit's and James Fallon's brain scans showed that they both had brain damage. In case of Chris Benoit, his brain was full of dead cells and scientists believe that a large amount of concussions was the cause of that. In case of James Fallon, a neuroscientist himself examined his pedigree and discovered that there were several notorious killers on his father's side. Then, he scanned the brains of his family and found out that there was only one abnormal scan. It was his scan. Nevertheless, the number of his victims was equal to zero.

A man has a tendency to murders does not necessarily mean that biology determines the destiny. The decisions that people make are the product of many factors and inherited tendencies cannot dictate the rules. Although environment and biology may play important roles in establishing personalities, one should not be vulnerable due to these factors. In fact, people should remember that life is in their own hands, and whether these hands will kill or not is up to them to decide.

About author 

Emily works as an editor at https://primeessay.org/methodology-chapter-writing.html. She directly participates in editing and supplementing interesting and unique works for any student, ensuring their correctness and relevance. Emily studied at the Faculty of Philology and holds a master's degree

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