Criminal Neuroscience

[joggerjayne]

Yaaaawn ??

No, actually, did anyone hear this on Radio 4 today?

They can scan your brain, and see if you have a brain condition which causes you to have criminal tendencies.

If so, can you say ... I should not be convicted, because I have a brain condition which caused me to behaveas I did?

Oversimplification ... but that's the essence.

[rov1100]

Exercise, especially jogging, is good for the brain.

[Andyvon]

Society and science have spent many years trying to identify traits that separate law breakers from those who abide by the law. The Victorians convinced themselves that facial and cranial features were the key so they catalogued detailed measurements of the noses, eyes, skull shape etc of convicts (even now some people don't trust others on the basis that they look shifty or their eyes are too close together!)
Recently, geneticists have studied genes and DNA in the hope of identifying 'criminal traits' and brain scans are just the latest attempt to identify differences.

What society feels uncomfortable about is that science has never found a difference between the average person and those who commit terrible crimes. Society feels the need to identify some feature that separates criminals in some way - but there has never been any result that shows a difference. What it means of course is that almost everyone is capable of committing crimes such as murder, genocide etc in the right circumstances. However, many people just don't like that idea and don't want to accept it.

This study almost certainly won't find any differences either. Tumours can physically alter the brain and mind of course, but that's different to the general 'wiring' of the brain studied by scans.

[ludwig]

Jake
// is it that hard to see a similar condition where unacceptable actions cannot be suppressed? //

Yes, because tourettes is a tic. Like hiccups, you've done it before you're even aware of it.

Unacceptable actions on the other hand usually follow a conscious decision to perform them. You don't suddenly rob a bank before you've realised what's happening.

I agree with what Andyvon says above.