Causes for Criminal Behavior
Ashford University
CRJ 308
September 3, 2013 Causes for Criminal Behavior
According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, there were 1,203,564 violent crimes committed in the United States in the year 2011. That means that someone was murdered every 36 minutes, raped every 6.3 minutes, robbed every 1.5 minutes and assaulted every 42 seconds. But why do people commit these crimes? What drives them to harm others? "Criminal behavior and violence may be the consequence of head injuries acquired during childhood and youth" (Carrington & Ramos, 2003) neurological and neuropsychological anomalies or the upbringing and social interactions of the child's upbringing.
Some people read the morning paper to keep up on current events while others watch the evening news, but regardless of the method they are all looking to see what sort of crimes have been committed that day. Crime has become so common that people skip reading about simple offences such as breaking and entering and theft and move on to the more interesting violent crimes such as forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. However, every once in a while a crime occurs that is so tragic it shocks the nation back into reality and makes people question their safety even with their family, neighbors and friends. These are the crimes that remind us that we walk hand in hand with the criminally insane on a daily basis without realizing it. But if they are insane should they be held responsible for the crimes they commit? Should they be imprisoned or hospitalized? Most people believe the offenders who are responsible for these crimes should be punished for their actions regardless of the reasons behind them, but they also want the innocent protected. So what is to be done when the offender of the crime is also the victim of mental illness? Examining the possible causes of why people commit crimes is the only way to explain the offender’s actions and determine any possible resolves.
Studies have shown that nearly all people who commit violent crimes have some sort of brain damage. “A study of 15-year-old delinquents conducted at Yale University, found 48 per cent of violent offenders had brain damage, compared to 6 per cent of the non-violent offenders” (Newsday, 1985). The video The Brain and Violence: Secrets of Your Mind Martin Bashir explored the possibilities of whether or not people are born with a tendency toward violent behavior, if it can be caused by brain damage and if it can be linked to childhood. As examples, Bashir interviewed two psychotic death row inmates, Tommy Lynn Sells and Joel Rifkin, and the family of Chris Benoit, the pro-wrestler who murdered his family and then killed himself who’s behavior was claimed to be due to brain damage. On the other hand, neurosurgeon James Fallen found that regardless of how the brain is wired a positive environment can re-direct even a potential psychopath’s predicted behavior.
Criminal behavior and violence may be the consequence of head injuries acquired at any point during life. Any type of blow to the head, such as gang fights, falls, domestic violence, and small blows to the head while driving can result in damage to the brain and can possibly change the personality of the injured (Carrington & Ramos, 2003). Chris Benoit was said to have suffered such an injury at some point during his career. At age 40, Benoit was at the top of his career as a world champion wrestler and was said to be a devoted family man so no one seen it coming when he murdered his wife and children and then himself in 2007. Benoit’s father indicated that his son had symptoms of personality changes such as drinking, insomnia and mood swings along with an obsession with religion. Following his death, scientists examined Beniot’s brain and found the same extensive brain damage caused by repeated blows to the head that had caused changes in the personalities of pro football players such as Mike Webster. “People with brain injuries often deny their disabilities; yet they are extremely frustrated by their inability to think clearly or perform tasks that came easily before their injury. Personality changes are common. Those who were calm and controlled may become quick-tempered and impulsive. In some people anger erupts into aggressive attacks on others. Many with severe brain injuries lack the ability to control their thoughts, emotions, impulses and their conduct and may become uninhibited, promiscuous, anxious, paranoid or violent” (Winslade, 2003, p. 1).
Martin Bashir interviewed Tommy Lynn Cells, a man who had admittedly killed at least 18 people before he was captured and Joel Rifkin, a man who killed several prostitutes including one he cut into 6 pieces in order to dispose of the body. Both Cells and Rifkin exhibited the symptoms of psychopathy. “Primary psychopathy refers to an individual without a conscience and attendant negative emotions, such as anxiety, whereas secondary psychopathy refers to an individual with a disrupted conscience and negative emotions” (Delisi, 2013). Both offenders also said they experienced a “high” from the murders and then continued to murder in order to repeat the feeling. Neither of these men felt any remorse of empathy for their victims or their victim’s families.
Examining the differences in the brain structure of criminals as compared to non-criminals through PET and MRI scans has helped researchers discover how the brain and crime may be linked. “The prefrontal cortex is involved in the inhibition of aggressive behavior. Studies have shown that damage to the region correlates with impulsiveness and unpredictable, uncontrolled actions. The corpus callosum commutes information between the brain's left hemisphere, which is associated with reason and language, and the brain's right hemisphere, which is associated with emotion. The posterior parietal cortex is involved in the integration of sensory input and the formation of abstract concepts. Reduced glucose uptake in a portion of this region has been correlated with reduced verbal ability, while damage has been linked to deficits in reading and arithmetic. Violent offenders have consistently been shown to do worse in school than their law-abiding peers. The thalamus, the amygdala and the hippocampus are among the principal regions comprising the brain's limbic system; a complex system of nerve pathways and networks. The thalamus relays impulses from the amygdala and the hippocampus to the prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain at the very front of each cerebral hemisphere. The functions of the prefrontal cortex are profoundly concerned with emotions, memory, learning and social behavior. Poor functioning of these limbic areas helps explain why violent offenders fail to learn from experience and are less able to regulate their emotions” ( University Of Southern California, 1997).
Other possibilities for criminal behavior are abnormalities in brain structure, and disturbances in brain chemistry. How children are raised and the environment they are raised in can result in a variety of disorders including delinquency, neuroses, and even psychoses. Studies have shown that genetics may play a role in the development of sociopathic behavior. “A study conducted in the Netherlands, for example, found higher rates of criminal and sociopathic behavior in biological relatives of criminals and sociopaths than is the case for adoptees and their (non-biological) families. While these studies may suggest a genetic predisposition for sociopathic and/or criminal behavior, it cannot alone be a cause of sociopathy” (Rincover, 1987).
However, in the video Dr James Fallen, a neurosurgeon who was actually studying the effects of inherited traits, found that his good environment had prevented him from becoming a criminal. Even though he had come from a family of psychopaths, such as his cousin Lizzy Borden, and he himself had low activity in the lower cortex of his brain which is a marker for psychopathy he had not acted on his impulses and had become a successful doctor. Events such as this stresses the importance of a child’s need for a loving, stable, and nurturing environment and how it can help to prevent even the so called predisposed psychopath from a criminal. Criminal behavior cannot be explained by any one cause; it is a range of genetic, neurological, and environmental factors interact to produce psychopathic personality traits.

References

Baskin, J. H. (2007). Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Neuroimaging in the Courtroom. American Journal of Law & Medicine, 33, 239-269.
Winslade, W. J. (2003). Traumatic Brain Injury and Criminal Responsibility. Medical Ethics, 10(3). DeLisi, M. (2013). Criminal psychology. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Newsday, F. (1985, Dec 27). Are criminals born or made? new research explores biology as the key to criminal behavior. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/435371532?accountid=32521
Rincover, A. (1987, Nov 28). Mystery clouds cause of sociopathy. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/435669880?accountid=32521
Jose' Leon Carrington, and Francisco Javier Chacartegui Ramos. (2003), Brain Damage, Human Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Seville, Spain, 17(3), 207-216. doi:10.1080/0269905021000010249
Retrieved from: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0269905021000010249
University Of Southern California (1997, September 13). Research Links Brain Damage & Violent Crime -- USC Studies Point to Underlying Causes of Violent Crime in Young Offenders. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 2, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/1997/09/970913073401.htm