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criminology unit 2 > Biological theories of crime > Flashcards

Biological theories of crime Flashcards

1
Q

who was horace willaims

A

a builder accused of beating a hitchhiker to death and tying him to two poles-was found insane at the time as he had taken 2000 the recommended dosage of steroids

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2
Q

neurotransmitters

A

brains chemistry can be influenced by diet, food additives and pollution-all can impact the level of chemical production in the brain such as serotonin

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3
Q

what is serotonin

A

a neurotransmitter- shapes mood- often called the happy hormone- higley said an imbalance can lead to violent behavior

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4
Q

linnoila serotonin in prison study

A

studied 1043 arsonists in prisons and psychiatric hospitals-needs stressor to trigger amount of serotonin produced- most common stressors are violent upbringing or excessive alcohol consumption

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5
Q

what was the conclusion of linnoilas study

A

committed crime impulsively= low levels of serotonin
committed with motive= high levels
concluded that mutated gene can cause brain to produce little serotonin

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6
Q

phineas gage

A

the metal bar went through his head damaging 11% of his frontal lobe and 4% of the cerebral cortex- changed personality from hardworking and pleasant to aggressive and lazy

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7
Q

what year was the incident of phineas gage

A

1848

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8
Q

what was concluded from phineas gages brain injury

A

shows frontal lobe is involved in personality

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9
Q

what is the criminal biology hypothesis

A

that criminals have different brains to ordinary people

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10
Q

how are brains studied

A

PET scans ( position emission tomography)

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11
Q

raine et al

A

studied violent offenders brains using PET scans- compared with non offenders

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12
Q

malfunctioning amydala

A

crimes can be associated with malfuntioning or shrunken amygdala- violence is linked to unusual emotional responses

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13
Q

faulty hippocampus

A

associated with crime- crime is the result of not being able to learn from mistakes- hippocampus affects memory

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14
Q

strenghts of raine et al study

A

good control group- large sample size
could inform better management of offenders being released into society
PET scanning is non intrusive so no ethical issues

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15
Q

weaknesses of Raine et al study

A

unreliable results- PET scans are not fully developed so can be easy to misread data
not all murderers are violent- does not involve reasearch for those who have restraint and planning

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16
Q

what are the three genetic theories of crime

A

jacobs XYY
adoption studies
twin studies

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17
Q

osborne and west

A

compared sons of criminal and non criminal fathers

18
Q

what year did osborne and west study fathers

A

1982

19
Q

what percent of sons with non criminal fathers had a conviction

A

13%

20
Q

what percent of sons with criminal fathers had a conviction

A

40%

21
Q

what is the concordance rate

A

the similarity between twins

22
Q

what is a monozygotic twin

A

an identical twin that shares 100% DNA

23
Q

what is a dyzygotic twin

A

a non identical twin that shares 50% of DNA

24
Q

christansen twin studies

A

studied 3500- 13% concordance rate for dizygotic- 35% for monozygotic- concordance rates arent high so could emphasise importance of environment

25
Q

adoption studies

A

compare similarity between adopted and biological children-

26
Q

what year was crowes biological mothers study

A

1972

27
Q

what was the chance of conviction if the adoptees biological mother had a conviction

A

50%

28
Q

what was the chance of conviction if the adoptees biological mother didn’t have a conviction

A

5%

29
Q

what year was Mednick et als study

A

1975

30
Q

mednick et al father study

A

compared 14,000 adoptees with convictions of biological fathers

31
Q

biological father not convicted +adopted not convicted

A

10%

32
Q

BF not convicted + AF convicted

A

11%

33
Q

BF convicted + AF not convicted

A

21%

34
Q

BF convicted+ AF convicted

A

36%

35
Q

the boggle family- family studies

A

all 60 members of the family have been incarcerated at some point- committed burglaries, armed robberies, assault and murder

36
Q

weaknesses of biological theories of crime

A

Adoption studies dont environmental factors into consideration- children may be predisposed to criminality
Twin studies do not support importance genes
Doesnt take into account social learning theory
The criminal gene cannot be scientifically

37
Q

what is jacobs XYY chromosome theory

A

a chromosomal abnormality causes higher testosterone levels and large levels of aggression

38
Q

richard speck

A

mass murderer who said he had no recollection of his crimes- the XYY chromosome was used to explain his crimes but it was later found that he did not have the extra chromosome

39
Q

strengths of XYY

A

could explain aggressive crimes such as murder or sexual offences
could show that genetics have an influence on criminal behavior and aggression
found that XYY males were overrepresented in the prison population

40
Q

weaknesses of XYY

A

lacks population validity- only focused on convicted Scottish males
no positive correlation between extra chromosome and aggression- speck didn’t have it and was still aggressive
doesn’t take into consideration environmental factors such as abusive upbringing that could lead to aggression

criminology unit 2 (3 decks)

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