Biological theories of crime

Question 1

who was horace willaims

Answer 1

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

Question 2

neurotransmitters

Answer 2

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

Question 3

what is serotonin

Answer 3

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

Question 4

linnoila serotonin in prison study

Answer 4

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

Question 5

what was the conclusion of linnoilas study

Answer 5

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

Question 6

phineas gage

Answer 6

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

Question 7

what year was the incident of phineas gage

Answer 7

1848

Question 8

what was concluded from phineas gages brain injury

Answer 8

shows frontal lobe is involved in personality

Question 9

what is the criminal biology hypothesis

Answer 9

that criminals have different brains to ordinary people

Question 10

how are brains studied

Answer 10

PET scans ( position emission tomography)

Question 11

raine et al

Answer 11

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

Question 12

malfunctioning amydala

Answer 12

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

Question 13

faulty hippocampus

Answer 13

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

Question 14

strenghts of raine et al study

Answer 14

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

Question 15

weaknesses of Raine et al study

Answer 15

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

Question 16

what are the three genetic theories of crime

Answer 16

jacobs XYY
adoption studies
twin studies

Question 17

osborne and west

Answer 17

compared sons of criminal and non criminal fathers

Question 18

what year did osborne and west study fathers

Answer 18

1982

Question 19

what percent of sons with non criminal fathers had a conviction

Answer 19

13%

Question 20

what percent of sons with criminal fathers had a conviction

Answer 20

40%

Question 21

what is the concordance rate

Answer 21

the similarity between twins

Question 22

what is a monozygotic twin

Answer 22

an identical twin that shares 100% DNA

Question 23

what is a dyzygotic twin

Answer 23

a non identical twin that shares 50% of DNA

Question 24

christansen twin studies

Answer 24

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

Question 25

adoption studies

Answer 25

compare similarity between adopted and biological children-

Question 26

what year was crowes biological mothers study

Answer 26

1972

Question 27

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

Answer 27

50%

Question 28

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

Answer 28

5%

Question 29

what year was Mednick et als study

Answer 29

1975

Question 30

mednick et al father study

Answer 30

compared 14,000 adoptees with convictions of biological fathers

Question 31

biological father not convicted +adopted not convicted

Answer 31

10%

Question 32

BF not convicted + AF convicted

Answer 32

11%

Question 33

BF convicted + AF not convicted

Answer 33

21%

Question 34

BF convicted+ AF convicted

Answer 34

36%

Question 35

the boggle family- family studies

Answer 35

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

Question 36

weaknesses of biological theories of crime

Answer 36

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

Question 37

what is jacobs XYY chromosome theory

Answer 37

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

Question 38

richard speck

Answer 38

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

Question 39

strengths of XYY

Answer 39

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

Question 40

weaknesses of XYY

Answer 40

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