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Brain and Deviance/Criminal Behavior
For thousands of years, scholars have debated the duality of good and evil within the human condition, and the choices individuals make regarding actions that could be good are evil. The basic idea of a utilitarian model, is that humans are innately reasonable and able to weight consequences with rational choices -- cost vs. benefits. Kim, et al. (2010) review both control theories and the biology of the brain as a way of understanding criminal deviance. If one understands why crime is committed, the idea is that one could then help society to develop ways in which criminal behavior is minimized. Choice theory says that individuals look for opportunities, then weigh the positives and negatives (punishment, gain, etc.) and choose whether to proceed further based on that choice. Choice, however, may be have a direct relationship between culture and chemistry. Deviance is defined on a relative sliding scale that is dependent on the dominant culture of the time. Criminological theories are contradictory simply because humans act in a contradictory manner -- there is no solid evidence that everyone commits deviant behavior for the same reason. We can group causality and actions, but since there are so many different motivations and individual differences,...
Brain scans of habitual criminals suggest that somehow the circuitry of the brain is damaged which contributes to antisocial and psychopathic behavior. Because the human brain is so incredibly complex, there is not a complete understanding of how thoughts, behaviors, and psychological or social characteristics are part of the biology or physiology of the brain -- with 15-33 billion neurons linked with 10,000 or more synaptic connections there are millions of potential interactions that can occur. This is not to say that behavior is only based on biology, certainly cultural and social issues can contribute to behavior, but that there is a link between criminal behavior and a malfunctioning amygdala (Beaver, 2009, pp.123-5)..
In human studies, the amygdala has been shown to be heavily involved in the formation and processing of emotional memories, especially fear-related memories, and the interconnection of those memories with reality. It is located deep in the temporal lobes and actually has several distinct…
REFERENCES
Beaver, J. (2009). Biosocial Criminology: A Primer. Ames, IA: Kendall Hunt.
Kim, B., et al. (2012). Social Deviance Activates the Brain's Error-Monitoring
System. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience. 12 (1): 65-73.
Wright, J., et al. (2008). Criminals in the Making. Los Angeles: Sage.
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