Download Medical Causes of Criminal Behaviour

Health Law and Bio Ethics
Prof. Dr. Helena Pereira de Melo
Medical Causes of Criminal Behaviour
2º CICLO – ANO LECTIVO 2013/2014
ANGELICA SCHMIDT - Nº 003904
Lisboa, 30 de avril de 2014
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Agenda
Criminological Basics
Medical research on criminal behaviour then
Medical research on criminal behaviour today
Implications for health law: Discussion
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Criminological Basics (1/2):
Definition of Criminology
• Causes, control and prevention of criminal behavior both for
individuals and society
• Interdisciplinary field in behavioral sciences, focussing on the
research of sociology, psychology, psychatry, social
anthropolgy as well as on writings in law
• Areas of research: forms, causes and consequences of crime,
social and governmental regulations and reaction to crime
• Victiminology
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Criminological Basics (2/2):
Most popular theories
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Subcultural Theory
Ecological Approaches
Theory of cultural conflicts
Frustration-Aggression-Hypothesis
Control Theory
Psychologic and socialpsychologic theories
Medical theories
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Agenda
Criminological Basics
Medical research on criminal behaviour then
Medical research on criminal behaviour today
Implications for health law: Discussion
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Medical Research then (1/7):
Famous Representatives
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Cesare Lombroso (1883 – 1909): Types of criminals
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Ernst Kretschmer (1888 – 1964): Somatotypology
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Joseph Gall (1758 – 1828): Craniology
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Johannes Langes (1891 – 1923): Twin research
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Medical Research then (2/7):
Lombroso
• „L’uomo delinquente“ (1876): „born criminal“
• Pathologic and deviant characteristics of criminals
• Criminals as a primitive humans: „Degeneration-Stigmata“
• Demand: abolition of criminal liability
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Medical Research then (3/7):
Kretschmer
"Physique and Character" (1921): Development of specific body
types
• Leptosome (thin: tends to offenses against property)
• Pyknic (thickish, prone to fraud)
• Athletic (muscular, prone to violent offenses)
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Medical Research then (4/7):
Kretschmer
Leptosome
Pyknic
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Athlete
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Medical Research then (5/7):
Gall
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Founder of phrenology and skull research
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Localization of mental skills and character traits in certain
brain areas
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Altered brain regions can cause personality changes or
provoke violent criminal behaviour
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Medical Research then (6/7):
Langes
• "Crime as Destiny" (1929)
• Assumption: chromosome abnormalities of violence criminals
• „Murderer-chromosome“ (XYY-Chromosome-Aberration)
• „Klinefelt-Syndrome“ (XXY-Chromosome-Aberration)
• Influence on genetics and chromosome-research
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Medical Research then (7/7):
Critique
• Very poor methodology
• Empirically research results are not justifiable
 Negative: conservative and repressive explanations, racial
politics
 Positive: impulses for today's medical research
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Agenda
Criminological Basics
Medical research on criminal behaviour then
Medical research on criminal behaviour today
Implications for health law: Discussion
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Medical Research today
I Biological causes
II Psychological causes
a) Prenatal Influences
b) ADHD
c) Sex/Gender
d) Bio-chemical processes
e) Nutrition
f) Brainfunction
a) Intoxication & Drugs
b) Bipolar Personality
Disorder
c) Schizophrenia
d) Organic brain damages
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Medical Research Today (1/10)
Prenatal Influences
• Stress, tobacco, drug or alcohol abuse (eg, fetal alcohol
syndrome) leads to severe embryonic damage
• Consequence: antisocial behavior, character neuroses
• Other factors: negative environmental influences, cognitiveemotional development
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Medical Research Today (2/10)
ADHD
• Aggression, impulsivity, "sensation-seeking“, lack of discipline,
emotional instability
• Cause: neurobiological disorder, inactive neurotransmitter
• 30-50% with antisocial and aggressive behavior.
• Persons with ADHD show three times more delinquent
behavior
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Medical Research Today (3/10)
Gender
• Percentage of female and male suspects: 25.4% and
74.6%
• Women: Emotional control and lower degree of
aggression
• Evidence of a correlation between pre-frontal brain
complex and violent behavior in males only
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Medical Research Today (4/10)
Bio-chemical Causes
Hormons (Androgens)
Neurotransmitter (Messengers)
 Sexual hormone Testosterone
 Serotonine
 Deficiency causes violent or
aggressive behavior
 Cortisol (Adrenal Cortex)
 Overproduction: Anxiety
 Underproduction: „sensationseeking“
 Thyroid function
 Over/Underproduction:
Anxiety, restlessness
 Noradrenalin
 Causes Stress
 „GABA“
 Influences level of aggression
and anxiety
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Medical Research Today (5/10)
Nutrition
• American Institute of Biosocial and Medical Research:
o Correlation between poor nutrition and agression
o Metabolic disorders, poisoning and biochemical malfunction
• University of Baltimore:
o Correlation between sugar and refined carbohydrates and
behavioral problems
o Sugar diet reduces violent behavior
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Medical Research Today (6/10)
Others
• Limbic System (Affects and Emotions)
o Hypothalamus, Amygdala, Hippocampus
o If damaged: misjudgment and misinterpretation of
emotions, fear, anger
• Pre-frontal Cortex
o Anger Management
o circulatory disorder: increased aggressive behavior
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Medical Research Today
I Biological causes
a) Prenatal Influences
b) ADHD
c) Sex/Gender
d) Biochemical processes
e) Nutrition
f) Brainfunction
II Psychological causes
a) Intoxiction & Drugs
b) Bipolar Personality
Disorder
c) Schizophrenia
d) Organic Braindamages
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Medical Research Today (7/10)
Intoxication and Drugs
• Alcohol
o Delirium: disinhibition, aggressive behavior
o Detoxication: violence attacks
o Sober alcoholics: irritability, impulsivity, isolation
o 13.2% of all offenses under the influence of alcohol
• Drugs
o Opiates: passive state
o Psychostimulants: violent behavior possible
o Hallucinogens: panic attacks, psychosis, delusional states
o Drug-related crimes
o Overdose: aggression, irritation
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Medical Research Today (8/10)
Bipolar Disorder
• Affective personality disorder
• Causes:
o Lack of neurotransmitters: metabolic disturbances in the brain
o Alcohol and drugs increase symptoms
• No definite causal link between disease and (violent) criminal
behavior
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Medical Research Today (9/10)
Shizophrenia
• Affective personality disorder
• Diverse symptoms:
o Delusions, hallucinations
o paranoid and schizoid personality disorders
o personality changes
o Hypersensitivity, nervousness, increased levels of aggression
• In an acute psychosis: high violent potential
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Medical Research Today (10/10)
Organic Brain Lesion
• acute brain disorders:
o Encephalitis
o Cerebral Hemorrage
 Unpredictable, aggressive, psychomotoric affective behaviour
• Case of Phineas Gage:
o Injury prefrontal cortex
o No intellectual, but emotional-affective personality changes
o After the accident: reckless, carefree, aggressive behavior
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Agenda
Criminological Basics
Medical research on criminal behaviour then
Medical research on criminal behaviour today
Implications for health law: Discussion
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Implications for health law (1/2)
• Neuro-sciences
o Genetics and brain function do influence behaviour!
o Doubts on individual freedom of choice
o Terms of guilt, liability and blame might loose their meaning
• Consequences for penal law?
o Elimination of guilt and liability? Elimination of penalty?
o Solution: protection to the public by medical treatment of
the patients?
o problems?
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Implications for health law (2/2)
• Can people be accountable for their offenses?
• Do criminals have a personal responsibility?
• How to deal with criminals who have genetic, biologic or
physic defects?
• How to deal with guilt and liability ?
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Q&A
Thanks for your attention!
Any questions, remarks, comments?
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