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Recent mass shootings
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08/24/12 Jeffrey Johnson, 58, a self-employed NYC man shot and killed a former
coworker in front of the Empire State Building. Officers fired sixteen rounds, killing
Johnson and injuring nine bystanders.
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08/08/12 Wade Michael Page, 40, opened fire in and around a Milwaukee-area Sikh
temple, killing six and wounding three including a police officer. He died from a selfinflicted wound to the head. Page was a well-known white supremacist and sang in a
white-power band.
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07/20/12 A troubled graduate student burst into a Colorado theatre during a midnight
showing of “A Dark Knight,” threw gas grenades and opened fire with a shotgun, a rifle
and two pistols, wounding fifty-eight and killing twelve. James Holmes, 24, was arrested
without incident.
How do these compare to more conventional violent crime?
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05/04/12 A neo-Nazi who led an Arizona border militia shot and killed his live-in
girlfriend, her daughter, granddaughter and daughter’s boyfriend, then killed himself. ExMarine Jason Ready had a history of domestic violence.
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Bank robberies
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“Ordinary” gang violence (drive-by’s, etc.)
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Organized crime “hits”
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Sheldon linked physique and
temperament
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Endomorph: Soft physique  relaxed and comfort-seeking
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Mesomorph: Muscled physique  active and assertive
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Ectomorph: Lean, frail physique  introverted
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Gluecks found correlation between mesomorph somatotype and
aggressive/antisocial/uninhibited behavior
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Issue: Might there be a psychological connection between body build and
temperament?
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Think of an intervening variable that might go between physique and
temperament
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Physique  ___(variable)___  Temperament
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Examined relationship between heredity, environment, and frequency (F) and
length (L) of imprisonment
 Heredity  F/L imprisonment OR Environment  F/L imprisonment?
Findings
 Parents and children are similar in terms of F & L of imprisonment
 Environmental factors not correlated with F & L of imprisonment
▪ Poverty, broken homes, education, nationality, birth order
 Biological factors are correlated with F & L imprisonment
▪ As F & L increase, physical size smaller, mental inferiority worse
Criticisms
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Current data does not suggest that crime “runs rampant” in families
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Family members often share criminal propensities, but they are usually exposed
to similar environmental factors
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Not taking other environmental variables into account
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Difficult to distinguish between hereditary and environmental effects
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Difficult to control environmental variables
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Fraternal twins: different eggs, different DNA
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Can inherit different biological factors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTYCv1ObZrI
Identical twins: one egg, same DNA
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So, control heredity
Biological factors the same
Look for similarities and differences in behavior
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Similarities between identical twins could be inherited or a product of the
environment
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Differences between identical twins cannot be inherited – cannot be
hereditary
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If behavior of sets of identical twins is more alike than behavior of sets of
fraternal twins, heredity may be important
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6,000 pairs of male twins
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Higher concordance for identical twins
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Male identical twins: 67 pairs where at least one was registered as a
criminal.
▪ In 36% of these pairs (n = 24) both were criminals
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Male fraternal twins: 114 pairs where at least one was registered as a
criminal
▪ In 12% of these pairs (n=14) both were criminals
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Higher concordance for serious crimes
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Issue: Could higher concordance of behavior for identical twins be due to a
more similar environment?
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Similar environments might make identical twins act alike
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So – compare behavior of identical twins reared apart
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Grove (32 pairs separated shortly after birth); Christiansen (8 pairs).
 Both found evidence that antisocial behavior can be inherited
 Identical twins reared apart behave similarly
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Walters – 1992 meta-analysis of 13 twin adoption studies
 Considered sample size, quality of research design
 Support for hereditary basis to criminality
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Issue: Adoptive parents may be much less criminal than biological
parents
▪ Adoptees may be exposed to less criminogenic (crime causing)
environments
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How to remove (“control”) effect of home
environment? Study adoptees
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Number of court convictions of biological
parents (not adoptive parents) influences youth criminality
 Limitation: might only apply to property crimes
Other influencers
 Socioeconomic status of biological and adoptive parents
 Personality disorders of biological parents
 Number of placements before adoption
 Criminality of biological and adoptive fathers
Issues with adoption studies
 Low sample sizes
 Recent studies found link between heredity and behavior for minor and property
crime, but not for violent crime
 Adoptive parents may be much less criminal than biological parents
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▪ adoptees may be exposed to less criminogenic (crime causing) environments
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Neurotransmitters
 Chemicals that transmit electrical impulses in the brain
 Levels affected by medication, diet, drug use, stress
▪ Alcoholism can affect neurotransmitter levels
 Imbalance may promote aggressive or compulsive behavior
▪ Violence, drug use
Hormones
 Testosterone: Documented role in animal aggression, effects found in
human research
Issues
 Reverse causal order: Aggression  high hormone levels?
 Booth and Osgood study
▪ Association between testosterone and adult deviancy
▪ BUT – effect of high levels of testosterone may be mediated by social
integration:
High levels of testosterone  lack of social integration  aggression
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Brain and spinal cord
Cerebral cortex - outer portion of the
brain
Four lobes
Frontal and temporal lobes control goal-directed behavior, impulses and
emotions
Some evidence that abnormalities in the lobes may be associated with violent
and sexual offending
 Frontal dysfunction may be associated with violent offending
 Temporal dysfunction may be associated with sexual offending
 Violent sexual offenders may have both dysfunctions
Issues
 Methodology – no random selection, so samples may be biased
 Precise path is unknown – exactly how does a dysfunction translate into
offending?
Controls involuntary functions: Blood pressure,
heart activity, intestinal activity, hormone levels
 Anxiety
 “Fight/flight” situations: ANS prepares body
to respond
 Blood goes from stomach to muscles
 Increases respiration
 Stimulates sweat (increases electrical conductivity of skin)
 Anxiety may be provoked by the conditioned fear of punishment
▪ Being bad  parent punishes  kid is “conditioned” to expect
punishment  kid avoids being bad to avoid anxiety
 Anxiety may be the primary socializing agent for children
▪ They behave properly to avoid anxiety caused by fear of punishment
 Hypothesis that defective anxiety responses can interfere with socialization
 Antisocial persons might for various reasons (i.e., bad learner) be more
difficult to “condition”
 So, they might be less likely to fear punishment
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Alcohol in lower dosages increases
aggressive behavior, especially in males
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxLCw0GJHoM
Relationship between alcohol & violence is strongest of any drug
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Marijuana does not appear to increase aggression - it may reduce it
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Opiates (and prescription painkillers) may reduce aggression
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But chronic use may increase aggression
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Withdrawal from opiates may also increase aggression
Methamphetamine, PCP and LSD may increase aggression
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May be especially true for those predisposed to violence
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Police anecdotes about extreme violence and strength displayed by persons high
on Meth and PCP
No direct evidence of effect of cocaine on violence
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Association between violence and areas where rock cocaine is used (inner cities)
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In August 2011 the prestigious American Society of Addiction Medicine announced
that addiction is a disease.
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Addiction is a primary disease with organic origins
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Not simply a product of psychiatric or emotional problems.
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Addiction involves reward circuits in the brain. Cravings for food, sex, alcohol and
drugs are triggered by memories of their effects, affecting judgment and impulse
control, and leading to behaviors including some that are defined as crimes.
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Like conventional diseases, sufferers can take steps to make things better, so there is
choice, but providing assistance and opportunities for treatment are crucial.
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Lead in diet may affect brain functions
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May cause hyperactivity and antisocial behavior in children
Head injury with brain damage may cause violent behavior
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Decrease cognitive and social skills
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Headaches and irritability
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Damage frontal and temporal lobes, increasing anxiety, anger and hostility
Delivery complications correlated with violent offending
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Particularly when parents had psychiatric problems
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Evidence that premature births can pose risk for mental illness
▪ Study of young adults born at less than eight months’ gestation
▪ Risk of hospitalization for schizophrenia was 2X-plus; for major
depression was nearly 3X, and for bipolar disorder was more than 7X
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Inheritance (nature) & environment (nurture)
may not “cause” as much as they “predispose”
Nature v. Nurture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AIHC4PNCak
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Crime is a social definition – Malum in se v. mala prohibita
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Not all maladaptive behaviors are illegal
Behavior is affected by ...
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Inherited characteristics
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Inherited characteristics, affected by environment
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Environmental effects on health (injury, pollution, poor diet, drinking…)
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General agreement that biology and environment interact
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Sociologists, including criminologists, tend to minimize biological and
psychological factors
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But as we learn more about the human organism, more and more winds up
being explained by chemistry, biology and genetics