Tag Archives: criminal mind

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41896386/ns/health-mental_health/t/brain-scans-reveal-criminal-mind/

The article starts off by stating that there is a difference (that can be seen in physical terms) between “normal” human brains and that of the illusive “Criminal Mind”. Illusive in the sense that since Lombroso, criminal theorists have tried time again, to find the necessary difference in biology that creates the propensities and recidivism in some, as well as the apparent absence in the majority (deviancy). The article uses the example of people who are diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and specifically the size and growth patterns of their amygdala. It also states that there is also differences in behavior between deviants and normal people through measuring fear response. It even goes into the ethical issues that arise, such questions as:”What to do with at-risk children and by what method”. It also affects the law, because one can easily argue that since they are compromised individuals (elements of Goffman’s stigma) they are not responsible for their actions; but we can relegate this argument to a slippery slope argument.

In the article “The Brain on the Stand” that we discussed in class, we again revisit some of Lombroso’s legacy the same search for the biological criminality, but by different methods; that of the f.M.R.I. and neuroscience. And like the article above it also ponders the question of the problem of holding people accountable for their predispositions (if the criminal biology exists in a somewhat meaningful form) rather then their actions, as codified by the Anglo-American principles of jurisprudence. Both articles echo each other in content but, the article in class gives us a much more complementary experience (incorporating Lombroso  into the discussion).