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CCJ 1010 Criminology
Chapter 4:
Biological and Psychological Perspectives

Zodiak Killer-NYC
Heriberto Seda

Loner

Was not allowed to have friends over
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Had fascination with the concept of God
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Berate drug dealers
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Dropped out of school at 16
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Killed 3 people
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Richard Speck
Chicago - student nurse murders, 1966
Biocriminality
The study of the physical aspects of psychological disorders.
1.
XYY Syndrome
2.
Twin Studies
3.
Adoption Studies
4.
IQ Debate
XYY Syndrome
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The XYY male receives two chromosomes from his father rather than one.

1 in 1,000 males have this.
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Supposed to make males more aggressive, taller, and violent.
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Studies have discounted the relation between the extra Y chromosome and criminality.

Predisposition may be manifested when combined with environment.
Twin Studies

Monoxygotic (MZ) twins develop from a single egg that divides into two embryos.
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
Dizygotic (DZ) twins develop from two separate eggs.
Johannes Lange found that in 10 of 13 pairs of identical twins, both twins were criminal.
In 2 of the 17 pairs of fraternal twins, both were criminal.

Was this genetics or social conditions?
Karl Christiansen & Sarnoff Mednick Studies
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Study of all twins born between 1881 and 1910 in region of Denmark (3,586)
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50% of identical twins, and 20% of same-sex fraternal twins were found to be both criminal when on of them was criminal
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Suggests some genetic influences increase the risk of criminality
Could two children who grow up in the same household be exposed to different environments?
Adoption Studies

Separate the influence of inherited traits from environmental conditions through studying infants separated at birth from their natural parents.
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Findings suggest that criminality of the biological parents has more influence on the child.

Cannot mistake correlation for causation.
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Does not prove a genetic legacy.
Violence and Genes
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Controversy over a genetic basis for violent behavior.

National Academy of Science (NAS) risk factors related to violence:
Hyperactivity
Poor early grades
Low IQ
Fearlessness
Inability to delay gratification
IQ

188-1915 researchers gave intelligence tests to incarcerated criminals and to boys in reform school
Munsterberg found 68% were of low IQ
Goddard found 25-50% had low IQ
Why so different?
Is it politically incorrect to assert a “violence gene”?
Edwin Sutherland
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Too many variations among the many versions of the test given.
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Believed social and environmental factors, not low IQ, caused delinquency
1970s
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Travis Hirschi
Found study of 3,600 California students showed a low IQ is more significant than a father’s education on delinquent behavior
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Marvin Wolfgang
Found study of 8,700 Philadelphia boys showed a strong relationship between low IQ and delinquency, independent of social class
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Albert Reiss & Albert Rhodes
Examined 9,200 court records of white Tennessee schoolboys and found IQ more closely related to delinquency than social class
Hirschi & Hindelang
• IQ is more important in predicting crime than is either race or social class
• Lower IQ increases the potential for crime with each group
• IQ is related to school performance
• Low IQ results in youths associating with similar nonperformers, dropping out of school, and committing delinquent acts
Nature vs Nurture
Sandra Scarr & Richard Weinberg

Studied black and white adopted children and found environment plays a significant role

 in IQ development.
Both black and white children adopted by white parents had comparable IQs.
Biochemical Factors

Food Allergies
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
Diet
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Hypoglycemia
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Hormones
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Food Allergies
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Studies have shown that various foods cause reactions
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Irritability
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Hyperactivity
Seizures
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Agitation
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Behavior out of character
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Diet
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Some studies have shown a link between criminality to diets
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High in sugar and carbohydrates
Vitamin deficiency or dependency
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Excessive food additives
Dan White
“Twinkie Defense”
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Shot and killed S.F. Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk after not being reappointed after resigning public post.
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Served 5 years of a 7 year sentence.
 White’s defense was diminished capacity due to depression, symptoms of which were going from a highly health-conscious diet to one of consuming sugary foods and drinks.
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Hypoglycemia
Occurs when the level of sugar in the blood falls below an acceptable range.
The brain is particularly vulnerable, and it can impair its functions.
Anxiety
Headache
Confusion
Fatigue
Aggressive behavior

Hormones
There is some evidence that abnormal levels of male hormones in humans may prompt criminal behavior.
Some researchers have found higher levels of testosterone in the blood of individuals who have committed violent offenses.
Women are more at risk for aggressive and suicidal behavior before and during the menstrual period. (Katharina Dalton)
This finding has been recently criticized.
Neurocriminology

EEG Abnormalities
 fMRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and PET (positron emission tomography)
Technologies


Minimal Brain Dysfunction (MBD)
Brain lesions or brain tumors have been found to lead to violent outbursts.
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Cerebral structure, brain wave studies, clinical reports of minimal brain dysfunction, and theoretical explorations have shows a relationship between the limbic system and criminality.
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Adrian Raine has found that prefrontal structural and functional deficits are strongly associated with delinquency.
Psychopaths and Mass Murders
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Neuroanatomy of the brains of criminals seems to differ in prefrontal cortex volume
Criminals appear to have an 11% reduction in gray matter
There are differences in the anatomy of mass murderers versus murders
 What makes the topic of “biocriminality” so offensive to so many people?
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Questions existence of individual free will.
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Questions rational thought and whether one is fully accountable for his or her own actions.
Psychoanalytic Theory
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The psychoanalytic theory of criminality attributes delinquent and criminal behavior to at least three possible causes:
1.
A conscience so overbearing that it arouses feelings of guilt.
2.
A conscience so weak that it cannot control the individual’s impulses.
3.
The need for immediate gratification.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

The three basic components of the human psyche:
1.
Id: consists of powerful urges and drives for gratification and satisfaction
2.
Ego: the executive of the personality, acting as a moderator between the superego and id
3.
Superego: acts as a moral code or conscience
Three Basic Principles of Psychologists Who Study Crime
1.
The actions and behavior of an adult are understood in terms of childhood development.
2.
Behavior and unconscious motives are intertwined, and their interaction must be unraveled if we are to understand criminality.
3.
Criminality is essentially a representation of psychological conflict.
Moral Development Theory
Moral Reasoning
• While you may know something is wrong, you may believe that in certain situations the law should be circumvented.
Stealing to eat
• Or, is it always wrong to break the law, no matter what the circumstances are?
• How do you reach the decision?
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Lawrence Kohlberg
Moral Development Theory
Moral Reasoning
1.
Pre-conventional Level: Children’s moral rules and moral values consist of do’s and don’ts to avoid punishment. (Children up to the age of 9 or 11.)
2.
Conventional Level: Individuals believe in and have adopted the values and rules of society. (Adolescents.)
3.
Post-conventional Level: Individuals examine customs and social rules according to their own sense of universal human rights, moral principles, and duties. (Generally seen in adults after the age of 20.)
Maternal Deprivation and Attachment Theory
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Attachment
Strength of the emotional bond between and infant and its mother
John Bowlby: Seven Features of Attachment
1.
Specificity
2.
Duration
3.
Engagement of Emotion
4.
Ontogeny (course of development)
5.
Learning
6.
Organization
7.
Biological Function
Attachment
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Specificity
Attachments are selective
Directed toward one or more individuals in some order of preference
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Duration
Attachments endure and persist
Sometimes through life
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Engagement of emotion
Some of the most intense emotions are associated with attachments
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Ontogeny (course of development)
Kids form an attachment to one primary figure in the first 9 months of life
The person who supplies the most social interaction of a satisfying kind
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Learning
Attachments are the products not of rewards or reinforcements but of basic social interaction
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Biological function
Survival – it is found in almost all species of mammals and in birds
Family Atmosphere and Delinquency
 Does a mother’s absence cause delinquency?
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Empirical evidence is equivocal
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Evidence that deprivation directly causes delinquency is lacking
Joan McCord
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Found that variables such as inadequate maternal affection and supervision, parental conflict, the mother’s lack of self-confidence, and the father’s deviance were significantly related to the commission of crimes against persons and/or property.
The father’s absence by itself was not correlated with criminal behavior
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Current studies
Moderate to strong relation between crime and childhood deprivation
Social Learning Theory
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Social Learning Theory maintains that delinquent behavior is learned through the same psychological processes as any other behavior.
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Behavior is learned when it is reinforced or rewarded; it is not learned when it is not reinforced.
Observational Learning
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Children learn how to behave by fashioning their behavior after that of others.
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Circle of violence
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Albert Bandura argues that individuals learn violence and aggression through behavior modeling.
Observational violence takes place in front of TVs and at the movies as well
Glamorization of Violence
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Direct Experience
Determined by what we ourselves do and what happens to us
Past lessons
Trial and error
Praise or rewards, likely to repeat it
Punishment, likely to refrain from it
Instigators of Aggression
(Bandura)
Social learning theory explains how aggression is acquired, but how is it instigated?
1.
Aversive Instigators
Physical assaults
Verbal threats
Insults
Adverse conditions of life
2.
Incentive Instigators
Reward, such as money and praise
3.
Modeling Instigators
Violent or aggressive behaviors observed in others
4.
Instructional Instigators
Observations of people carrying out instructions to engage in violence or aggression
5.
Delusional Instigators
Unfounded or bizarre beliefs that violence is necessary or justified
Differential Association-Reinforcement
Ernest Burgess and Ronald Akers :
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Combined Bandura
’s psychologically based learning theory with
Sutherland
’s sociologically based differential association theory:
1.
The persistence of criminal behavior depends on whether or not it is rewarded or punished.
2.
The most meaningful rewards and punishments are those given by groups that are important in an individual’s life: the peer group, the family, and so forth.
Personality

Tennenbaum
“Data do not reveal any significant differences between criminal and noncriminal psychology ... Personality testing has not differentiated criminals from noncriminals”

Personality

Yochelson and Samenow
Criminals share abnormal thinking patterns that lead to decisions to commit crimes
Criminals are angry people who feel a sense of superiority
Expect not to be held accountable for hteir acts
Have a highly inflated self-image
Perceived attacks on their glorified self-image elicits a strong, often violent reaction
Hans J. Eysenck
Conditioning Theory
All human personality may be seen in three dimensions:
1.
Psychoticism: aggressive, egocentric, and impulsive
2.
Extroversion: sensation-seeking, dominant, and assertive
3.
Neuroticism: low self-esteem, excessive anxiety, and wide mood swings
Eysenck’s Conditioning Theory

Humans develop a conscience through conditioning

Criminals become conditioned slowly
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Extroverts are much more difficult to condition than introverts and have difficulty developing a conscience
Youthful offenders score high on measures of extroversion
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Differences in conditionability are dependent on certain physiological factors
Cortical arousal —activation of the cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex of the brain is responsible for higher intellectual functioning, information processing and decision making
Mental Disorders and Crime
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Psychopathy, sociopathy, or antisocial personality: a personality characterized by the inability to learn from experience, lack of warmth, and absence of guilt.
Psychopaths
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Have no sense of responsibility
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Show disregard for truth
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Are insincere
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Feel no sense of shame, guilt or humiliation
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Psychopaths (continued)
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Have a low internal arousal level
Constantly seek external stimulation
Less susceptible to learning by direct experience
Impulsive
Experience far less anxiety than nonpsychopaths about any adverse consequences of their acts
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Psychopaths can be almost obsessively organized.
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They can maintain normal social relationships.
They may take care of aging parents or be married with children.
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Psychopaths will often be very successful in their careers.

Their need for organization is coupled with an ability to make others like and trust them.
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Because they intellectually understand human emotions but are unable to experience them themselves, they are masters at emotional manipulation.
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They often live in a normal house or apartment, completely indistinguishable from healthy people.
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Psychopaths will take years to plan out acts of violence and revenge.
They are very difficult to catch because they will carefully plan each step of the act to ensure they will commit their crime undetected.
Sociopaths

Sociopaths tend to be extremely disorganized.

They are unable to maintain normal relationships with family, friends, or co-workers.
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They are often unable to keep steady employment or housing.
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They often live literally at the fringes of society. In a study of the homeless people who live in the subway tunnels of New York City, a disproportionately large number of them were classed as sociopaths.
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Their outbreaks of violence are erratic and unplanned. Sociopaths are easier to identify and apprehend as they generally leave behind a large trail of clues.
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