Dictionary of Forensic Psychology

Graham Towl, David P. Farrington, David Crighton, Gareth Hughes, Graham Towl, David P. Farrington, David Crighton, Gareth Hughes

• Publisher: Willan
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781134011346
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Forensic Science
• Index: Law

Over the past decade, forensic psychology has grown rapidly as a subject, with an increasing number of forensic psychologists working in demanding roles in prisons, secure training facilities, and high, medium and low security healthcare facilities as well as other parts of the criminal justice system. This Dictionary is designed to meet the needs of both students and practitioners. It contains approximately 100 entries on key terms and concepts, arranged alphabetically and contributed by leading academic and practicing forensic psychologists.

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BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN CRIME

Robert A. Schug and Adrian Raine

Biological factors in crime refer to a range of historical concepts used to account for crime, including physical stigmata, atavism, biological inheritance, mental deficiency, somatotypes and genetic syndromes. They also refer to current, more advanced biological notions, including behavioural genetics, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, reward dominance and prefrontal dysfunction theories, that suggest a biological component in the explanation of crime.

Criminality, like all human behaviour, is highly dependent on complex biological processes and mechanisms, acting in concert with a vast array of environmental influences. Rooted in the work of early positivist criminologists, the acceptance of biological causations of criminal behaviour has traditionally been met with moral suspicion and reticence, and research findings have gone largely ignored by criminologists and sociologists. Biological concepts central to earlier criminological theories (physical stigmata, atavism, biological inheritance, mental deficiency, somatotypes and XYY syndrome) have given way to more advanced and refined themes in recent perspectives (behavioural genetics, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, reward dominance and prefrontal dysfunction theories) – all suggesting a biological component in the explanation of crime.

The genetic transmission of crime is considered by many researchers to be evidence that supports its biological basis. Though there is no known ‘criminal gene’ per se, some genes contribute to traits (low empathy, low IQ, aggression, impulsivity) that increase the probability of criminal behaviour, either alone or when combined with the right environments. Data from studies have demonstrated that identical twins – who share 100 per cent of their genetic material – are more concordant for criminality than fraternal twins (who share only half their genes). Studies examining the adopted-away children of criminal parents have also demonstrated a genetic basis to criminal behaviour. According to evolutionary psychologists, some criminal tendencies may in fact represent advantageous and adaptive strategies that have contributed to reproductive success.

Hundreds of studies over the past several decades have examined the psychophysiological basis of anti-sociality, criminality, delinquency and psychopathy (a personality disorder often associated with crime). The strongest finding from these studies is low physiological arousal, suggesting that anti-social individuals are chronically under-aroused. Traditional psychophysiological measures of arousal include heart rate, skin conductance (sweat gland) activity and electroencephalogram (EEG – reflecting electrical activity of the brain) measured during a ‘resting’ state. Low resting heart rate is considered the best replicated biological correlate of anti-social behaviour, while skin conductance and EEG under arousal have also been identified in scores of other studies of violent and anti-social persons. Two theoretical interpretations of low arousal are fearlessness theory (low levels of arousal are markers of low levels of fear) and stimulation-seeking theory (low arousal represents an unpleasant physiological state whereby anti-socials seek stimulation in the form of criminal behaviour to increase their arousal levels back to an optimal or normal level). Both may be complementary rather than competing theories.

Malformed or malfunctioning regions in the brain have been implicated in criminal behaviour. Brain-imaging studies indicate that violent offenders have structural and functional deficits to the frontal lobe (behind the forehead) and the temporal lobe (near the ears). Recent reviews of the literature converge on the conclusion that the brain region most likely to be compromised in anti-social, violent populations is the prefrontal cortex (a frontal lobe subregion occupying approximately one third of the entire cerebrum). Reduced prefrontal functioning can result in an inability to control aggressive feelings and impulses from the deeper, more emotional and primitive areas of the brain. Prefrontal damage also encourages risk-taking, irresponsibility, rule-breaking, emotional and aggressive outbursts, and argumentative behaviour that can also pre-dispose to violent criminal acts.

Patients who have suffered damage to both grey and white matter in the prefrontal region of the brain may acquire an anti-social, psychopathic-like personality. A famous example is the nineteenth-century case of Phineus Gage, a responsible, well liked American railroad worker whose personality became markedly anti-social after he suffered the passage of an iron rod through his skull in an accidental explosion, effectively destroying a portion of his prefrontal cortex. Studies using positron emission tomography (PET), which measures the metabolic activity of different brain regions, have shown significantly poorer prefrontal functioning in murderers when compared with normal persons. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown reduced prefrontal grey matter volume in individuals with anti-social personality disorder (a psychiatric disorder strongly associated with criminal behaviour). Neuropsychological studies have also demonstrated that anti-social individuals perform poorly on tests thought to measure frontal functioning.

Additional brain regions have been implicated in criminal behaviour. For example, PET studies indicate that the brains of murderers are also characterized by deficits in such key areas as the left angular gyrus and corpus callosum. The left angular gyrus plays a key role in integrating information from the temporal (side of head), parietal (top and back of head) and occipital (very back of head) lobes, and has been associated with reading and arithmetic. Impairments in these functions could lead to school failure, occupational failure and, consequently, a criminal career. The corpus callosum provides communication between the two brain hemispheres and has been linked to inappropriate emotional expression and a lack of long-term planning. Furthermore, the limbic system (a ‘claw’-shaped network of smaller structures located towards the centre of the brain and important in emotional responses, drive-related behaviour and memory) has been associated with violent and aggressive impulses. Two limbic structures, the hippocampus and amygdala, have demonstrated functional impairments in studies of violent individuals. It has been suggested that, for psychopaths, amygdala dysfunction reduces both responsiveness to the sadness and fear of potential victims and the ability to learn stimulus-reinforcement associations crucial for moral socialization.

Researchers have examined other biological factors that may play a role in crime. Birth complications such as anoxia (getting too little oxygen), forceps delivery and pre-eclampsia (hypertension leading to anoxia) are thought to contribute to brain damage and have been related to later conduct disorder, delinquency, impulsive crime and adult violence. This is especially true when birth complications co-occur with social risk factors for violence, such as maternal rejection of the child. Additionally, minor physical anomalies have been associated with pregnancy complications and are thought to reflect foetal maldevelopment (including brain maldevelopment) towards the end of the first trimester of pregnancy. These anomalies (low-seated ears, adherent ear lobes, furrowed tongue, curved fifth finger, single transverse palmar crease, gaps between the first and second toes, unusually long third toes and fine hair), though not stigmatizing, have been found to characterize pre-adult anti-social behaviour and temperament.

Nutritional factors that have demonstrated effects on human behaviour in general have shown relationships to aggression and crime. For example, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) has been claimed to be linked to impaired brain function and violent crime. Lower cholesterol levels and vitamin (B3, B6 and C), mineral (iron and zinc) and protein deficiencies have also shown relationships with various forms of anti-social behaviour. Children with poor nutrition early in life have been found to develop anti-social and aggressive behaviour in late childhood and late adolescence, independent of social risk factors. Furthermore, environmental pollutants (i.e. heavy metals such as lead and manganese that have neurotoxic effects) have been implicated as biological factors in crime.

Hormonal influences on criminal behaviour have also been examined. Abnormal levels of male sex hormones (androgens), such as testosterone, have been shown to produce aggressive behaviour, and cortisol, a hormone thought to index arousal of the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands (the HPA axis), may play a role in mediating anti-social, violent and criminal behaviour. While normal individuals who are aroused or stressed show an increase in cortisol levels, anti-social individuals demonstrate lower cortisol levels (thought to represent under-arousal and fearlessness). Some biological research has also claimed a controversial link between premenstrual syndrome and aggression in females, but this requires replication.

Neurotransmitters – chemicals stored in the synaptic vesicles of communicating nerve cell axons – form the basis to the transmission of information throughout the brain. Biological research indicates that reduced serotonin and norepinephrine levels appear to be related to anti-social behavior, with some initial evidence indicating relationships with other neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, acetylcholine and g-aminobutric acid (GABA). A new generation of neurogenetic studies is now beginning to identify specific genes (e.g. monoamine oxidase-A) that predispose to adult anti-social behaviour when combined with negative environmental influences, such as child abuse.

The implications for forensic practice include arguments for reduced culpability for criminal acts based on evidence for biological impairments – currently exemplified by the hotly debated use of brain-imaging data to explain the cause of offending in both the guilt and penalty phases of capital cases. Additionally, biological data may be used to prevent biologically based crime-prone individuals from future offending via pre-emptive programming incarceration or institutionalization. To some, this may echo the brutal and repressive state policies (i.e. sterilization and psychosurgery) spawned by the American eugenics movement in the early 1900s. It must be remembered, however, that biology is not destiny and that these changeable biological dispositions towards crime should not be considered apart from important social and environmental influences.

Results from biological research studies on crime must be scrutinized closely before being systematically employed in forensic applications. Many findings are provisional, some are mixed and all require extensive replication before acquiring any legitimate applied forensic value. Biological information from offenders should ultimately be used cautiously by the criminal justice system – and only in combination with other sources of collateral data – when making important decisions in such areas as criminal responsibility and dangerousness.

Related entries

Criminal careers; Family factors.

Key texts and sources

Lombroso, C. (2006) Criminal Man (trans. M. Gibson and N.H. Rafter). Durham, NC: Duke University Press (originally published in 1876).

Patrick, C.J. (ed.) (2006) Handbook of Psychopathy. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Raine, A. (2002) ‘The biological basis of crime’, in J.Q. Wilson and J. Petersilia (eds) Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control. Oakland, CA: ICS Press.

Silva, J.A. (2007) ‘The relevance of neuroscience to forensic psychiatry’, Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 35: 6–9.

Walsh, A. and Ellis, L. (2007) Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

BOOT CAMPS

Kate Painter

Boot camps are American shock incarceration regimes for adults and juveniles that emphasize discipline and physical training in a military-style environment. They are generally restricted to non-violent or first-time offenders.

The first two boot camp prisons were introduced in the USA in 1983 and, by 1994, they were established in 36 states. The focus of the early prisons was on creating a military atmosphere, with drilling, discipline, hard labour and intense physical training. Gradually rehabilitative components (such as counselling, education, cognitive and behavioural skills training, and drug treatment) were introduced. Staff and inmates wore military uniforms, and inmates joined the prison in groups as squads or platoons. Inmates’ heads were shaved regularly. Boot camps were designed for young non-violent offenders who did not have a previous extensive criminal history. Punishment for misbehaviour was instant and often involved some rigorous physical activity.

In the USA, correctional boot camps exist in federal, state and local juvenile and adult jurisdictions. In juvenile camps less emphasis is placed on hard labour and academic education is mandatory. A recent review of 43 controlled studies in the USA on the effects of boot camps on reoffending produced mixed results (Wilson and MacKenzie 2006). Where desirable effects on recidivism were found it was concluded that these programmes had devoted most time to rehabilitative activities and intensive supervision and care after release. The existing literature suggests that the military elements of boot camps, used in isolation, are ineffective in reducing recidivism.

In 1995, an intensive regime based on the positive aspects of American boot camps was approved in the UK. Entitled ‘high intensity training’ (HIT), it was based at Thorn Cross Young Offender Institution (YOI). The HIT regime consisted of five phases of five weeks each. The programme ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of entries
• List of contributors
• Table of cases
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction and overview
• Dictionary of Forensic PsychologyDictio
• Appendix I: Abbreviations
• List of references
• Index