Is There a Criminal Brain? Essay -- Biology Biological Essays

Is There a Criminal Brain? It is very rare these days to turn on the news and not hear about a crime or a murder. Crime is a common occurrence yet many times it is difficult to understand how someone could bring themselves to do these things. It does seem to make any sense why a young handsome man from a good family would want to kill someone and then be able to go through with it. This leads one to wonder if the brains of people who behave in socially unacceptable ways are different from everyone else's brains. There is a substantial amount of evidence that suggests some criminals do have differences in their brains that most likely contribute to their behavior. Many of these individuals have Antisocial Personality Disorder and some are considered sociopaths. Everyone's brain is made up slightly differently, which is good because it provides individual variation. These biological differences can greatly influence how the individual behaves. For example, the frog brain and the human brain look very different structurally and the behaviors exhibited by a frog and a human are very different. Differences in brain structure are not limited to different species, there can be differences within the same species. Wildcats and domestic cats are a good example of this. The visual system of the wild cat and the domestic cat differ in substantial ways. Domestic cats have fewer ganglion cells in the retina and have a smaller lateral geniculate nucleus, which is a part of the thalamus (9). In addition, they have fewer total neurons involved in the visual system of the brain, however the sizes of neurons do not change between the wild and domestic cats (9). It may be possible to explain these changes by looking at "domesticati... ... http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/antisocials000214.html 2)What Lurks Within Murderous Minds? http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/discipline.html 3)Neural Roots of Murder http://www.academicpress.com/inscight/09151997/graphb.htm 4)Crime & Nourishment http://mhnet.org/perspectives/articles/art03964.htm 5)Prenatal Smoking Linked to Conduct Disorder in Boys http://www.cqs.com/smokaspd.htm 6)Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Case of Diagnostic Confusion http://www.mhsource.com/pt/p960239.jhtml?_requestid=454630 7)The Psychopath's Brain: Tormented Souls, Diseased Brains http://www.epub.org.br/cm/n07/doencas/disease_i.htm 8)Functional Families, Dysfunctional Brains http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/04/980410101830.htm 9)>Different Brains, Different Behaviors http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/~pkinser/bb/ Is There a Criminal Brain? Essay -- Biology Biological Essays Is There a Criminal Brain? It is very rare these days to turn on the news and not hear about a crime or a murder. Crime is a common occurrence yet many times it is difficult to understand how someone could bring themselves to do these things. It does seem to make any sense why a young handsome man from a good family would want to kill someone and then be able to go through with it. This leads one to wonder if the brains of people who behave in socially unacceptable ways are different from everyone else's brains. There is a substantial amount of evidence that suggests some criminals do have differences in their brains that most likely contribute to their behavior. Many of these individuals have Antisocial Personality Disorder and some are considered sociopaths. Everyone's brain is made up slightly differently, which is good because it provides individual variation. These biological differences can greatly influence how the individual behaves. For example, the frog brain and the human brain look very different structurally and the behaviors exhibited by a frog and a human are very different. Differences in brain structure are not limited to different species, there can be differences within the same species. Wildcats and domestic cats are a good example of this. The visual system of the wild cat and the domestic cat differ in substantial ways. Domestic cats have fewer ganglion cells in the retina and have a smaller lateral geniculate nucleus, which is a part of the thalamus (9). In addition, they have fewer total neurons involved in the visual system of the brain, however the sizes of neurons do not change between the wild and domestic cats (9). It may be possible to explain these changes by looking at "domesticati... ... http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/antisocials000214.html 2)What Lurks Within Murderous Minds? http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/discipline.html 3)Neural Roots of Murder http://www.academicpress.com/inscight/09151997/graphb.htm 4)Crime & Nourishment http://mhnet.org/perspectives/articles/art03964.htm 5)Prenatal Smoking Linked to Conduct Disorder in Boys http://www.cqs.com/smokaspd.htm 6)Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Case of Diagnostic Confusion http://www.mhsource.com/pt/p960239.jhtml?_requestid=454630 7)The Psychopath's Brain: Tormented Souls, Diseased Brains http://www.epub.org.br/cm/n07/doencas/disease_i.htm 8)Functional Families, Dysfunctional Brains http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/04/980410101830.htm 9)>Different Brains, Different Behaviors http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/~pkinser/bb/