B. Explain how it can explain crimes:
( i) Head Trauma: Much research has been conducted about head trauma and the links it has to crime. Dr. Kiehl, a neuroscientist, uses fMRI technology to detect brain abnormalities in people with psychopathy. His research has found defects in the paralimbic system that he believes relate to psychopathy. He feels that if we can detect such abnormalities in childhood or adolescence, perhaps we could prevent the individual from actually ‘turning into’ a psychopath through specific treatment program” (Grohol, 2010).
Russell Swerdlow and Jeffrey Burns, neuroscience researchers at the University of Virginia Medical School researched brain abnormalities in people who had committed crimes. One case they researched found a brain tumor located in the part of the brain associated with social judgments and self-control and speculations were made that the tumor was the cause of the man’s pedophiliac urges.
“Abnormalities of the brain, brain damage, and head trauma are among the many biological explanations of crime available today” (Schmalleger, 2012).
(ii)Body type/ characteristics: Body type and characteristics has been studied as part of a criminal’s makeup. Different theories explain different physical characteristics of people who have committed crimes. Some are as follow: The Constitutional Theory explains criminality by reference to offender’s body types, inheritance, genetics, or external observable physical characteristics; Somatotyping is the classification of human beings into types according to body build and other physical characteristics (Schmalleger, 2012).
Ernst Kretschmer termed
“‘Cycloid’ as a particular relationship between a person’s personality and their body build. This personality was associated with the overweight, soft type of body and vacillated between...
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