The Biology Of Crime And Violence Summary

I watched the video about the Biology of Crime and Violence. In the video Adrian Raine talks about the biological factors affecting whether or not someone will become a violent criminal. He states that there isn’t exactly a killer gene but there are genes that predisposed or raise the odds that someone will become a violent criminal. After doing studies on twins it was found that 50% of the cause of crime antisocial behavior can be related to genes. Some of the risk factors are prenatal smoking, prenatal drinking, malnutrition and a low resting heart rate. A statistic that stood out to me from the video was that 90% of homicides are committed by men. They have also found the prefrontal cortex to be reduced in men which is what controls anger,
impulse behavior and rage. I also watched the Anatomy of a Violent Brain video. It was interesting to see the different pictures of the brain images the normal brain activity versus a murderer's brain activity. In chapter 16 it talks about defendants pleading insanity and it has been found that less than 1 percent of plead insanity. “Less than 1 of every 400 defendants in the United States is found not guilty by reason of insanity” (Comer, pg. 504). Until reading this I did not know that there is another verdict option called guilty but mentally ill. With this the defendants who are found guilty but mentally do have to serve prison time but then it is also recommended that they go to treatment as well.