Crime and Punishment

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the criminally insane, assessing whether brain biology is significantly different in a serial killer. One of the first people to suggest that criminality arose from abnormalities in the brain was Cesare Lombroso, an Italian surgeon, who in 1871 conducted a postmortem of a serial murderer and rapist. While Lombroso's theories can be dismissed as a product of a misunderstanding of evolutionary mechanisms and the prejudices of his time, this does not mean that the belief that criminality has a biological basis is no longer held. Indeed, there has been a recent resurgence in this view, focusing on the claim that criminality is a product of biological differences in the brain. The claim is based on genetic analysis, and study of the brain itself. One gene linked to criminal behaviour is monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), which encodes an enzyme that destroys a particular type of neurotransmitter as a way of controlling its activity. The chapter then considers the idea of a link between brain injuries and criminal behaviour. The problem in looking for biological differences as the primary cause of criminality is that this could mean less acknowledgment of the role of social environment in the development of a criminal personality.