Advanced Criminology

ADVANCED CRIMINOLOGY Anthropological research data has shown the violence is an inherent conduct among the primate species (Walker , 2001 . In society , criminal violence is a common occurrence and legislators have suggested that the behavior of criminals be analyzed in to identify any psychological patterns that are consistent among these particular types of individuals . In the past few decades , neurobiologists have proposed that an individual 's condition , which encompasses empathy , morality and free will , is holistically influenced by the frequency of stimulation and assembly of the neurons of an individual . Such notion

is contradictory to the concept of Cartesian dualism , which states that the brain and the mind are two independent entities that coordinate with each other . To date , the accumulation of research reports from the field of neuroscience is gradually affecting the concepts and effectivity of the justice system because of the shifting in the concept of human behavior and response to different stimuli . Neuroscience has influenced our current understanding of the multiple factors that govern violent behavior among criminals

NATURE VERSUS NURTURE THEORY OF CRIME

The theory of nature versus nurture pertains to the controversy on whether inherent qualities of a biological organism , which is depicted as nature , is related or influenced by the experiences , condition or situation of that particular species ( nurture . The concept the human being develop specific behavioral patterns based on their environment is termed tabula rasa or blank state . This notion is considered to be a major influence in the development of an individual These external settings of an individual play a major role in the psychology of an individual , including his anti-social , aggression and criminal behavior . It has thus been questioned for several decades whether criminals are born or could these particular individuals emerge after successive events in their lives that result in the transformation of a normal individual to a criminal . To date , there is much debate over the mechanism behind the entire concept of criminality Biologically or non-biologically influenced , criminality remains an elusive subject that still needs to be comprehensively analyzed

The 19th century classic report of Phineas Gage regarding the anti-social behavior that emerged after massive damage of the prefrontal cortex of his brain from a railroad accident is now considered as the birth of the field of forensic neurology (Harlow , 1848 . Today computerized imaging of his fractured skull has shown that the autonomic and social nerve systems are the specific damages that were affected thus resulting in a together with research results gathered from war veterans , has led to the conclusion that violent criminal behavior is caused by injuries to the frontal lobe of the brain . It has then been proposed that injury to the prefrontal cortex of the brain causes a condition that has been coined as acquired sociopathy or pseudopsychopath (Blair and Cipolotti 2000 . It is interesting to know that there is an 11 reduction in the size of the grey matter of the prefrontal cortex among patients diagnosed with anti-social personality dis (APD (Raine et al...