Neural explanation

• Evidence suggests neural differences between offenders and non offenders - around people diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. This is associated with reduced emotional responses and a lack of empathy
• Raine et al found reduced activity and an 11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex of people with APD compared to controls. This is the part of the brain that regulates emotional behaviour
• Keysers found that only when offenders were asked to empathise did they show an empathy reaction (controlled by mirror neurons). This suggests that APD individuals do experience empathy, but may have a neural switch that turns on and off. In a normally functioning brain the empathy switch is permanently on
• One strength is support for the link between crime and the frontal lobe. Kandel and Freed researched people with frontal lobe damage, including the prefrontal cortex. They found evidence of impulsive behaviour, emotional instability and inability to learn from mistakes. This supports the idea that structural abnormalities in the brain are a causal factor in offending behaviour
• One limitation is the link between neural differences and APD is complex. Farrington et al studied adult males with high APD scores. They were raised by convicted parents and physically neglected. These early experiences have caused APD and associated neural differences e.g: reduced activity in the frontal lobe due to trauma. This suggests that the relationship between neural differences, APD, and offending behaviour is complex and there may be intervening variables