Brain differences: cause or effect?

• Do brain differences cause criminality, or are they a result of it?

  • many criminals report past head injuries

  • Harmon (2012):

  • 8.5% of the general US population have had a brain injury

  • 60% of US prisoners have had a brain injury

  • suggests brain differences may be due to environmental damage, not geneticd
• Why is this important?

  • it challenges the idea that criminal brains are ‘born’ different - many may become different due to injury or life experiences