biochemical

• Encephalitis lethargica

  Also known as the sleeping sickness
• Encephalitis lethargica

  • The disease attacks the brain, leaving some victims in a statue-like condition, speechless and motionless
  • Caused more than 500,000 deaths
  • Symptoms are high fever, sore throat, headache, catatonia, etc.
  • In severe patients it could cause a coma like state
  • Cause is uncertain
• Encephalitis lethargica in Hitler's youth

  He recovered but later got Parkinson's disease which was common after experiencing encephalitis lethargica
• A worldwide pandemic of encephalitis lethargica occurred, affecting nearly 5 million people and killing an estimated 1.6 million people


  1915 to 1926
• Senile dementia

  Describes older people who suffer from cognitive decline and memory loss
• Senile dementia

  • Dementia is caused by a variety of diseases that cause damage to brain cells, interfering with their ability to communicate
  • This can result in antisocial and criminal behaviour
  • Of the 2,397 patients studied, 204 (8.5%) had a history of criminal behaviour that emerged during their illness
  • Criminal behaviour was one of the symptoms that caused 14% of people to be diagnosed with FTD, compared with 2% of patients with Alzheimer's disease
  • Of those diagnosed with FTD, 6.4% were more likely to have exhibited violence in this criminal behaviour compared with 2% of people with Alzheimer's
• Charles Whitman

  • American mass murderer responsible for the Texas shooting in 1966
  • He also killed his mother and wife
  • He was physically abused by his dad
  • He had complained of headaches and it later was revealed that he had a brain tumour the size of a pecan
• Brain tumour in Charles Whitman

  Puts pressure on certain parts of your brain which results in people acting differently and therefore could cause criminality
• A real life example of this would be David Somers who killed his wife and daughter before he had surgery to remove his brain tumour
• In 55% of documented cases women report that their abuser had been consuming alcohol before the incident of violence
• Violence can be related to low self esteem
• Links between crime and other factors

  • 1 in 11 adults aged 16-59 have taken a drug in the last year and over half of all homicides and crimes are believed to be drugs related
  • Roughly 40% of inmates who are incarcerated for violent offenses were under the influence of alcohol during the time of their crime
• Hypoglycaemia

  Low blood sugar, linked to aggression and mood swings, and as a result this could link to criminality such as domestic abuse
• Males have more testosterone therefore this leads to more aggressive behaviour and then they are more likely to commit crimes
• They are raised in a different way compared to women
• strengths of the brain -

  Many real life cases such as Charles Whitman

  EEG readings used to review brain activity
• weaknesses of the Brain -
• weaknesses of the brain -

  Research into brain activity and EEG readings are not conclusive

  It is possible that brain injuries occur because of crime rather than brain injuries causing crime