Biochemical

• What happens if you have a low level of dopamine?

  Depression

  boredom

  apathy

  fatigue
• What happens if you have low levels of serotonin?

  obsessive thinking

  addiction

  anxiety
• How does substance abuse link to criminal behaviour?

  Saunders calculated that alcohol linked to 1,000 arrests per day

  Flanzer thought that 80% of family violence cases were linked to alcohol

  Food additives, diet, vitamin defences and lead pollution

  Both lead and food colouring have been linked to hyperactivity

  Vitamin B defiency linked to erratic behaviour and aggression
• How do blood sugar levels link to criminal behaviour?

  Low - can cause aggressive reactions

  • link between low blood sugar level - alcohol abuse

  Alcohol consumption is closely linked to crimes of violence

  Schonthaler claims that by lowering the daily sucrose intake of young offenders - reduce level of their anti-social behaviour
• How do sex hormones in males + females link to criminal behaviour?


  Males

  • overproduction of testosterone in males has been linked to murder and rape
  • Testosterone peak from puberty to early 20s - correlates with highest crime rate in males

  Females

  • pre-menstrual tension, post-natal depression and breastfeeding have all been accepted as partial defences for women charged with crimes ranging from shoplifting - infanticide
  • changed defendants mood or self control
• What are the strengths of Biochemical explanations?


  Sexual hormones, blood sugar levels, can affect mood, judgement and aggression

  tesosterone levels and male offending both peak around the same age suggesting hormones affect criminal behaviour

  the law of infanticide states that if mother kills her baby as post-natal depression or breastfeeding she has a partial defence to murder
• What are the limitations of biochemical explanations?

  Schalling found high testosterone levels in young males led to verbal aggression not physical violence

  Infanticide maybe due to isolation and the responsibility for caring for a newborn child rather than hormones
• Outline the case study of John Massey

  He committed:

  • murder
  • robbing banks

  Biological factors:

  • temporal cortex - amygdala was an abnormal shape
  • emotional bit of his brain had shrunk - so he lacked fear
  • low serotonin level - does not get stressed which leads to criminal behaviour.
  • He was abandoned in a childhood and left at a child’s home also contributed to criminal behaviour.
  • Numbing of emotions - increases the risk of psychopathic behaviour