raine

• aim


  to investigate if there is localized brain function in not guilty by reason of insanity such as in the hippocampus, corpus callosum, amygdala, thalamus and angular gyrus
• method


  quasi experiment (murderers or non murderers)

  matched pairs design
• sample


  41 murderers pleading NGRI (39 males and 2 females)

  23 head injury, 2 epileptic, 6 schizophrenia and mean age of 34

  41 non murderers (39 males 2 females)

  matched on age and gender with 6 schizophrenia
• procedure


  practiced continuous performance task for ten minutes before the injection as a control to reduce novelty and improve internal validity

  CBT based on target recognition to simulate specific brain areas while having a PET scan done
• control


  medication free for two weeks prior
• results


  murderers have less activity in the perfrontal cortex, corpus callosum and angular gyrus

  reduced activity in the left hemisphere amygdala, thalamus and hippocampus

  higher activity in the right hemisphere amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus and cerebellum
• conclusions


  clear difference in brain function of murderers and non murderers

  biological processes can make a criminal such as higher impulsivity and fearlessness

  cautioned that biology alone cannot determining criminal behavior but other factors such as culture can be important
• low activity in the left hemisphere amygdala


  responsible for feelings of fear

  less activity means less fear so more likely to be violent as there is less fear of consequences
• low prefrontal cortex activity


  poor self control and decision making

  can’t control criminal impulses and can’t think of consequences
• high activity in the right hemisphere hippocampus


  higher impulsivity

  more spontaneous behavior
• AO2


  biological causes

  • heart rate - choy
  • low cortisol and high testosterone - raine and glenn
  • genetics MAOM gene - raine and glenn

  other factors

  • social learning theory
  • differential association
  • moral development