Specific biological factors have been identified which influence an individual’s propensity to engage in criminal behavior. Fetal development can be altered by the mother’s ingestion of harmful substances such as nicotine, alcohol, and narcotic drugs during pregnancy (Wright et al., 2008), and can result in organ damage, neural cellular damage, attention deficit, and hyperactivity (Karr-Morse & Wiley, 1997) (Day et al., 2002).
These factors have been linked to future aggressive behavioral issues (Sood et al., 2001).
Brain damage and minor physical abnormalities that occur during pregnancy or birth may increase a child’s inability to socialize normally and may lead to antisocial behaviors later in life (Piquero & Tibbetts, 1999) (Raine, 2002).Abnormalities in activity in specific regions of the brain have been positively correlated to antisocial behavior, even actions as extreme as murder. Lower prefrontal lobe activity was specific to murderers, while lower than normal parietal and temporal lobe activity was expressed in PET scans of schizophrenics (Raine, 1993).
The neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine have both been associated with antisocial behavioral development. Low serotonin levels may lead to depression and thoughts of suicide, schizophrenia, alcohol dependence, and other abnormal behaviors (Volavka, 1999).
Excessive dopamine has been connected to increased aggression and schizophrenia, while insufficient amounts of dopamine may lead to attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (Blazer, 2009).
The Term Paper on Comprehensive Classroom Behavior Management Plan
The classroom is a dynamic environment wherein nothing is constant except change and the need to continually adapt. This environment affects both students and teachers; students are developing physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Teachers must respond to these changes in the students by adapting the environment, curriculum, instructional style and methods, and classroom management techniques. ...
The male hormone testosterone has profound effects on many aspects of an individual’s biology. Testosterone makes males more sensation-seeking, risk-taking, less sensitive to pain, and lowers an individual’s level of empathy. All of these traits are indicative of an aggressive, even criminal personality (Wright et al., 2008).
Monoamine,oxidase (MAO),an enzyme that is involved in removing certain neurotransmitters (serotonin and dopamine) from the brain, can, if unregulated, lead to low levels of these essential neurotransmitters, resulting in a variety of antisocial behaviors (Zuckerman, 1994:295).
One of the most profound indicators of future criminal behavior lies in parenting. There is no greater influence on infants and young children than the parents themselves. However, some parents are simply not equipped to be successful role models for their children. Parents who engage in extreme corporal punishment, neglect to give their children proper supervision, or encourage rather than dissuade certain antisocial attitudes and behaviors can socialize their children in an extremely negative manner (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990)(Lahey et al., 1999).
Children who are predisposed to irritability or impulsiveness might elicit antisocial responses from ill-equipped parents, possibly even physically abusive. These episodes of abuse will continue to create an environment in which children will display aggressive antisocial behavior and their parents will continue to respond negatively or ignore the child entirely (Collins et al., 2000)(Maccoby & Jacklin, 1983).
Negative emotionality and low levels or absence of constraint are personality traits that can be conducive to crime if met with certain environmental cues. If, for example, an individual had traits predisposing aggressive behavior toward others in conjunction with the inability to control one’s actions, this person would be expected to virtually “explode” with antisocial and even criminal results (Caspi et al., 1994).
The Term Paper on Antisocial Behavior Children Research Youth
... in later antisocial behavior. Highly adaptive parenting is likely to help children who may have a predisposition to antisocial behavior. Success in ... age 13, were more likely to have committed crimes at age 18 than were their counterparts with ... that childhood victimization places children at increased risk for delinquency, adult criminality, and violent criminal behavior. Findings from early ...
References
Blazer, D., Steffens, D. (2009).
The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Geriatric Psychiatry. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatry Publishing, Inc. Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., Loeber, M. S., Krueger, R. F., & Schmutte, P. S. (1994).
Are some people crime prone? Replications of the personality crime relationship across countries, genders, races, and methods.Criminology, 32, 163-196.
Collins, W.A., Maccoby, E.E., Steinburg, L., Hetherington, E.M., & Bornstein, M.H.
(2000).
Contemporary research on parenting: The case for nature and nurture.
American Psychologist, 55(2), 218-232.
Day, N.L., Leech, S.L., Richardson, G.A., Cornelius, M.D., Robles, N., &
Larkby, C.
(2002).
Prenatal alcohol exposure predicts continued deficits in offspring size at
14 years of age. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 26(10),
1584-1591.
Gottfredson, M., & Hirschi, T. (1990).
A general theory of crime. Palo Alto, CA: StanfordUniversity Press. Karr-Morse, R., & Wiley, M.S. (1997).
Ghosts from the nursery: Tracing the roots ofviolence. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. Lahey, B., Waldman, I., McBurnett, K., (1999).
Annotation: The development ofantisocial behaviour: an integrative causal model. Journal of Child Psychologyand Psychiatry. 40(5), 669-682. Maccoby, E.E., Jacklin, C.N. (1983).
The “person” characteristics of children and thefamily as environment. In D. Magnusson & V.L. Allen (Eds.), HumanDevelopment: An interactional perspective (pp. 75-91).
New York: AcademicPress. Piquero, A. & Tibbets, S. (1999).
The impact or pre/ perinatal disturbances and disadvantaged familial environment in predicting criminal offending. Studieson Crime and Crime Prevention, 8(1), 52-70. Raine, A., (1993).
The Psychopathology of Crime. New York: Academic Press. Raine, A., (2002).
Biosocial studies of antisocial and violent behavior in children and adults: A review. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 311-326. Sood, B., Delaney-Black, V., Covington, C., Nordstrom-Klee, B., Ager, J., Templin, T., etal. (2001).
The Review on Crimes Against Children
ABSTRACT Child abuse clearly has a negative impact on children and can result in behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and developmental difficulties. This may lead to greater difficulties later in life that will extend into adulthood. The use of proper investigation techniques and appropriate handling of cases, however, can result in less traumatization for child abuse victims. I. Introduction ...
Prenatal alcohol exposure and childhood behavior at age 6 to 7 years:I. Dose-response effect. Pediatrics, 108(2), E34. Volavka, J. (1999).
The neurobiology of violence: An update. Journal of Neuropsychiatryand Clinical Neurosciences, 11(3), 307-314. Wright, J.P., Tibbets, S.G., & Daigle, L.E. (2008).
Criminals in the Making: Criminality Across the Life Course. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Zuckerman, M. (1994).
Behavioral expressions and biosocial bases of sensationseeking. New York: Cambridge Press.
