Recent mass shootings

08/24/12 Jeffrey Johnson, 58, a self-employed NYC man shot and killed a former coworker in front of the Empire State Building. Officers fired sixteen rounds, killing Johnson and injuring nine bystanders.

08/08/12 Wade Michael Page, 40, opened fire in and around a Milwaukee-area Sikh temple, killing six and wounding three including a police officer. He died from a self-inflicted wound to the head. Page was a well-known white supremacist and sang in a white-power band.

07/20/12 A troubled graduate student burst into a Colorado theatre during a midnight showing of “A Dark Knight,” threw gas grenades and opened fire with a shotgun, a rifle and two pistols, wounding fifty-eight and killing twelve. James Holmes, 24, was arrested without incident.

How do these compare to more conventional violent crime?

05/04/12 A neo-Nazi who led an Arizona border militia shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, her daughter, granddaughter and daughter’s boyfriend, then killed himself. Ex-Marine Jason Ready had a history of domestic violence.

Bank robberies

“Ordinary” gang violence (drive-by’s, etc.)

Organized crime “hits”

Sheldon linked physique andtemperament

Endomorph: Soft physique relaxed and comfort-seeking

Mesomorph: Muscled physique active and assertive

Ectomorph: Lean, frail physique introverted

Gluecks found correlation between mesomorph somatotype and aggressive/antisocial/uninhibited behavior

Issue: Might there be a psychological connection between body build and temperament?

Think of an intervening variable that might go between physique and temperament

Physique ___(variable)___ Temperament

Examined relationship between heredity, environment, and frequency (F) and length (L) of imprisonment Heredity F/L imprisonment OR Environment F/L imprisonment?

Findings Parents and children are similar in terms of F & L of imprisonment Environmental factors not correlated with F & L of imprisonment▪ Poverty, broken homes, education, nationality, birth order

Biological factors are correlated with F & L imprisonment▪ As F & L increase, physical size smaller, mental inferiority worse

Criticisms Current data does not suggest that crime “runs rampant” in families Family members often share criminal propensities, but they are

usually exposed to similar environmental factors Not taking other environmental variables into account Difficult to distinguish between hereditary and environmental effects

Difficult to control environmental variables

So, control heredity

Fraternal twins: different eggs, different DNA

Can inherit different biological factors

Identical twins: one egg, same DNA

Biological factors the same

Look for similarities and differences in behavior

Similarities between identical twins could be inherited or a product of the environment

Differences between identical twins cannot be inherited – cannot be hereditary

If behavior of sets of identical twins is more alike than behavior of sets of fraternal twins, heredity may be important

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTYCv1ObZrI

6,000 pairs of male twins

Higher concordance for identical twins

Male identical twins: 67 pairs where at least one was registered as a criminal.

▪ In 36% of these pairs (n = 24) both were criminals

Male fraternal twins: 114 pairs where at least one was registered as a criminal

▪ In 12% of these pairs (n=14) both were criminals

Higher concordance for serious crimes

Issue: Could higher concordance of behavior for identical twins be due to a more similar environment?

Similar environments might make identical twins act alike So – compare behavior of identical twins reared apart Grove (32 pairs separated shortly after birth); Christiansen (8

pairs).

Both found evidence that antisocial behavior can be inherited

Identical twins reared apart behave similarly Walters – 1992 meta-analysis of 13 twin adoption studies

Considered sample size, quality of research design

Support for hereditary basis to criminality Issue: Adoptive parents may be much less criminal than

biological parents

▪ Adoptees may be exposed to less criminogenic (crime causing) environments

How to remove (“control”) effect of homeenvironment? Study adoptees

Number of court convictions of biologicalparents (not adoptive parents) influences youth criminality Limitation: might only apply to property crimes

Other influencers Socioeconomic status of biological and adoptive parents Personality disorders of biological parents Number of placements before adoption Criminality of biological and adoptive fathers

Issues with adoption studies Low sample sizes Recent studies found link between heredity and behavior for minor

and property crime, but not for violent crime Adoptive parents may be much less criminal than biological parents

▪ adoptees may be exposed to less criminogenic (crime causing) environments

Neurotransmitters Chemicals that transmit electrical impulses in the brain Levels affected by medication, diet, drug use, stress▪ Alcoholism can affect neurotransmitter levels

Imbalance may promote aggressive or compulsive behavior▪ Violence, drug use

Hormones Testosterone: Documented role in animal aggression, effects

found in human research Issues

Reverse causal order: Aggression high hormone levels? Booth and Osgood study▪ Association between testosterone and adult deviancy▪ BUT – effect of high levels of testosterone may be mediated by

social integration:

High levels of testosterone lack of social integration aggression

Brain and spinal cord Cerebral cortex - outer portion of the

brain Four lobes Frontal and temporal lobes control goal-directed behavior, impulses

and emotions Some evidence that abnormalities in the lobes may be associated

with violent and sexual offending Frontal dysfunction may be associated with violent offending Temporal dysfunction may be associated with sexual offending Violent sexual offenders may have both dysfunctions

Issues Methodology – no random selection, so samples may be biased Precise path is unknown – exactly how does a dysfunction

translate into offending?

Controls involuntary functions: Blood pressure,heart activity, intestinal activity, hormone levels

Anxiety “Fight/flight” situations: ANS prepares body

to respond Blood goes from stomach to muscles Increases respiration Stimulates sweat (increases electrical conductivity of skin)

Anxiety may be provoked by the conditioned fear of punishment▪ Being bad parent punishes kid is “conditioned” to expect

punishment kid avoids being bad to avoid anxiety Anxiety may be the primary socializing agent for children▪ They behave properly to avoid anxiety caused by fear of

punishment Hypothesis that defective anxiety responses can interfere with

socialization Antisocial persons might for various reasons (i.e., bad learner) be

more difficult to “condition” So, they might be less likely to fear punishment

Alcohol in lower dosages increasesaggressive behavior, especially in males Relationship between alcohol & violence is strongest of any drug

Marijuana does not appear to increase aggression - it may reduce it Opiates (and prescription painkillers) may reduce aggression

But chronic use may increase aggression Withdrawal from opiates may also increase aggression

Methamphetamine, PCP and LSD may increase aggression May be especially true for those predisposed to violence Police anecdotes about extreme violence and strength displayed by

persons high on Meth and PCP No direct evidence of effect of cocaine on violence

Association between violence and areas where rock cocaine is used (inner cities)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxLCw0GJHoM

In August 2011 the prestigious American Society of Addiction Medicine announced that addiction is a disease.

Addiction is a primary disease with organic origins

Not simply a product of psychiatric or emotional problems.

Addiction involves reward circuits in the brain. Cravings for food, sex, alcohol and drugs are triggered by memories of their effects, affecting judgment and impulse control, and leading to behaviors including some that are defined as crimes.

Like conventional diseases, sufferers can take steps to make things better, so there is choice, but providing assistance and opportunities for treatment are crucial.

Lead in diet may affect brain functions May cause hyperactivity and antisocial behavior in children

Head injury with brain damage may cause violent behavior Decrease cognitive and social skills Headaches and irritability Damage frontal and temporal lobes, increasing anxiety, anger and

hostility Delivery complications correlated with violent offending

Particularly when parents had psychiatric problems Evidence that premature births can pose risk for mental illness▪ Study of young adults born at less than eight months’ gestation▪ Risk of hospitalization for schizophrenia was 2X-plus; for major

depression was nearly 3X, and for bipolar disorder was more than 7X

Inheritance (nature) & environment (nurture)may not “cause” as much as they “predispose”

Crime is a social definition – Malum in se v. mala prohibita

Not all maladaptive behaviors are illegal

Behavior is affected by ...

Inherited characteristics

Inherited characteristics, affected by environment

Environmental effects on health (injury, pollution, poor diet, drinking…)

General agreement that biology and environment interact

Sociologists, including criminologists, tend to minimize biological and psychological factors

But as we learn more about the human organism, more and more winds up being explained by chemistry, biology and genetics

Nature v. Nurture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AIHC4PNCak