Neurocriminology: Inside The Criminal Mind

A leading researcher on human behavior genetics drew my attention to this Wall Street Journal Saturday Essay at the journal club where he meets with colleagues to discuss the latest research. He'd like to see some responses posted to this essay by other researchers, as he doesn't take this view of genetics of criminal behavior.

Neurocriminology is disturbing when you think about the ramifications. The science and experimental data keeps getting better, the supporting evidence keeps improving, and the findings have become the proverbial elephant in the room. The science doesn't bother me, but the implications are just frightening.

For example, in the stated case of Donta Page where the testimony of neurocriminology experts was used to avoid a death penalty sentence, the opposite is just as feasible; neurocriminology could be used to support a death penalty sentence, just as it would have supported denying parole on his previous incarceration for robbery.

It would be a massive change of our justice system from punishments matching crimes, to punishments matching both crimes and criminals.

Early brain scans could help at-risk individuals receive voluntary intervention (medication, therapy etc.) to help them avoid trouble later on. One would hope that the results of these brain scans would be confidential to avoid stigmatizing individuals.

Treating violent and sexual offenders as human beings who are mentally ill instead of writing them off as evil monsters would be a huge step in the right direction for the legal system and society in general.

How do they know that the people said to be behaving better in the surveys aren't actually better at not being caught?