A Young Crimminals Brain

[Lewis]

June 27th, 2011
03:00 PM ET





Inside young offenders' brains: Where impulsiveness comes from

There's new research to challenge the idea that a young convicted criminal can't change his or her behavior. A study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the brains of juvenile offenders aren't necessarily maturing abnormally; rather, they are delayed in their typical development.
"It raises very important questions about our treatment of juvenile offenders," said Benjamin Shannon, of the Department of Radiology at Washington University, St. Louis, and lead author of the study. "We need to have a discussion about the idea that these people deserve very harsh prison treatment, that someone at the age of 14 can be ruined for life."
More than 90,000 people aged 20 and younger are incarcerated in residential placement facilities, according to the most recent statistics from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Researchers looked at more than 100 juvenile offenders incarcerated in a maximum-security facility. They found specific patterns of brain activity associated with impulsive behavior.
"What we found was that it was the relationship between their motor planning regions and other parts of the brain associated with attention and control that predicted whether they were impulsive or not," Shannon said.
Study authors then wanted to find out whether they would see these effects in non-offenders, and whether they would fade in older individuals. Researchers tested 95 people aged 7 to 31. And they did find that younger brains seemed to have a "more impulsive" brain connectivity pattern; older participants' brains seemed to have a "less impulsive nature," Shannon said.
In other words, although the imprisoned young people received severe punishment, they have the potential to grow out of their impulsivity just like other children, and therapies may be developed to help them do that, he said.
"These juvenile offenders, they're not monsters, they're not something completely out of the ordinary. They're basically on the same developmental trajectory as the rest of us; they're just delayed a bit," Shannon said.
The next steps would be to follow up with these participants to see if the brain patterns have changed, and to see if there's therapy or training inspired by these brain relationships that might help, he said.
This research is not aimed at using brain scanning in a preemptive way - it's not to be used as a means of seeing who might be predestined to commit crimes based on brain patterns, Shannon said.
But it does contribute to a growing body of research suggesting that the brains of young offenders are different - even some 3-year-olds have brain signatures associated with committing a crime in the future. For more on that subject, check out this Q&A about the nature vs. nurture questions that arise.
Inside young offenders' brains: Where impulsiveness comes from – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs

 

[tim-from-pa]

Well, something isn't developing right. When they rob somebody or break-in houses, they always seem to steal stuff that when used can track them, e.g a cell phone. Who in their right mind would want to steal a cell phone when every call and location is traced?

Just the other week some crooks were breaking into houses and stealing stuff like that and I commented on the local news forum that when they act lame-brained and steal stuff like that they will get caught, and I predicted their capture. Sure enough today it was announced they caught several of them and the tip-off was when they tried to use a stolen debit card at Wawa's the security camera got their picture.

I've been saying for a long time now that a lot of them are sub-normal intelligence or development and technology captures them every time.

So now the newest craze when they can't win the battle of the wits they use brawn. They brazenly rob stores in gangs and then all disperse like little slimy rats figuring that the cops can't catch all of them and some will get away. In other words, it's a brazen attack in numbers where there are too many to do anything about it like pack animals.

 

[Lewis]

So now the newest craze when they can't win the battle of the wits they use brawn. They brazenly rob stores in gangs and then all disperse like little slimy rats figuring that the cops can't catch all of them and some will get away. In other words, it's a brazen attack in numbers where there are too many to do anything about it like pack animals.

Yeah I saw some footage of those dumb young stupid idiots robbing stores in packs.

 

[handy]

This doesn't surprise me...and I hope that they continue the research and perhaps it will result in changes in how we deal with young criminals.

Call me a softy mom (my kids would beg to differ) but I wholly, completely, and vehemently disagree with the idea of treating 12, 13, 14 year old kids as "adults" in our criminal justices system.

My son would be a perfect target for being tried as an adult if he were to ever do something serious. For one thing, he is already the size of a small man, he is taller than I am (he's 5'3) his shoulders are as broad as his daddy's and he wears the same size shoe that his dad does as well. I would imagine that by this time next year, he'll be several inches taller.

But, he's only 11. And, (I love him dearly, my sweet boy) he's a dumb as they come when it comes to doing stupid stuff. I always say my daughter gets in trouble for what she says, my son for what he does. If an idea flits through his brain, he does it...half the time with very little realization that he is even doing something. He was watching TV not all that long ago and he picked up some scissors lying close by and sat there and cut up an afghan while watching TV. When I yelled at him, he looked down and it was obvious that he was just as shocked and surprised as I was that he had done it. He's a good kid, gets good grades and does his chores...but impulse control? He has practically none.

Kids are kids, doggone it. We want to keep them little and force them to delay adulthood well after their bodies grow up...but boy, let them cross the line into criminal behavior and then we want to throw the book at them and insure a life of criminality by exposing them to the real bad guys.

I'm not saying let them get off if they commit serious crimes. But we sure as heck can realize that when a child commits a crime, s/he is still a child.