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Criminal Psychology

Biological strategies for preventing criminal behaviour

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 03

Overview

Recall questions on biological strategies for preventing crime, including dietary supplement trials, serotonin-raising drugs and anti-androgen treatment, ethical and practical objections, applying strategies to scenarios, screening, neurosurgery, and judging whether a strategy works.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

A man becomes impulsively violent after a motorcycle accident that damaged his frontal lobe. What biological approach to prevention would be appropriate?

Key term

What is the reasoning behind using dietary supplements to reduce offending?

Who and when

What did the double-blind supplement trials carried out in young offender institutions find?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Name one biological strategy for preventing criminal behaviour.

    Model answer

    Supplementing offenders' diets with vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids.

  2. 2

    What is the reasoning behind using dietary supplements to reduce offending?

    Model answer

    Poor nutrition deprives the brain of the raw materials it needs for neurotransmitter function, so correcting a deficiency should improve impulse control and mood.

  3. 3

    What did the double-blind supplement trials carried out in young offender institutions find?

    Model answer

    Prisoners given the supplements committed significantly fewer disciplinary offences than those given a placebo, with the largest fall in violent incidents.

  4. 4

    Why must a supplement trial in a prison be double-blind and placebo-controlled?

    Model answer

    So that neither the prisoners nor the staff recording the incidents know who received the supplement, preventing expectation from shaping either behaviour or the records.

  5. 5

    How could drugs that raise serotonin be used to prevent violent offending?

    Model answer

    Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors increase serotonin activity, which is intended to reduce the impulsive aggression associated with low serotonin levels.

  6. 6

    Explain how anti-androgen treatment is used with some sexual offenders.

    Model answer

    Drugs are given that lower testosterone activity, reducing sexual drive and so reducing the urge to reoffend while other therapy is undertaken.

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APunishment requires deprivation, loss of autonomy and stigma.
BReform requires trust, responsibility and self-respect.
CThe regime that achieves one tends to undermine the other.

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