The Criminal Brain

by Rafter, Nicole Hahn

• ISBN13: 9780814776148
• ISBN10: 0814776140
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-01
• Publisher: New York Univ Pr

Summary

What is the relationship between criminality and biology? Nineteenth-century phrenologists insisted that criminality was innate, a trait inherent in the offender’s brain matter. While they were eventually repudiated as pseudo-scientists and self-deluded charlatans, today the pendulum has swung back. Both criminologists and biologists have begun to speak of a tantalizing but disturbing possibility: that criminality may be inherited as a set of genetic deficits that place one at risk for theft, violence, and sexual deviance. If that is so, we may soon confront proposals for genetically modifying at risk” fetuses or doctoring up criminals so their brains operate like those of law-abiding citizens. InThe Criminal Brain, well-known criminologist Nicole Rafter traces the sometimes violent history of these criminological theories and provides an introduction to current biological theories of crime, or biocriminology, with predictions of how these theories are likely to develop in the future.What do these new theories assert? Are they as dangerous as their forerunners, which the Nazis and other eugenicists used to sterilize, incarcerate, and even execute thousands of supposed born” criminals? How can we prepare for a future in which leaders may propose crime-control programs based on biology? Enhanced with fascinating illustrations and written in lively prose,The Criminal Brainexamines these issues in light of the history of ideas about the criminal brain. By tracing the birth and growth of enduring ideas in criminology, as well as by recognizing historical patterns in the interplay of politics and science, she offers ways to evaluate new theories of the criminal brain that may radically reshape ideas about the causes of criminal behavior.

Author Biography

Nicole Rafter is Senior Research Fellow in the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University and Fellow of the American Society of Criminology

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Introduction: Crime, History, Science	p. 1
Biological Theories in the 19th Century
Moral Insanity and the Origins of Criminology	p. 19
Phrenology: The Abnormal Brain	p. 40
Criminal Anthropology: The Atavistic Brain	p. 65
Evolutionary Theories: The Degenerate Brain	p. 89
Biological Theories in the 20th Century
Stupidity Theories: The Backward Brain	p. 121
Constitutional Theory: Bodytypes and Criminality	p. 146
Criminology's Darkest Hour: Biocriminology in Nazi Germany	p. 176
Contemporary Biocriminology	p. 199
Biological Theories in the 21st Century
A Criminology for the 21st Century	p. 239
Notes	p. 253
References	p. 283
Index	p. 309
About the Author	p. 317
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