Biological Causes of Crime
Learn more about the biological causes of criminal, violent, and psychopathic behavior. Go to www.crime-times.org for the Crime Times website. Review the issue and/or subject index and read a few articles related to biology and criminal behavior. Do you think that biological theories of crime causation adequately explain criminal behavior?
William Sheldon, a well-known body-type theorist, divided humans into three basic body types. Left: endomorphic (soft fat); center: mesomorphic (athletically built); right: ectomorphic (tall, skinny). Why would delinquents more likely have a mesomorphic body type rather than an endomorphic or ectomorphic body type?Serial Killers
Serial killers are characterized as psychopaths or sociopaths. Go to www.crimelibrary.com/serialkillers.htm to read more about serial killers that are under investigation and some of the most well-known cases involving serial killers in the U.S. Were you able to note any of the characteristics of a psychopath listed in Table 3.2 in these articles?
Jeffery Dahmer was accused by the prosecutor in his case of being "an evil psychopath who lured his victims and murdered them in cold blood." He was convicted of 15 counts of murder and sentenced to serve 15 consecutive life sentences or a total of 957 years in prison. Dahmer was killed in prison in 1994. Was Dahmer a psychopath? Why or why not? |
