Are Traumatic Brain Injuries Associated With Criminality After Taking Account of Childhood Family Social Status and Disruptive Behaviors?

The Implications of Moral Neuroscience for Brain Disease: Review and Update

The last 2 decades have seen an explosion of neuroscience research on morality, with significant implications for brain disease. Many studies have proposed a neuromorality based on intuitive sentiments or emotions aimed at maintaining collaborative social groups. These moral emotions are normative, deontological, and action based, with a rapid evaluation of intentionality. The neuromoral circuitry interacts with the basic mechanisms of socioemotional cognition, including social perception, behavioral control, theory of mind, and social emotions such as empathy. Moral transgressions may result from primary disorders of moral intuitions, or they may be secondary moral impairments from disturbances in these other socioemotional cognitive mechanisms. The proposed neuromoral system for moral intuitions has its major hub in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and engages other frontal regions as well as the anterior insulae, anterior temporal lobe structures, and right temporoparietal junction and adjacent posterior superior temporal sulcus. Brain diseases that affect these regions, such as behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, may result in primary disturbances of moral behavior, including criminal behavior. Individuals with focal brain tumors and other lesions in the right temporal and medial frontal regions have committed moral violations. These transgressions can have social and legal consequences for the individuals and require increased awareness of neuromoral disturbances among such individuals with brain diseases.

Associations between significant head injury in male juveniles in prison in Scotland UK and cognitive function, disability and crime: A cross sectional study

BACKGROUND

Although the prevalence of head injury is estimated to be high in juveniles in prison, the extent of persisting disability is unknown and relationships with offending uncertain. This limited understanding makes it difficult to develop effective management strategies and interventions to improve health or reduce recidivism. This study investigates effects of significant head injury (SHI) on cognitive function, disability and offending in juvenile prisoners, and considers relationships with common comorbidities.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study recruited male juvenile prisoners in Scotland from Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institute (HMYOI) Polmont (detaining approximately 305 of 310 male juveniles in prison in Scotland). To be included juveniles had to be 16 years or older, fluent in English, able to participate in assessment, provide informed consent and not have a severe acute disorder of cognition or communication. Head injury, cognition, disability, history of abuse, mental health and problematic substance use were assessed by interview and questionnaire.

RESULTS

We recruited 103 (34%) of 305 juvenile males in HMYOI Polmont. The sample was demographically representative of juvenile males in prisons for young offenders in Scotland. SHI was found in 82/103 (80%) and head injury repeated over long periods of time in 69/82 (85%). Disability was associated with SHI in 11/82 (13%) and was significantly associated with mental health problems, particularly anxiety. Group differences on cognitive tests were not found. However the SHI group reported poorer behavioural control on the Dysexecutive Questionnaire and were more often reported for incidents in prison than those without SHI. Characteristics of offending, including violence, did not differ between groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Although SHI is highly prevalent in juvenile prisoners, associated disability was relatively uncommon. There was no evidence for differences in cognitive test performance or offending in juveniles with and without SHI. However, signs of poorer behavioural control and greater psychological distress in juveniles with SHI suggest that they may be at greater risk of recidivism and of potentially becoming lifelong offenders. This implies a need for remedial programmes for juvenile prisoners to take account of persisting effects of SHI on mental health and self-control and education and to improve their understanding of the effects of SHI reduce the likelihood of cumulative effects from further SHI.

Executive functioning as mediator of the association between traumatic brain injury and prison bullying

OBJECTIVE

This study examined whether executive functioning (EF) mediated the relationship between childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) and engaging in bullying in prison (BP).

PARTICIPANTS

A sample of male adults in custody in Uruguay (N = 236), drawn from five prisons.

METHODS

Inmates filled out self-report questionnaires examining TBI (Head Injury Questionnaire), EF (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Adult, BRIEF-A) and bullying in prison (Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behavior Checklist - revised, SCALED, DIPC-SCALED-r).

RESULTS

Findings showed that TBI was associated with prison bullying after controlling for age, level of education, socioeconomic status, and civil status. The mediation analysis indicated that the relationship between TBI and bullying was fully mediated via executive impairment, especially through the behavioral regulation component (mainly inhibition and emotional control).

CONCLUSION

These findings suggested that compensating for EF difficulties in adult inmates with brain injuries might help to decrease the bullying in prison.