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Brain Scans Predict Which Criminals Are More Likely To Re-offend
ananyo writes "In a twist that evokes the dystopian science fiction of writer Philip K. Dick, neuroscientists have found a way to predict whether convicted felons are likely to commit crimes again from looking at their brain scans. Convicts showing low activity in a brain region associated with decision-making and action are more likely to be arrested again, and sooner. The researchers studied a group of 96 male prisoners just before their release. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the prisoners' brains during computer tasks in which subjects had to make quick decisions and inhibit impulsive reactions. The scans focused on activity in a section of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a small region in the front of the brain involved in motor control and executive functioning. The researchers then followed the ex-convicts for four years to see how they fared. Among the subjects of the study, men who had lower ACC activity during the quick-decision tasks were more likely to be arrested again after getting out of prison, even after the researchers accounted for other risk factors such as age, drug and alcohol abuse and psychopathic traits."
$10,000 CHALLENGE to Alexander Peter Kowalski
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First!!!
Now let's first use it on our politicians.
Nihil in publicum sputa.
your skill is not enough
So do you focus all your Rehab efforts on activities that stimulate this region of the brain, or only parole prisoners that show high activitiy in the area?
Does the more impulsive decision-making mean they're more likely to commit new crimes, or simply more likely to get caught?
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
is not a prediction...like saying jumping off tall builidings is survivable for those that survive.... it's journalistic craptasticnous
It's not illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of their brain activity. Should it be? Can you judge someone on the basis of their biology? Is it really that person's fault anymore if a part of their body predelects them to wrongdoing? Where does liability start? Can you fix people? Should you?
Too many questions about really understanding the brain that our primitive moral system could begin to address.
"more likely to be arrested again after getting out of prison, even after the researchers accounted for other risk factors such as age, drug and alcohol abuse and psychopathic traits"
More interesting would be an article on how the scientists figured out how to account for the risk factors.
So that should even selection bias
The knee-jerk reaction will probably be to keep these people locked up for their precrimes...
But if we can get over our medieval fascination with justice and punishment and start focusing on rehabilitation, this could be an invaluable tool both to decide where to spend most effort, and to choose between different guidance approaches.
I imagine that as we learn more about physical differences in our brains, we could use similar techniques for a rough "sorting" of other personality factors. Imagine a "sorting hat" that recommended which class a child should be in based on what teaching methods it thought would be most effective. Hopefully following its advice would be voluntary!
precrime brain scan says you stay in for 5 more years.
Operation Mindcrime is in effect.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
Generally unaccountable agencies, able to predict with unknown precision that an individual might, at some point in the future, commit another crime? How could this possibly not end well?
Brain Scans Predict Which Criminals Are More Likely To Be Caught Re-offending
According to a 2011 Pew study, more than 40 percent of ex-cons commit crimes within three years of their release and wind up back behind bars. As reported on BBC Radio in 2005, the recidivism rates for released prisoners in the U.S. is 60% compared with 50% in the United Kingdom. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of nearly 300,000 prisoners released in 15 states in 1994, 67.5% were rearrested within 3 years. A study of prisoners released in 1983 estimated 62.5%. In general, U.S. prisons offer very little to inmates that would keep them from repeating crimes once they're released. Perhaps we should rethink this strategy?
Out here in Manitoba, damn near ANYONE is capable of predicting who will likely re-offend.
Let's see. How about the guy that's been in prison 3 times, who has re-offended within the first few days of being released EVERY SINGLE TIME, who the last time re-offended within 12 hours of being released, who has shown absolutely NO improvement or willingness to improve himself while in prison, whom you're releasing AGAIN into the public, after a few months behind bars.
Well gosh golly gee, I wonder if there's going to be something about a violent, recently-released criminal attacking someone in the local newspapers in a day or two.
Story of our lives around here. I don't know if they need to build another prison, or start sending people outside the province, or get whoever the goddamn hell keeps releasing these people fired... but hey, if you're a criminal and looking to do violent crime with very, very little prison time afterwards, no matter how many times you're cycled through the system, move into gang-run Winnipeg! Murder capital of Canada (or at least it was... not sure if we got the crown for 2012). Do something silly like stab someone repeatedly, we'll see you back on the streets in a few months even if the only rehabillitating you did in prison was spitting on the guards instead of shanking them. And even then, I imagine we'd see you in a few months anyway.
Although, most of it is gang vs. gang related stuff, so unless you're just the unlucky bastard at the wrong place and the wrong time when a gang member or asshole is looking to beat the shit out of someone out of boredom, odds are the crimes were committed against other criminals.
"Minority Report" LIVE... getting popcorn, brb!
and the system will rig it so most people get out as we are out of room right now.
is it possible to devise tasks that prisoners can perform in prison which will strengthen this part of the brain?
I can't wait until we can pre-screen and imprison children depending on brain scans before they even commit a crime.
Lethal Eliminator mode engaged, trigger unlocked.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
to make every human being run through these once a week.. you know.. just in case they might commit a crime
As far as I can tell from what I have seen, when it comes to being arrested or not, what you got caught doing matters, but your attitude matters too. So ability to think fast and inihibit impulses? Would that maybe include the impulse to blurt out confessions? The impulse to tell the cop what you really think about him "helping you" by confiscating that joint?
I know a few people that got more trouble than they deserved because they couldn't keep their mouths shut, and conversely those who, in almost identical situations, walked away because they cast their eyes down all submissive and sorry like and said "yes officer, your right officer, im sorry officer" even though they didn't mean a word of it.
Maybe these researchers are really on to something.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
shower Don't just obvious that there Di5appearing up its followed. Obviously
Doing brain scans to detect lower levels of cognitive function in a brain...? Perhaps the researchers should scan themselves, or this whole thing can be traced to an MRI machine manufacturer.
Ahhh.. yep. From the researcher's web site front page: "The Avanto is the most advanced system of this strength in the Siemens product line. It features an ultra-short, 150 cm-long whole-body superconductive 1.5T magnet, with 5th generation active-shielding technology with counter coils,.." The scent of agenda bullshit is strong with this one.
That's a no-brainer.
We all know that phrenology is more reliable!
Everything from Minority Report seems to be coming true: first we get the idiotic vertical touch UI, now apparently pre-crime detection is here. Does this mean I'm FINALLY going to get my flying car?
It sounds to me like people are still trying to blame criminals for there inability to rehabilitate anyone let alone repeat offenders. How could they test such things especially over time? Did they costly put criminals in a scan machine? Who are these individuals that would come willingly to be scanned before they commit crimes? This just a giant tird they are trying to smear in everyone else's face so they can receive little to no blame for the prison system failing to do anything but cage people.
The one thing that society badly needs, is more white collar workers,
such as bankers, convicted as criminals, where society pays for their
transgressions.
Up till then, research such as this is class warfare.
Essentially, they found that individuals with poor impulse-control are more likely to get arrested.
Let me break out the Champagne... oh wait, people already knew that poor impulse-control was at the root of most criminality... and we also already knew that the ACC was involved in impulse-control... I guess we now know that A and B = (A and B).
This doesn't bode well for colored folks.
Anyone found the actual source paper? The doi in the nature summary is broken, and a search for the listed author on PNAS doesn't pull up anything at all. Similarly, a search for anterior cingulate doesn't show anything recent that's even remotely related. I'd like to take a closer look at the stats here...
FTA: Had to read the article to get this:
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It seems like we're imprisoning the mentally deficient, exposing them to smarter malicious people, then releasing them to inevitably re-offend. Maybe they should be institutionalized or kept under other supervision like a halfway-house, because they're physically incapable of being responsible people.
I'd have to disagree. Research such as this could be extremely useful. The problem you are referring to is the fact that we are not also investigating the cause of white collar crime. I'm not sure that is true, but I agree that all crime needs to be investigated and the reasons for it eliminated to the greatest degree that we can ethically do so.
However, in the end, whether or not we stop white collar criminals, stopping "blue collar" criminals would also be very useful as well. Unless you are suggesting that crime serves some sort of social equalization factor for poor people. In that case, I'd suggest that there are probably better ways for progressive-thinking individuals to achieve that without ignoring good science.
Next up: At birth determination on when and which crimes will be committed by any individual.
Attention governmental bureaucrats: Take a deep breath. Listen to that little voice inside your head that tells you not to react impulsively... we'll call this the consequences and repercussions identity. Law enforcement, aided and abetted by doctors and psychologists, has attempted to classify "the criminal type" for many generations. Despite theories prevalent at various times, crime has not been predictable using physiognomy, eugenics, or social Darwinism. Crime is a characteristic of human nature that is unwelcome in civilized society, but undoubtedly a survive till breeding age advantage in an uncivilized world. Predilection to a given behavior, as in being okay with taking what doesn't belong to you, is not a crime while it rests in your mind. Let's hold up the funding for a precrime investigative unit before the penal system goes all Minority Report based on a sampling of 90 something souls.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
psychopass - ubiquitous scanners connected to a master system can tell if a person's "criminal coefficient" is high enough to warrant therapy, being institutionalized or needing summary execution.
Mainly in efficiency - it runs in Ring 0/RPL 0/PnP Kernelmode (on Windows), as merely a filter for the IP stack (no overheads of more driver layers OR browser level slower less efficient addons):
21++ ADVANTAGES OF CUSTOM HOSTS FILES (how/what/when/where/why):
Over AdBlock & DNS Servers ALONE 4 Security, Speed, Reliability, & Anonymity (to an extent vs. DNSBL's + DNS request logs).
1.) HOSTS files are useable for all these purposes because they are present on all Operating Systems that have a BSD based IP stack (even ANDROID) and do adblocking for ANY webbrowser, email program, etc. (any webbound program). A truly "multi-platform" UNIVERSAL solution for added speed, security, reliability, & even anonymity to an extent (vs. DNS request logs + DNSBL's you feel are unjust hosts get you past/around).
2.) Adblock blocks ads? Well, not anymore & certainly not as well by default, apparently, lol - see below:
Adblock Plus To Offer 'Acceptable Ads' Option
http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/12/2213233/adblock-plus-to-offer-acceptable-ads-option )
AND, in only browsers & their subprogram families (ala email like Thunderbird for FireFox/Mozilla products (use same gecko & xulrunner engines)), but not all, or, all independent email clients, like Outlook, Outlook Express, OR Window "LIVE" mail (for example(s)) - there's many more like EUDORA & others I've used over time that AdBlock just DOES NOT COVER... period.
Disclaimer: Opera now also has an AdBlock addon (now that Opera has addons above widgets), but I am not certain the same people make it as they do for FF or Chrome etc..
3.) Adblock doesn't protect email programs external to FF (non-mozilla/gecko engine based) family based wares, So AdBlock doesn't protect email programs like Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows "LIVE" mail & others like them (EUDORA etc./et al), Hosts files do. THIS IS GOOD VS. SPAM MAIL or MAILS THAT BEAR MALICIOUS SCRIPT, or, THAT POINT TO MALICIOUS SCRIPT VIA URLS etc.
4.) Adblock won't get you to your favorite sites if a DNS server goes down or is DNS-poisoned, hosts will (this leads to points 5-7 next below).
5.) Adblock doesn't allow you to hardcode in your favorite websites into it so you don't make DNS server calls and so you can avoid tracking by DNS request logs, OR make you reach them faster since you resolve host-domain names LOCALLY w/ hosts out of cached memory, hosts do ALL of those things (DNS servers are also being abused by the Chinese lately and by the Kaminsky flaw -> http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/082908-kaminsky-flaw-prompts-dns-server.html for years now). Hosts protect against those problems via hardcodes of your fav sites (you should verify against the TLD that does nothing but cache IPAddress-to-domainname/hostname resolutions (in-addr.arpa) via NSLOOKUP, PINGS (ping -a in Windows), &/or WHOIS though, regularly, so you have the correct IP & it's current)).
* NOW - Some folks MAY think that putting an IP address alone into your browser's address bar will be enough, so why bother with HOSTS, right? WRONG - Putting IP address in your browser won't always work IS WHY. Some IP adresses host several domains & need the site name to give you the right page you're after is why. So for some sites only the HOSTS file option will work!
6.) Hosts files don't eat up CPU cycles (or ELECTRICITY) like AdBlock does while it parses a webpages' content, nor as much as a DNS server does while it runs. HOSTS file are merely a FILTER for the kernel mode/PnP TCP/IP subsystem, which runs FAR FASTER & MORE EFFICIENTLY than any ring 3/rpl3/usermode app can since hosts files run in MORE EFFICIENT & FASTER Ring 0/RPL 0/Kernelmode operat
Couldn't the fact that we take criminals and put them in a giant cage with all of the other criminals and then forget about them for decades have something to do with recidivists?
some kind of area that is away from us, and they can live without fear. maybe some type of big island continent. do we have any such place?
Now hold on. Michael Moore showed me a video where the news only reports awesome stuff like puppies and kittens and new speed bumps in school parking lots. The only murders Canada has are from those damned thugs in Detroit crossing the border to raid your maple syrup reserves.
All joking aside (actually serious here), as an American, I've generally thought you guys were pretty lax as far as violent crime. I was certainly not aware of Winnipeg being a gangster run town. Are you suggesting that Candada is actually just as bad as everywhere else but your gov has a better PR department? I have been considering a move to Vancouver for awhile now.....
This study did NOT track those who were most likely to re-offend.
They tracked those who were re-arrested!
It is known that the majority of rape cases are NEVER reported. Of those reported, some are never investigated, the majority never lead to a succesful arrest of those in which a suspect is found, many never lead to a conviction.
In Brussel, Belgium, the number of REPORTED (a minority) cases that led to conviction was 4%.
The changes for a criminal to be caught are shockingly low. This goes from anything to rape cases that are never reported to the stolen bike you don't report because you know there is no point.
Politicians LOVE this, it is an EXCELLENT way to massage figures. See India were police told women to go away and ignored their cases as a matter of policy. This is why people who judge a country by its incarceration rate are such utter fools. It is easy to have a low prison population, just don't punish criminals. It is the "no gays in Iran" things. You might say "but there is a gay guy right there" then there is a bang and they say "no there isn't".
The rehab industry is part of gigantic psychiatry scam and it is worth BILLIONS. In Holland we got something called TBS, it is a sentence for the criminally insane on top or instead of a prison sentence in which they must undergo treatment. Recently a case appaerred where a man send to TBS for an attempted murder of an old woman was diagnosed with an uncontrollable lust to kill. He was released and he killed a 15 year old girl. A "doctor" released him as cured... is that doctor under investigation? No. A real doctor who blundered that badly would be removed... oh wait... no... that is another scandal... doctors who blunder not being removed from their job.
In the rehab industry there is no accountability, just an endless paycheck depended on releasing figures that show that it works because only 70% to 80% of those treated are convicted in the same jurisdiction AND a link is made between the two cases... only 70% to 80%. By magic, the claim is then that the remaining 20%-30% NEVER EVER commit any crime anywhere again because we all know that the police success rate of finding a suspect for every crime and having him convincted and that conviction linked to his past conviction is 100%...
Eh... no...
To give you an idea of how BAD the justice system is. An American woman is going on trial again in Italy for murder. If she is convicted, the US won't extradite her nor imprison her. The US shelters murderers. Belgium won't extradite anyone under the age of 18 no matter the crime. These are just recent examples.
Do you think that if countries knowingly shelter convicted criminals, that they link convictions? What if any of those US criminals re-offended and were actually against all odds convicted in Canada? Do you think that is counted in re-offender statistics? No. It is not.
The only thing this study found is those who were actually caught again. The majority of criminals is never caught and you could assume that even criminals would learn, so those caught once might be harder to get caught again...
Even with all those odds against it. How many were caught again?
Exactly... when the re-offend rate is that high, and the changes of the remaining group not having been caught NOT because they were innocent but because most criminals are never caught in the first place, I want evidence NOT showing how many were caught but how many can be proven to NOT have re-offended again. And that is impossible. But until that becomes possible, I see no reason not to asume 100% re-offended and just a subset was caught doing it.
That is the truth about the rehab industry. It would be like testing a drug and then only testing the people who showed up at the end of the trial for ill effects... all the dead people who stayed at home? Nah... no need to look at those, they are just slackers. It is like testing collisions between trains and cars, taking a look at the train, see little damage and conclude
It won't be long before there is also a very real issue in that even school kids could be studied in advance of violent behavior and those destined to get violent could be spotted in advance. Then what? What do we do if we have a good testing method that predicts a violent criminal act within the next seven years with an 85% accuracy rate? Prison wouldn't be the best idea for obvious reasons. Therapeutic intervention may not have much effect even if we can afford to pay all of the huge costs to get appropriate mental health treatment to be readily available. So in the end we would know we had a human time bomb out and about but would be helpless to prevent his crimes. Punishment also goes out the window. Obviously if we can x-ray the problem and it is chemo-physical in nature where does guilt enter the picture. It is not as if the individual wanted or somehow deliberately applied a malfunctioning brain. And for such persons to control their crimes may not be something within their powers at all. In essence they are brain damaged victims of their condition. It would force the public to challenge basic notions such as responsibility.
This isn't a prediction. For that you'd have to be able to prove that the repeat offenders actually did something heinous. Like became politicians.
Film at a 11!