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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."
Now let's first use it on our politicians.
Nihil in publicum sputa.
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.
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.
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!
More likely than what?
How much more likely?
To how many more recidivists does this equate?
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
Operation Mindcrime is in effect.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
That article would be a rehash of the first couple of weeks of junior high science class. This subject is known as Scientific control. In a study such as this, to the extent possible, you compare an individual only against others whose values for those variables are the same, so as to ensure you're measuring the effect you want to measure. It's basic science.
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?
Speaking of people with lower ACC activity..
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is it possible to devise tasks that prisoners can perform in prison which will strengthen this part of the brain?
Hahahaha! Thank you, you actually had me laughing out loudly and my inner voice ceased screaming "Die die die AC!"
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Lethal Eliminator mode engaged, trigger unlocked.
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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"
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?
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).
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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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.
It's not even that. It's just a way to keep the population up. Lots of money in prisons, you know.
Rehabilitation: That's not part of the US prison system (can't speak for others.) We don't rehabilitate. We cage you, abuse you to the most extreme limits we can arrange, including rape, terror, and the very real possibility of death, then we release you but we do so while marking you indelibly as unemployable in any significant job, thus cutting you off from most legitimate upward paths. Only the most clever, most self-reliant, and the most skilled -- or those with friends in high places -- can navigate those rocks to rise above the most basic levels of existence in this country.
Willingness to be scanned: Been to an airport recently?
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Politician: "Why, SURE it does! We'll give them FREE brain scans!"
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
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.
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?
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 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.
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