Aggression In Sex Offenders

Sex offenders are described as a person who commits a crime involving a sexual act. They are people convicted for sexual crime in a criminal court. Sex offenders make a high percentage of the offender population and are considered special circumstance offenders. Sex offenders typically use sex as a coping mechanism. Juvenile sex offenders are those age from adolescences to an adult, who committed a sexual act without consent both physically and verbally.

However, more recently, a study led by King’s College London has claimed that there are differences between the brains of psychopaths and other criminal offenders diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. Dr. Nigel Blackwood who led the research is quoted as saying “We describe those without psychopathy as 'hot-headed' and those with psychopathy as ‘cold-hearted’.” This statement shows a clear distinction between what should be interpreted as a lack of self-control and ability to repress impulses and what should be diagnosed as psychopathy.
The study took MRI scans of 66 men, two thirds of which were offenders who had been diagnosed with antisocial personality whilst the other third were non-offenders considered to not have any personality disorders. Of the 44 offenders, 17 met the diagnosis criteria for psychopathy (ASPD+P) assessed by the guidelines stated in the DSM-IV. Researchers saw that the members of the study diagnosed as psychopaths had notably less grey matter in areas associated with moral behaviour and understanding other peoples’

Overall, your paper was interesting and clear to follow. You mentioned valid points of certain information regarding sex offenders in prison. Unfortunately, this classification of offenders are "targeted" and easily identifiable in a correctional setting. Worldwide, prison have adapted the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) which as you stated hold officers accountable for the abuse and sex interactions between staff and staff, staff and offender, and offender and offenders. To add too, this act is seriously investigated for any (small to large) incident(s) reported; the actions of the officer are also accounted for throughout the time of the report. As a matter of fact, over the years officers have been terminated for falsifying documents

For example in a group meeting the offenders will be assigned an assignment where they must speak about deviant thoughts and deviant acts that they committed. If they still have any deviant thoughts. Where these deviant thoughts come from and why they have attraction to younger adolescents. Does child pornography make you aroused, what caused you to do this offense? Offenders also must write an autobiography about their lives and as the offender completes more entries and the treatment provider feels that the offender is making progress the offender moves up in the group to a higher Phase. Currently in Connecticut sex offenders on probation attend group, there are three different phase groups that they must attend. Phase 1 where most offenders

In our current society, gender patterns play an important role in our vision of male sex offenders, similarly as much as they do to female sex offenders. The stigma of a female sex offender usually revolves around someone in a nurturing position such as teacher who has an inappropriate relationship with a minor. These women are said seduce younger victims with their looks. Similar to men, women can also be sex offenders, despite the fact that a much smaller number of women are sexual offenders. It is not conclusive exactly how many women execute sexual crimes or how many victims exist. The stereotype of the female sex offender as an attractive nurturer who forms a romantic relationship with a minor is ambiguous, despite its portrayal in the

Stories of sex offenders have been increasingly a focus of attention by the criminal justice system over the past years. By legal definition, a sex offender “is a person who is convicted of a sexual offense (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition),” an act which is prohibited by the jurisdiction. What constitutes as a sex offense or normal/abnormal sexual behavior varies over time and place, meaning that it also varies by legal jurisdiction and culture. In the United States of America, for example, a person can be convicted of wide range of sexual behavior that includes prostitution, incest, sex with a minor, rape, and other sex offenses (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition). As the nature of sex crimes have long held the

Through the examination of the way society mitigates risk, how sex offenders are handled (with panoptic and synoptic social control and as exceptional others), and restorative justice measures, it is apparent that sex offenders should be reintegrated through the community.

In “The Anatomy of a Violent Brain”, Wall Street Journal correspondent Jason Bellini covers some of the recent discoveries in neuropsychological research, particularly the role of the prefrontal cortex and how its activity relates to acts of violence.

They stated that murderers that plead not guilty by the reason of insanity (NGRI) have brain dysfunction. So they obtained a group of individuals who had been charged with murder but pleaded NGRI, in which some of these individuals had mental illnesses including schizophrenia, some had personality disorders such as Multiple Personality Disorder and some had brain injuries. To compare, there was also a control group involved who had schizophrenia but had not committed a crime. This study examined brain activity in the individuals who had committed the offence when completing a task. The results that were found showed that there is a link between criminal behaviour and the activity and structure of the brain. Although this could only mean that the brain activity could be a contributing factor towards such behaviours, so it doesn’t mean that it’s the main cause for the violent

Introduction: This investigation examines the biological causes for serial killers’ psychopathic tendencies and examines those same biological factors in both men and women to find the correlation between a higher rate of male serial killers and the biology behind their actions. It is imperitave to first know what a serial killer is, and what makes them such a cold fish. There are sections of the brain that do have control over a human being’s personality, where that individual can either develop into an average person or join the other one percent of psychopaths living in the world today (due to physical damage or chemical imbalance in the brain). These specific sections of the brain are different in males then in females, some components of the brain vary in size etc. between sexes. It is crucial to have all these pieces, with this information its then possible to form a conlusion to the surfaced question.

Sex offenders have always been a great problem within communities because of the fear they incur among residence. The term sex offender applies to individuals who have committed a sex crime, which includes either genital exposure on school premises, raped and molested. Law Enforcement requires the minimum sentences for people who commit sexual offenses but I think it should be harsher. Sex offenders should be given a longer sentences for sex crimes so that they can actually learn to curb sexual offenses at future

It is logical that a reduced level of serotonin would have effects on a neuron's target site. Research has confirmed that the prefrontal cortex of murderers and suicide victims are different from the prefrontal cortex of a normal individual. The prefrontal cortex is often referred to as the "executive" region since it is where humans think, imagine, and make informed decisions (8). Damage to the prefrontal cortex manifests itself in the form of impulsivity, loss of self-control, immaturity, and altered emotionality. Although correlation does not indicate causation, researchers have occasionally used prefrontal cortex injury as an indicator of the likelihood of engaging in aggressive acts. In normal individuals, the frontal lobe is very active, whereas the frontal lobe can be quite inactive in the brains of murderers (9 , 12). Similarly, suicide victims often have fewer neurons in the prefrontal cortex than normal subjects (10). These findings indicate that the prefrontal cortex may be involved in the regulation of a restraint mechanism that is sub-optimal in suicidal and homicidal individuals.

Due to its primary role in processing memory and emotional reactions, over the last decade and a half psychologists have been linking the amygdala to psychopathy. It is involved in aversive conditioning and instrumental learning and is thus involved in all the processes that, when impaired, produce the same functional impairments displayed by psychopaths. Two famous studies conducted by Tiihonen and Kiehl respectively have confirmed this. Tiihonen used a volumetric MRI to test and confirm the positive correlation between low amygdaloid volume and a high degree of psychopathy in violent criminals (measured by the Hare checklist-revised) while Kiehl used a functional MRI to prove reduced amygdala response during an emotional memory task in individuals who scored high on the Hare checklist-revised. However, both these studies along with numerous others were conducted using violent offenders as subjects rather than individuals with psychopathy. Although many psychopaths do exhibit violent tendencies, not all violent offenders are necessarily psychopaths. A study conducted by Raine is one of the few that did focus only on individuals exhibiting psychopathy. In his study Raine was able to show reduced prefrontal grey matter in his test subjects. Unfortunately though, he was unable to differentiate between grey matter in different regions of the prefrontal cortex. It is however clear that there is one region of the frontal cortex that could be

The approach helps to examine the case of Daniel Holtzclaw, who may have been influenced by biological factors when committing the crimes mentioned in the previous. Testosterone is regarded as the male sex hormone. “Researchers have found that higher levels of this hormone are associated with increased levels of violence and aggression […]” (Crews, 2009, p. 196). Thus, many scholars believe that rape (which is predominantly committed by males) can be explained by their high levels of testosterone. Furthermore, the biochemical approach considers the functionality of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters “are chemicals that transmit messages between brain cells, called neurons, and have a direct impact on the many functions of the brain, including those that affect emotions, learning, mood, and behavior” (Crews, 2009, p. 196). Thus, the amount and location of neurochemicals, such as norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin may have played a role in the rapes committed by Hotzclaw, as they may have altered his motivation, his feelings of pleasure and reward, as well as his sex drive and aggression. Hormones and neurotransmitters may have contributed to a brain deficiency, in that his hypothalamic-limbic function may have altered his sex drive and need for control, and in that reticular activating processes may have made him

X and X1 values should be roughly equal in value and Y and Y1 should be roughly equal in value as well preferably. Both pedophiles and non-pedophiles would have FMRI’s done while being presented sexual stimuli and neutral stimuli as done in the Shaffer studies(2008,2007). Then the FMRI images should be analysed in terms of differences in brain function for pedophiles and non-pedophiles. Brain function differences found in pedophiles and non-pedophiles should be then analysed in terms of the gender. The within gender differences found between pedophiles and non-pedophiles then be compared for gender differences between male and female pedophiles. Any differences found to be different between male and female pedophiles brain function then should be matched and control for various other factors that could affect brain function without factors influencing pedophilia. These differences should be therefore matched for socio-economic factors. The gender differences should be matched for socio-economic status as to control for this factor. Other factors that should be controlled for include age, education, height, IQ, histories of violence, number of sex offenses. Controlling for these factors would allow the researchers to if there are any brain functional differences in female and