Biological Criminal Behavior

The Green River Killer Type of Trace Evidence Used: Paint Date of Case: 1982-1987 Location of Case: Seattle, Washington, U.S. Summary of Case: Gary Ridgway was suspected of being the Green River Killer. A microscopic search of his clothing showed that paint spheres on his clothes were identical to paint spheres on six of the victims. The paint was identified as Imron, a paint manufactured before 1984. On top of that, two of the victims related to Ridgway through DNA evidence. Ridgway confessed to the murders of 48 women to avoid the death penalty.

1. Describe and the biological and psychological factors that contribute to crime and deviance within our society today. There are many factors that suggest that abnormal human traits tend to lead someone to the life of crime. The trait theories are divided into two groups – biological makeup and psychological ideals. The biological makeup tends to say that they the physical and mental makeup of someone tends to make them either lead a life of crime or know the difference. Cesare Lombroso studied “scientific” factors of crime and came up with some very interesting theories about the mental/physical aspects of criminal traits and activities.

McLellan, F. (12/02/2006). Mental Health and justice: the case of Andrea Yates. Lancet, 368(9551), 1951-1954. doi:10.1016/S014-6736(06)69789-4

Biological factors alone are not a sufficient reason why crime occurs. An example would be looking at testosterone and adult deviance. Most studies have shown no correlation with circulating testosterone and behavior. However, there is significance to examining biological factors. The answer lies in the fact that biological explanations of crime understate the important role of social conditions. (Conklin, p 93). When looking at biological and social combined, there is a moderately strong relationship between testosterone and social integration while growing up. Social integration can be fragmented due to less social opportunities by being in lower-class status, unmarried, and an unstable work history. (Conklin, p 96).

Gary Leon Ridgway has confessed to 48 killings attributed to him. His cooperation lead to finding four sets of remains. His killings spanned from 1982 to 1998. Ridgway plead guilty to murdering 48 Green River Killer victims on November 5, 2003. Ridgway says strangling young women was his "career."

When Ridgway murdered these women he didn’t know their names. He states that he doesn’t remember their faces.

Gary Ridgeway, A.K.A, the Green River Killer, was one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S history. Over the course of two years in the 1980s nearly 50 lives were taken in the Seattle and Tacoma areas of Washington. This case was given this name because of the location of all of the bodies. Most of the bodies were dumped either in or around the Green River located in Washington. Upon discovery of these bodies, the king county sheriff department formed a task force to attempt to solve these murders. One of the interesting things the task force did was interview Ted Bundy to gain insight as to what the killer may be planning next. In 1982 and again in 2001, Gary Ridgeway, was arrested on charges that related to prostitution. This brought

The green river killer is a man known by the name of Gary Ridgeway on the surface he lead a seemingly normal life, head down a regular job and was married. Ridgeway began his murders in 1982 by murdering young prostitute who were runaways.Many of these girls were minorities. He dumped the bodies of his victims  in the Green River which ultimately gave him the name the Green River killer because he dumped all of his bodies in the same river. From the beginning of his crime spree there were many dead bodies but no good leads on who the murderer was. It wasn't until 2001 when more technology became available that the case was reopened.  The specific technology that they used to solve this cold case  was DNA. In 2003 he pleaded guilty to 48 counts

There are many perspectives in which one can analyze and understand why a person decides to commit a crime. Some perspectives are social learning theory, strain theory, classical and rational choice theory, deterrence theory, biological and psychological positivist theories, among others. However, for the purposes of this paper, the biological and psychological theories will be discussed.

The biological theories are an essential to criminal justice professionals to explain why the genetic characteristics of the human being's body chemicals and evolutionary aggressive criminal conduct have been proposed as explanations for crime; however, to distinguish criminals from non-criminals without adding the value judgment. (Bohm & Vogel, 2011) “Biological theories can be understood as a broad, science-based, anthropological approach to understanding criminality” (Swan, 2017, para. 4). It is important to understand the body type based on the functions of the brain. Therefore, there are several different methodologies to describe the physical differences between criminals and non-criminals such as physiognomy, phrenology, criminal anthropology, the study of the body types, heredity, and scientific technologies that examine the brain function and structure to give the criminal justice profession another look into an individual before a biased take.

First, psychological theory suggests that a person’s environment and past can influence their ability and desire to commit crime while biological theory suggest a person’s DNA makeup could influence their ability to commit crime. “Biological theories within the field of criminology attempt to explain behaviors contrary to societal expectations through examination of

The principles of the biological theories allow us the understanding that all biological theories should evaluate common factors that relate to each other from one biological theory to the other (Schmalleger, 2012). The first parts of the biological theory assess the importance for the theories to make a connection between criminal behavior and the human brain and a person’s personality and the studies of neurology and neurochemistry. This meaning that a person’s ability to control antisocial behavior stems from their environment and the and family genes gives the person directly into right and wrong. There is also a standard that should evaluate the connection between different groups such a sex and racial makeup that that of criminal behavior as well as human instinctive behavior (Dretske, 2014). The link between the evolutionary development of a person criminal behavior or ability to

According to the article "My Genes Made Me Do It” by Stanton Peele, Ph.D, and Richard DeGrandpre, Ph.D, “The goal of determining what portion of behavior is genetic and environmental will always elude us. Our personalities and destinies do not evolve in this straightforward manner” (Peele). Many factors can influence behavior, and behavior is not simple. It is very complex and can in some cases cause people to behave criminally. There are genetic factors that can influence a person’s behavior as well as environmental factors. All of these factors should be considered when looking at criminal behavior. The factors that affect a persons likelihood to commit a crime include genetic and environmental influences, but there are ways to prevent crime.

Behavioral neuroscience or biological psychology employs the principles of brain pathology to the study of human behavior through genetic, physiological, and developmental operations, as well as, the brain’s capacity to change with experience. Since the second world war, crime was largely attributed to mostly economic, political, and social factors, along with what psychologists termed at the time, the “weak character” of mental disturbance, and brain biology was rarely considered. However, new advances in neuroscience and technology have allowed a number of studies that link brain development, impairment, and injury to criminal violence. This emerging field of psychology explores the brain at a microscopic level, focusing studies on the roles that the brain’s neurons, circuitry, neurotransmitters, and basic biological processes play in defining and molding all human behavior.

For the most part, biological theories of crime and deviance have had an unsuccessful and undistinguished career among sociologists. The Italian physician Cesare Lombroso suggested that someone who is born criminal possesses atavism or primitive evolutionary characteristics that produced violent, savage, and apelike tendencies in humans (Goode, p. 27). In addition, biological theories of deviance see crime and deviant behavior as a form of illness due to pathological factors to certain individuals. The biological theory is another example of Charles Whitman actions. Smart, strong, and talented, Charles Whitman seemed like a perfect all-American boy stereotype.