Citation

Darby RR. Curr. Neurol. Neurosci. Rep. 2018; 18(8): e47.

Affiliation

Department of Neurology, Division Behavioral Neurology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, A-0118 Medical Center North, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA. darby.ryan@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11910-018-0853-3

PMID

29904892

Abstract

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Criminal behavior occurs in previously law-abiding neurological patients, including patients with traumatic brain injury, focal brain lesions, and dementia. Neuroimaging abnormalities in these patients allow one to explore the potential neuroanatomical correlates of criminal behavior. However, this process has been challenging because (1) It is difficult to determine the temporal relationship between criminal behavior and neurological disease onset; (2) Abnormalities in several different brain regions have been associated with criminal behavior; and (3) It is difficult to quantify neuroimaging abnormalities in individual subjects. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent studies have begun to address these concerns, showing that neuroimaging abnormalities in patients with criminal behavior localize to a common brain network, rather than a single specific brain region. New methods have been developed to identify atrophy patterns in individual patients, but have not yet been used in neurological patients with criminal behavior. Future advances will be important for making sure that neuroimaging data is used in a responsible manner in legal cases involving criminal behavior.

Language: en

Keywords

Brain lesions; Brain networks; Criminal; Frontal lobe; Moral; Neurology