Brain Scans Might Predict Future Criminal Behavior

Brain Scans Might Predict Future Criminal Behavior
www.sciencedaily.com...

The paper, which is to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, studied impulsive and antisocial behavior and centered on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a portion of the brain that deals with regulating behavior and impulsivity.

The study demonstrated that inmates with relatively low anterior cingulate activity were twice as likely to reoffend than inmates with high-brain activity in this region.

Can you just imagine this:

"Inmate Number 1242024, you are to be released tomorrow at 5 a.m. pending a MRI test to see if you're going to relapse."

"These findings have incredibly significant ramifications for the future of how our society deals with criminal justice and offenders," said Dr. Kent A. Kiehl, who was senior author on the study and is director of mobile imaging at MRN and an associate professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico. "Not only does this study give us a tool to predict which criminals may reoffend and which ones will not reoffend, it also provides a path forward for steering offenders into more effective targeted therapies to reduce the risk of future criminal activity."

I think the most important part of all this is the possible use of the knowledge gained, and creating more effective targeted strategies when dealing with criminals.

Kinda off topic:

If there's any ATS professionals that are familiar with the ACC(Anterior cingulate cortex) specifically, I was wondering if you may shed some light on depression, the ACC, error-related negativity (ERN), plasticity and maturity. There's new information coming out daily it seems, as to the roles and functions of the brain, the ACC IMO being the most fascinating.

I've spoken about this with an individual who works at the State University, in the psychology department, who runs the MRI's, sifts through data, and works specifically on depression and children. When I asked her to elaborate on the ACC, plasticity, ERN's, and maturity... her eye's light up, but couldn't really answer any questions. Which I thought was weird, but paints a clear picture as to the complexity of the brain and the difficulty that surrounds it. You could spend a lifetime studying one region of the brain and never know a thing about another region. Which sounds absurd... but it's that complex!

Anyways, I thought I'd share this information with the ATS community. Maybe in time before this gets all 'Minority Report' like.

What are your thoughts? If it got to this point(MRI's becoming standard, before releasing people from prisons), are you willing to trust a medical professional and a MRI in deciding if you are fit enough to join the public?

Not to get all conspiratorial, but... this is something FEMA would LOVE TO HAVE.

"Are they re-educated yet? Lets put them in the machine!"

en.wikipedia.org...
Anterior cingulate cortex

Originally posted by retirednature

Brain Scans Might Predict Future Criminal Behavior

I think the most important part of all this is the possible use of the knowledge gained, and creating more effective targeted strategies when dealing with criminals.

What are your thoughts? If it got to this point(MRI's becoming standard, before releasing people from prisons), are you willing to trust a medical professional and a MRI in deciding if you are fit enough to join the public?

My thoughts on this are; they may be using this technology on prison inmates (in the future); of course using them as test subjects; in order to perfect this technology.

I just have the feeling that there are many (hidden agendas) regarding this.

If this was proven it would from a admittedly pessimistic point of view endanger civil liberty's and in time due process would be abandoned leading to a possible future of enforced periodic brain scans and mandatory treatment's or euthanasia, cue big brother on steroid's, remember the old phrenology that Hitler's Nazi's believed in and that led to normal people being declared deviant and murdered, even if it is correct that will be the likely outcome.

Originally posted by caladonea

Originally posted by retirednature

Brain Scans Might Predict Future Criminal Behavior

I think the most important part of all this is the possible use of the knowledge gained, and creating more effective targeted strategies when dealing with criminals.

What are your thoughts? If it got to this point(MRI's becoming standard, before releasing people from prisons), are you willing to trust a medical professional and a MRI in deciding if you are fit enough to join the public?

My thoughts on this are; they may be using this technology on prison inmates (in the future); of course using them as test subjects; in order to perfect this technology.

I just have the feeling that there are many (hidden agendas) regarding this.

In this case, these 'test subjects" would only be subjected to MRI's which have health risks associated with them, but... staying away from 'over use' of MRI's on individuals should remove most of those risks. That's not the whole story, but yeah, IMO it would be done responsibly.

Next, there would be monitoring. How intense of monitoring, don't know. It could be as simple as giving MRI's to a large group of inmates before their released. Record the findings, and then see how many of them relapse. Although, that was pretty much done.

"The study looked at 96 adult male criminal offenders aged 20-52 who volunteered to participate in research studies. This study population was followed over a period of up to four years after inmates were released from prison."

But hey, we can never rule out abuse. Especially when it comes to inmates, government studies, and the notion of "Keeping the streets safe."

Big brother... maybe.

Where was this when Bush was elected president...

reply to post by retirednature


Start with scanning the people in power.

This makes me think of a minority report type scenario.

Thought crime, anyone?

How can they be certain that these people who test 'positive' will actually ever commit crimes?

reply to post by retirednature


mandatory testing should begin at the top
... before they get to the top

What a totalitarian dream
I imagine the illuminatti are literally drooling over the whole concept...(may even have funded the research)
Think of the future as intervals between periodic scan booth treatments....
Those whose deviance scores are too high they simply electrocute in place and re educate the rest through psychic driving......Ewen Cameron style....