ABSTRACT
Could there be a biological basis for repeat violent offending? According to Adrien Raine, Criminology Professor at University of Pennsylvania, the answer is unequivocally yes! Raine spent years studying the brains of violent criminals, serial killers, and psychopaths. His research findings suggest that biological dysfunctions within the human brain are causal variables of violent offending and should therefore be taken into account in our approach to crime prevention and rehabilitation.1 Can such claims indeed mediate criminal justice policy and practice? This seemed to be the case in the infamous 1979 shooting deaths of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and fellow Councilman Harvey Milk.
