ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the experimental design generally used to research brain dysfunction and criminal behaviour. It assesses the known correlates between brain functioning and crime subtypes and analyzes the opportunities and challenges inherent in translating neuroscientific findings from the laboratory to the criminal justice system. The vast majority of those who are mentally ill do not engage in crime. In addition to underscoring the complex interplay of non-neurological factors associated with criminality, this finding speaks to the challenge of isolating the neurobiological bases of violent behaviour. Non-homicidal offenders are a heterogeneous group, and studies have defined their behavior along a continuum from aggression to criminal battery. In 1998, Adrian Raine and his colleagues published findings from research that explored differences in the brain functioning of affective and predatory murderers. A 2012 study by Raine and colleagues, however, focused upon a destructive but typically non-physically violent criminal subtype: the white-collar criminal.
