The link between brain injury and crime....both disturbing and interesting

"Freedman and Hemenway (2000) found that 12 of 16 death row inmates had a history of brain damage, in many cases due to multiple insults and inflicted by caregivers and family members.
The link between brain injury and crime is thought to be damage to the frontal lobes of the
brain. Frontal lobe injury has been associated with loss of control over sub-cortical and limbic
structures involved in primitive impulses (Grafman et al, 1996). Lesions in these areas may influence functions such as social perception, self-control and judgement, as well as emotions and mood. Thus,the link between brain injury and crime may reflect the effects of brain injury-related cognitive and emotional impairments on behaviour. An individual may misperceive elements of a situation, make poor social judgements, overreact to provocative stimuli, and lack the communication skills to verbally negotiate conflict or strike out impulsively." **


This is being taught in university level criminology courses and psychology courses.  It sounds harsh.  Especially when I compare it to my son's experience with a traumatic brain injury.  Or does it?......
When I try to simply sum up the neurological effect that multiple concussions have had on my son I will often say that he lost the ability to: regulate his emotions, control his anger, problem solve, understand consequences, retain new information, as well as suffering short term memory loss.  Not to mention the physical symptoms he experienced, the daily headaches, dizziness, general malaise, which can add to the neurological stress when you are dealing with them daily. 

So, is it really that far off what this study is suggesting?  I think not.  I am not saying that my son, or anyone else suffering from a brain injury, post concussion syndrome or head trauma (all the same thing btw!), is going to end up a criminal or behave in any criminal manner.  But, I do agree that the above impairments are part of a brain injury.  And I suppose that if not identified, acknowledged or treated  in a young person, these impairments could have dire effects on that person's future.  

I have to admit that I do recall a conversation with Jake about the need to control his anger.  We were talking about his emotional explosions occurring more at home than elsewhere, but if he was not able to control his anger at home then what would happen if he found himself in a situation elsewhere that made him angry.  What if he had a rough day, went out to a party with friends and ended up in a confrontational incident with someone.  Would he be able to control that rush of emotions and stop the anger and agression from taking over?  What if he could not?  And what if for some reason he had some sort of weapon on him? Not that I really think he would be capable of hurting someone maliciously, let alone carry a weapon, but there had been recent news stories of teens being killed or hurt by one senseless teen who happened to have a knife at a party, so there were grounds for the conversation.  As we talked it through, Jake decided it was "just stupid" for a teen to even go out anywhere with a knife, especially if they were drinking, because they could be asking for trouble.  But my point to Jake at the time was that he had to get his anger under control before it took control of him.  
And maybe that is what was missing for the individuals referred to in this study, they did not, or could not, take control of their "impairments".

I am appreciative of any research done on brain injury and the awareness it creates, even if it is shed in a negative light.  At least this research gives cold hard facts to those who do not understand brain injury, and can address the fact that it is not something to be taken lightly.  I am also appreciative that personally we have been able to move beyond the emotional outbursts through therapy and homeopathic treatment (more on that later), and I know that Jake's future is not one where I need to be concerned about his impairments resulting in such criminal activity. 






** 
http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/ijcst/article/viewFile/35161/31901
International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, Vol. 5, No.1, June 2012, 864-870