Neurocriminological Approaches: Innovative Paradigms from the West Coast

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

Neurocriminology continues to offer exciting new applications of neuroscience techniques to the understanding of the biological, psychological, and psychosocial underpinnings of various forms of criminal behavior. Significant challenges exist, however, related to the study of the extreme ends of behavioral (crime) and psychological (mental illness) spectrums in the community as opposed to incarcerated settings, and novel empirical approaches are in demand. Furthermore, it is becoming more and more incumbent upon neurocriminologists to begin “humanizing” their data collection procedures, moving beyond merely “peeking under the hood” of their research participants (i.e., assessing brain, mind, and environmental functioning in the service of scientific curiosity alone), and offering whenever possible meaningful, positive, judgment-free experiences which advance both the science of criminology and enhance the lives of the individuals themselves. This panel will present four West Coast investigations applying innovative data collection methodologies to the study of brain-and-environment-based criminal behavior. Homeless individuals from a large-city rescue mission, along with an incarcerated high-profile serial killer, are the focus of these studies; and findings are considered within a biopsychosocial developmental framework for understanding criminal behavior.

Sub Unit

• Area III. Theoretical Explanations of Crime and Criminal Behavior / 1. Biological, Bio-Social and Psychological Perspectives

Individual Presentations

• A Novel Sampling Approach for Neurocriminological Research in the Community: The Long Beach Rescue Mission - Esther Kim, California State University, Long Beach; Jeremy Feiger, California State University, Long Beach; Gianni Geraci, California State University, Long Beach; Heather McLernon, California State University, Long Beach; Jennifer Ostergren, California State University, Long Beach; Robert Schug, California State University, Long Beach

• Neurocognitive Risks Following Repeated Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Predict Violent Crime in a Novel Community Sample - Jeremy Feiger, California State University, Long Beach; Jennifer Ostergren, California State University, Long Beach; Robert Schug, California State University, Long Beach

• The Biopsychosocial Developmental Timeline Approach to the Study of Serial Homicide: An Incarcerated Serial Killer - Hannah Liska, California State University, Long Beach; Robert Schug, California State University, Long Beach

• Linking the Criminal Brain and the Criminal Mind: Neuropsychological and Projective Psychological Test Performance in an Incarcerated Serial Homicide Offender - Robert Schug, California State University, Long Beach; Jeremy Feiger, California State University, Long Beach; Sara Boblak, California State University, Long Beach

Chair

• Robert Schug, California State University, Long Beach

Discussant

• Andrea Glenn, University of Alabama