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Is There a "Criminal" Brain?

The prefrontal cortex of men who have antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) has 11% less gray matter (1). PET scans, which measure the uptake of glucose to determine the amount of cell activity, have shown that the prefrontal cortex is less active in those with ASPD (8). In one study, 38 murderers were tested; twelve came from bad backgrounds and 26 from good backgrounds. The subjects from good backgrounds showed 5.7% less activity in the medial prefrontal cortex compared to the subjects from bad backgrounds (8). The activity was 14.2% less than the bad background subjects in the right orbital frontal cortex (8).

These results provide a lot of evidence that the brains of those with antisocial personality are different from normal brains. The prefrontal cortex is known to inhibit the limbic system, which is an area of the brain that gives rise to aggressive behavior (8).