Copyright © 2013 by Adrian Raine All rights reserved Published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc eBook ISBN: 978-0-307-90778-3 Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-307-37884-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Raine, Adrian The anatomy of violence : the biological roots of crime / Adrian Raine Pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-0-307-37884-2 (hardback) Violence—Physiological aspects Violence—Psychological aspects I Title RC569.5.V55R35 2013 616.85’82—dc23 2012036952 www.pantheonbooks.com Cover design and illustration by Kelly & Cardon Webb Book design by Soonyoung Kwon v3.1 To my sons, Andrew and Philip, in the hope that you will never fall by the wayside as so many in this book have, but will instead move along into happy and fulfilled lives Don’t worry too much about where the train is going—just decide to get on board for wherever it will take you on life’s adventures Believe in the spirit of giving at Christmas, remember Tintin, and never forget Sammy Jankis! “Oh, Agent Starling, you think you can dissect me with this blunt little tool?” Hannibal Lecter admonishing Clarice Starling for using a self-report instrument to assess him in Jonathan Demme’s movie Silence of the Lambs Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Preface Introduction BASIC INSTINCTS How Violence Evolved SEEDS OF SIN The Genetic Basis to Crime MURDEROUS MINDS How Violent Brains Malfunction COLD-BLOODED KILLERS The Autonomic Nervous System BROKEN BRAINS The Neuroanatomy of Violence NATURAL-BORN KILLERS Early Health Influences A RECIPE FOR VIOLENCE Malnutrition, Metals, and Mental Health THE BIOSOCIAL JIGSAW PUZZLE Putting the Pieces Together CURING CRIME Biological Interventions 10 THE BRAIN ON TRIAL Legal Implications 11 THE FUTURE Where Will Neurocriminology Take Us? Notes Index Illustrations Other Books by This Author Preface It’s July 19, 2012, and it’s as hot as the hobs of hell here in Philadelphia The airconditioning in my work office conked out, so I came home to an airy upstairs library room to write this preface I should have been filming a crime documentary this afternoon with a crew from Chicago, but they had their equipment stolen this morning That’s not a surprise, though, as crime strikes all the time here in Philadelphia Yesterday, I was dealing with two police detectives—Lydon and Boyle—here at my house, which had been burgled yesterday Just what you want when you come back after midnight from Hong Kong But I live close to my data, which is one reason I reside here in West Philadelphia Looking around this upstairs library, I’m surrounded by hundreds of rare-edition books on crime and violence that the burglar didn’t take I suppose he’s not as interested as we are in what causes crime They’re not my books, mind you They belong to the people who lived here during the seventy-year period before I moved in Most belong to Marvin Wolfgang, a world-renowned criminologist who, beginning in 1969, sat and wrote in this very library room For the thirty years before that, Thorsten Sellin, another world-leading criminologist and Wolfgang’s PhD supervisor, lived here, having bought the house just seven weeks before the outbreak of World War II I am at his desk For three-quarters of a century between the two of them—professor and mentor—these intellectual giants in sociology redefined the field of criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, where I myself now work Given that remarkable criminological legacy, my mind inevitably turns to a historical perspective on the fundamental question addressed by this book Is there a significant biological contribution to the causes and cures of crime? It turns out that that idea was all the rage 150 years ago, when an Italian doctor named Cesare Lombroso broke with intellectual tradition and, taking a novel empirical approach to studying crime, tried to persuade the world of a basis to crime residing in the brain But as the twentieth century progressed, what was once an innovative viewpoint quickly fizzled out and sociological perspectives took center stage During that time no criminologist worth his or her salt would have anything to with an anatomy of violence or the biology of bad behavior Except, that is, the sociologist whose ghost lingers close to me beside the fireplace in this upstairs library overlooking Locust Street Marvin Wolfgang documented in a far-reaching historical analysis of Cesare Lombroso that never in the history of criminology has a person been simultaneously more eulogized and more condemned.1 He noted how Lombroso continues to be held up as a straw man for attack by those hostile to a biological theory of crime causation He recognized the clear limitations in Lombroso’s research, yet simultaneously saw the enormous contributions that this Italian made Toward the end of his own career, Wolfgang himself became convinced that there was—in part—a biological, cerebral basis to crime His mentor Thorsten Sellin similarly believed that Lombroso’s biological perspective, focusing as it did on the criminal rather than the crime, was unprecedented in its vitality and influence Sharing their home and library as I at this moment, I can hardly disagree with them Yet most in the field of criminology would disagree Biological research on violence was vilified in the 1970s and 1980s, during my formative years as a scientist Amid interdisciplinary rivalries the perception was that researchers like me were at best biological determinists who ignored social processes—and at worst racist eugenicists Perhaps because of a rebellious and stubborn streak running through me, that negative perspective has never deterred me throughout my thirty-five years of researching the biology of crime Nevertheless, working as I have within the confines of top-security prisons and ivory-tower universities, I have been shut off from a wider audience who might be just as excited as I am about what new insights a biological perspective can offer It is that desire to share this research with a wider audience that inspired me to write this book In that context I owe an enormous debt of thanks to Jonathan Kellerman for encouraging me to write a popular book about my work Jonathan, as one of the world’s foremost writers of crime fiction, has himself written a provocative nonfiction science book, Savage Spawn, on the causes of crime in the wake of a horrific schoolyard shooting About fifteen years ago we had lunch together Jonathan has a PhD in clinical psychology, had read and absorbed my academic work, and believed I had something important to share with others He put me in touch with his own agent, and I wrote a proposal It came to nothing At that time, no matter how I tried, I could not get any publisher interested But times changed in those fifteen years On the tails of the genome project, societies across the world have begun to realize the importance of genetic and biological factors in a whole host of processes—and not just medical conditions Serendipity struck Eric Lupfer, an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania and a literary agent at William Morris Endeavor, read a question-and-answer article about my work in our university’s magazine Eric too recognized the potential public interest in a book on the anatomy of violence, and thanks to his outreach and vision, here I am completing the book in this historic room I could not have had a more supportive, helpful agent Sincere thanks are also due to Jeff Alexander at Pantheon for his splendid edits, vision, and guidance in the final throes of my writing—the time spent with him has been magical Josie Kals and Jocelyn Miller at Pantheon provided invaluable support and help, and I am particularly indebted to my copy editor, Kate Norris, for her meticulous and careful fine-tuning of the manuscript Thanks also to Helen Conford at Penguin for her strong enthusiasm and encouragement throughout this long march Eric, Jeff, and Helen have together provided me with a wonderful opportunity for which I am truly grateful That sea change in opinion I mentioned is also filtering through into academia Leading criminologists across the world are now beginning to follow in Wolfgang and Sellin’s footsteps They are recognizing the cross-disciplinary potential of a biological approach not as a competitive challenge, but as a cross-fertilizing joint enterprise that combines social with biological perspectives Even the world’s premier sociology journal, American Sociological Review, is beginning to publish molecular genetic research on crime and violence Nobody would have dreamed that just fifteen years ago Now the new subdiscipline of neurocriminology is quickly sweeping us back to the future Friedrich Lösel, the director of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge, was a kind host to me there while I completed this book In Cambridge I benefited enormously from discussions with Sir Anthony Bottoms, Manuel Eisner, David Farrington, and Per-Olof Wikström, as well as Friedrich himself At the University of Pennsylvania, Bill Laufer worked with me to bridge my imaging research with his expertise on white-collar crime Martha Farah was pivotal in introducing me to neuroethics, while Stephen Morse has tutored me patiently in neurolaw It has been an honor to work with such extraordinary colleagues I should also thank Richard Perry, who endowed my chair, as well as Amy Gutmann, who had faith in my controversial work and hired me into her Penn Integrates Knowledge initiative Interest in the biology of violence goes well beyond academia and into the media Erin Conroy at William Morris Endeavor had masterly intuition in showing Anatomy of Violence to Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, who then obtained a pilot production commitment for it from CBS My thanks to you, Erin, and also to you, Howard, for finding something in this book to spark your interest for a new TV series; it has truly meant a lot to me So very many research collaborators, colleagues, and academic friends have helped and inspired me over the years Among these I am especially indebted in different ways to Freda Adler, Rebecca Ang, Josef Aoun, Laura Baker, Irv Biederman, John Brekke, Patty Brennan, Monte Buchsbaum, Ty Cannon, Avshalom Caspi, Antonio and Hannah Damasio, Mike Dawson, Barbra utilitarianism, in moral decisions, 3.1, 11.1 Utoeya island, Norway, youth camp massacre at, 9.1, 9.2 vagus nerve Vanderbilt University, 2.1, 4.1 van Goozen, Stephanie vegetarians Venables, Peter, 4.1, 4.2, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2 ventral prefrontal cortex, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 10.1, 10.2, 11.1 ventricles, 5.1, 7.1 verbal aggression verbal skills, 1.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 8.1, 9.1 Vietnam War, 7.1, 7.2 Villella, Giuseppe, autopsy on skull of, 1.1, 1.2, 4.1 violence attraction to author’s personal experience with biological interventions in birth complications as precursors of, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 9.1, 10.1, 10.2 and brain, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 10.1 brain damage and, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 brain malfunction in, 3.1, 5.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 10.1, 11.1 cancer compared to, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5 and control, 1.1, 4.1 death rates from decline of, 7.1, 11.1 as destiny difference in worldwide rates of early life experiences as predictors of, itr.1, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 6.1 evil and, 11.1, 11.2 evolutionary theory of evolving perspective on, prf.1, itr.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 6.1, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1, 11.1 exponential increase in family environment and genes, brain and, 8.1, 8.2 genetics and social interaction in, 2.1, 8.1 genetic survival and heavy metal exposure and heritability of, 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 10.1, 11.1 hypothetical future scenarios for ideological basis of, 4.1, 7.1 interaction of social and biological factors in, see biosocial model malnutrition and mental illness and moderation in monetary cost of, 6.1, 9.1 and neuroanatomy, 3.1, 7.1, 8.1 neurotransmitter levels and omega-3 and peak age for, 1.1, 4.1, 7.1 physical anomalies in as predominant in men, 1.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2 and proactive aggression as public-health problem, 6.1, 9.1, 11.1 recipe for schizophrenia and, 7.1, 9.1 treatment for, itr.1, 11.1 XYY chromosomes and see also crime violence prevention, biological interventions in, 8.1, 9.1 Virginia Tech massacre Virkkunen, Matti visual cortex, itr.1, 3.1, 3.2 voices, hearing of, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 11.1 “voluptuous delight” 3.1, 3.2 waist-to-hip ratio waiteri (fierce) war killing in men as predominant in political aggression and Warhol, Andy warrior gene, MAOA as Washington Post Weinberger, Linda Weinstein, Barbara Weinstein, Herbert, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 welders, heavy metal exposure in, 7.1, 7.2 “What is it?” response White, Dan white-collar crimes, 4.1, 5.1, 10.1 white matter, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 8.1 in lying, 5.1, 5.2 Whiting, Roy Widom, Cathy Wille, Reinhard Wilson, Margo Wisconsin card-sorting task, 5.1, 10.1 witchcraft Without Conscience (Hare) Wolfgang, Marvin women attractiveness of, 1.1, 1.2 evolutionary survival role for, 1.1, 1.2 fearfulness in fertility and rape of heart rate in mental illness in, 7.1, 7.2 mindfulness training in parental investment of, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 6.1 physical abuse of prefrontal cortex in prenatal education for as serial killers as sex slaves “soft” aggression in as victims of serial killers, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 viewed as dangerous World Health Organization (WHO), 4.1, 6.1, 7.1, 11.1 World Trade Center, September 11, 2001, attack on, 8.1 World War II, 6.1, 7.1 X chromosome XYY chromosomes, 2.1, 8.1 Yang, Yaling, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 Yanomamo Indians York University, 4.1, 4.2, 8.1 Young, Roland zinc deficiency, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 9.1 zygote Illustrations FIGURE 3.1: Positron-emission tomography (PET) scans showing a bird’s-eye view of reduced prefrontal functioning in murderers (top of scan) compared with controls Red and yellow indicate higher brain functioning FIGURE 3.2: Bird’s-eye view of PET scans showing reduced orbitofrontal activation (very top of scan) in the impulsive murderer Antonio Bustamante compared with a normal control FIGURE 3.3: Bird’s-eye view of functional brain scans (PET scans) of a normal control (bottom left), serial killer Randy Kraft (middle), a onetime impulsive murderer (right), and the author (top) FIGURE 3.4: Bird’s-eye view showing reduced prefrontal functioning (top of PET scan), specifically in a reactive murderer compared with a proactive murderer and a normal control Red and yellow indicate higher brain functioning FIGURE 3.5: Side view (top), head-on view (middle), and bird’s-eye view (bottom) of MRI slices showing brain regions associated only with moral decision-making (green), only with violence (red), and areas associated with both violence and moral decision-making (yellow) FIGURE 5.1: Structural MRI scan exposing the prefrontal cortex (right), and on the left a prefrontal head-on slice showing separation of neuronal matter (green) from axonal white matter FIGURE 5.4: Head-on view of the brain showing segmentation of the prefrontal cortex into gyral sectors to calculate brain volumes in those with antisocial personality disorder FIGURE 8.4: Bird’s-eye view of PET scans showing reduced prefrontal functioning (top of scan) in murderers from good homes Red and yellow indicate higher brain functioning FIGURE 10.1: PET scans showing reduced ventral prefrontal functioning in the murderer Donta Page compared with normal controls The right column shows a bird’s-eye view In the left column, you are looking head-on and slightly up at the brain ALSO BY ADRIAN RAINE The Psychopathology of Crime Violence and Psychopathy Crime and Schizophrenia ... at the bottom Perhaps not coincidentally, at the time there was much higher crime in the poorer, more agricultural south of Italy, one of the many symptoms of the “southern problem” besetting the. .. was the culprit? During that instant there in the hotel lobby, as I gazed on his torso and face, there was literally a “body of evidence” standing in front of me, a man with the anatomy of violence. .. the propensity to break the laws of the land, whatever those laws may be Second, revolutionary advances in brain imaging are opening a new window into the biological basis of crime Together these