![]() | ||||||
Blogs | Articles | Organizations | Biography | Jack's Book | Contact Information | Links |
|
Jack Sisson's TBI Blog | |
A hug is duct tape for the soul. |
Thursday, February 09, 2012Brain injuries contribute to criminal behavior, or are they a side effect?From Denver WestWord: For decades researchers have attempted to fathom how the "criminal mind" differs from that of the average citizen. Now it appears there's often one critical physiological difference -- a significant percentage of convicted felons may be suffering from impaired thinking because of banged-up brains.
A report published this week in Scientific American, drawing on surveys of prisoners in various states, finds a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that's about seven times higher than that of the general population. In fact, the figures suggest that more than half of American inmates -- close to 60 percent -- have reported at least one incident of a bad knock on the noggin in their lives, from sports concussions to car accidents to physical altercations.
Compare that to the rate of TBIs among non-incarcerated adults, 8.5 percent of whom have had at least one brain-rattling episode in their medical history. Most such incidents involve mild concussions and result in full recovery in less than a year, but it's estimated that 2 percent of Americans are currently disabled to some degree by such an injury.
It's hard to say if getting your head thumped is merely a byproduct of the criminal lifestyle -- all those bar fights and gang initiations, drunk-driving collisions, the occasional dispute with a baton-wielding police officer or pistol-whipping coke dealer -- or a contributing cause to such bad behavior. Research has shown that TBI can lead to impulse control issues, memory and processing difficulties, increased irritability and even outbursts of violence.
But such injuries can be difficult to diagnose, even in the best of medical circumstances (see the feature "Hidden Damage" for more on that point). Prison isn't the best of anything, medically speaking. Add TBI to the list of largely undiagnosed mental and behavioral problems that have led to an increasing use of solitary confinement to deal with prisoners who "act out." It's estimated that four out of every ten prisoners in solitary in Colorado is either developmentally disabled or mentally ill, a figure that's been rising steadily over the past decade.
The pioneering research on TBI in a corrections setting may ultimately lead to better alternatives to dealing with head-injured felons, rather than simply locking them down. In the meantime, though, it's not out of the question that the rough treatment some of the badly behaving inmates receive -- including the occasional head-jarring "cell extraction" procedure -- could just be adding to the problem.
Labels: brain injuries, prisoners, prisons, TBI, traumatic brain injury |
LinksTBI Film ReviewsTBI Book Reviews Traumatic Brain Injury Law Blog Brain Blog NeuroNotes Brain Blogger SoapBlox/Chicago: Protecting Our Troops Head Injury Survival Journal Losing the Physical Self Neuropsych TestsTower of Hanoi: Instructions for this popular puzzle can be viewed simply by clicking the Instructions button on that page. ArchivesMay 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 January 2009 March 2009 April 2009 December 2009 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 December 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 October 2013 ![]() |