Contribution of Neuroscience to Forensic science | Criminal Investigations

Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary science that is concerned with the study of the structure and function of the nervous system. It encompasses the evolution, development, cellular and molecular biology, physiology, anatomy, and pharmacology of the nervous system, as well as computational, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscience.

Branches of Neuroscience

• Neurophysiology
• Neuroanatomy
• Neuropharmacology
• Behavioral neuroscience.
• Developmental neuroscience.
• Cognitive neuroscience.
• Systems neuroscience.
• Molecular neuroscience.

Researches mainly check out the individual’s brain activity like Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroscience helps in the diagnosis of a varied range of conditions which include mongolism, ASD, ADHD, addiction, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, system disorders like MS. Recent advances in technology have led to an exponential growth of interest during this field.

New techniques that generate markers of brain activity in vivo, such as electroencephalography (EEG), positron emission tomography (PET), and functional resonance imaging fMRI), have enabled researchers to systematically examine the neural structures and processes that are implicated in specific sorts of behaviors, including those related to crime.

Indeed, within the Criminal justice area, over the last 10 years approximately, there has been a rise in interest in neuroscience methods and their practical applications, and this has been reflected in an upsurge of research articles in academic journals, pieces in popular science magazines, and references to neuroscience findings in television crime shows.

Within the legal domain, Oxford University Press has released an influential series of books on neuroscience, law, and philosophy, examining topics like addiction, psychopathy, biomarkers, and punishment.

In forensic psychology, and to lesser extent criminology, it’s increasingly acceptable to seem to the brain and body for answers to the question of why people commit a crime.

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Role of Neuroscience in Forensics

The role of neuroscience and neurobiology more generally in forensic explanation is useful to differentiate between two major sorts of scientific explanation, etiological and compositional.

An etiological explanation aims to depict the causal processes that end in a subsequent, downstream effect.

Potential etiological factors can include a state of affairs within the world (e.g., some perceived personal failure, or perceived injustice, or loss of a loved one), or some property or trait possessed by the individuals involved (e.g., empathy failure, deviant arousal, aggressive behavior, or difficulties maintaining relationships).

 

Contributions of Neuroscience

This field has contributed to three different fields:-

• First, it can furnish us with a replacement set of methods for obtaining information about the psychological aspects of crime-related behaviors.
• Second, concepts and evidence can help us flesh out specific components of a bigger psychological-level etiological model, in order that we will understand those particular components better.
• The third, and maybe the most vital role is the explanations that can play in helping to develop and refine our psychological etiological models of crime-related behaviors.

 

Forensic Neuroscience

It may be a rapidly developing area of research and promises to yield new ways of explaining and responding to crime and its associated problems. For instance, some researchers have explored the connection between alterations in brain structure and deviant sexual preferences in males diagnosed with pedophilia.

Forensic Neuroscience and the Explanation of Crime

It is pointless developing explanatory theories of crime until you’ve got clearly described the phenomenon of interest; description should precede explanation. drag within the forensic and correctional domains is that regularly insufficient attention is paid to the present methodological requirement.

At times, the main target of inquiry is some things as vague as sexual offending or violence, or dynamic risk factors. Crimes within a specific category can vary in terms of the offenders’ motivations and intentions, their severity, and context – so focusing inquiry on a specific sort of crime is probably going to end in overly general explanations.

An important research task is to deconstruct them and identify what are phenomena requiring explanation and what are possible causal factors.

In forensic neuroscience, it’s likely to be a behavioral or psychological feature of people who commit crimes, for instance, problems with emotional regulation, cognitive biases, or empathy failures.

Theories of crime need to be supported by the identification and outline of psychological and social mechanisms that underlie problems related to crime.

These problems typically include issues like aggressive inclinations, deviant sexual desires, emotional loneliness, crime supportive cognitions, impulsive behavior, and substance dependence counting on the domain of interest.

Importance of forensic neuroscience

Neuroscience is also referred to as neural science which is that the study of the nervous system which is that the main system which controls the functions of the body. Its contribution is extremely huge as some parts of psychology, psychiatry, neurobiology with a standard link have contributions to the sector of forensic science.

Forensic science may be a field where nowaday’s criminals are very smart and may easily manipulate the case and at this place neuroscience, psychology, neurobiology plays a really important role and help in solving the cases.

 

By GV Sai Soumya

‘She has completed her Masters in Raksha Shakti University in Gujarat with specialization Biology, Serology and DNA’.