Psychological Explanations - Biological Explanations, pregnancy and birth complications

Do pregnancy and birth complications effect criminality?

Studies have found a correlation between increased minor physical abnormalies and

increased antisocial behaviour in children (Raine 1993). Associated with foetal

neural maldevelopment in the last three months of pregnacy (low seated ears,

adherent ear lobes, furrowed tongue etc.). Medrick and Kandel (1988) minor

physical abnormalities related to violent offending (assessment of a group of

tweleve-year-old boys who were followed up nie years later). Medrick and Raine

(1997)found that minor physical abnormalities and family adversity led to high rates

of adult offending. Arsenault et al. (2000) found that minor physical abnormalilities

assessed at fourteen assessed at age fourteen predicted to violent delinquency at age

seventeen in one hundred and seventy males and not to non-violent deliquency.

There is a significant…