Aberrant brain gray matter in murderers
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Aberrant brain gray matter in murderers Ashly Sajous-Turner 1,2 & Nathaniel E. Anderson 1 & Matthew Widdows 1 & Prashanth Nyalakanti 1 & Keith Harenski 1 & Carla Harenski 1 & Michael Koenigs 3 & Jean Decety 4 & Kent A. Kiehl 1,2
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Homicide is a significant societal problem with economic costs in the billions of dollars annually and incalculable emotional impact on victims and society. Despite this high burden, we know very little about the neuroscience of individuals who commit homicide. Here we examine brain gray matter differences in incarcerated adult males who have committed homicide (n = 203) compared to other non-homicide offenders (n = 605; total n = 808). Homicide offenders’ show reduced gray matter in brain areas critical for behavioral control and social cognition compared with subsets of other violent and non-violent offenders. This demonstrates, for the first time, that unique brain abnormalities may distinguish offenders who kill from other serious violent offenders and non-violent antisocial individuals. Keywords Brain imaging . Homicide . Voxel-based morphometry . Violence . Antisocial behavior
Introduction Interpersonal violence is a significant societal problem, and homicide, in particular, stands out among violent acts for its severe and absolute consequences. More than 17,000 people are murdered each year in the United States (U.S. Department of Justice: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2016) and estimates suggest the average cost per murder surpasses $17 million, including costs to victims, court proceedings, law enforcement, and loss of productivity. This sums to a staggering $255 billion dollar economic burden annually in the United States alone (DeLisi et al. 2010). These estimates, of course, A. Sajous-Turner and N. E. Anderson contributed equally to this work. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-019-00155-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Nathaniel E. Anderson [email protected] * Kent A. Kiehl [email protected] 1
The Mind Research Network, 1101 Yale Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA
2
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
3
University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI, USA
4
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
cannot account for social and emotional consequences cast around the victims, relatives, and the rest of society. The gravity and prevalence of these costs, combined with increasing understanding of the complex bio-psycho-social influences on behavior, has fostered a perspective of viewing violence and homicide as a major public health concern, and has thus motivated the examination of individual differences that promote and protect individuals from these outcomes (Reidy et al. 2015). Despite longstanding scientific interest, and its great impact on society, we still have limited knowledge of the neuroscience related to homicidal behavior. Examining the biolog
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