Adrian Raine Public Lecture hosted by QBI and Life Course Centre

Title: 

The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime.

Abstract:

The new knowledge being gained from applying brain imaging techniques to understanding crime is creating an uncomfortable tension between our concepts of responsibility and retribution on the one hand, and understanding and mercy on the other. This presentation outlines implications of this body of knowledge not just for research on violence, but also for our future conceptualization of moral responsibility, free will, and punishment. If the neural circuitry underlying morality is compromised in offenders, how moral is it of us to punish prisoners as much as we do? Can biological risk factors help better predict future violence? And how can we improve the brain to reduce violence?

Speaker:

Adrian Raine is the Richard Perry University Professor of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He gained his undergraduate degree in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, and his PhD in Psychology from the University of York, UK. His interdisciplinary research focuses on the etiology and prevention of antisocial, violent, and psychopathic behaviour in children and adults. He has published over 400 journal articles and book chapters alongside 7 books, and has given over 350 invited presentations in 26 countries. His most recent book, The Anatomy of Violence, reviews the brain basis to violence and draws future implications for the punishment, prediction, and prevention of offending, as well as the neuroethical concerns surrounding this work. He is past-President of the Academy of Experimental Criminology, and awards include an honorary degree from the University of York (UK) in 2015 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Psychopathy from the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy in 2017.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (the Life Course Centre) is a national research centre uniquely positioned to tackle the intergenerational transmission of deep and persistent disadvantage in Australian families, and to lead the international effort on this important issue.