In the news today:
Child brain scans to pick out future criminals
… studies have shown that psychopaths and criminals have smaller areas of the brain such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, both of which regulate and control emotion and behaviour. He also believes that a lack of conditioning to fear punishment, which can be measured in toddlers before disruptive behaviour is apparent, could also be a strong indicator.
Dr Nathalie Fontaine, who also spoke at the conference, argued that children as young as four exhibited “callous unemotional traits” such as lack of guilt and empathy that could also suggest future bad behaviour. Linking these features with “conduct problems” such as throwing tantrums could be a strong way to predict who could be anti-social in later life.
I read this and flashed back on a sci-fi story I read in Analog some years back. I decided to try to find it, and found that it was the two parter “The New Untouchables” by Joseph Delaney, in the September and Mid-September, 1983 issues (holy CRAP! Nearly thirty damn years ago!). Now, my memory of the story is a bit hazy (it being, after all, nearly THIRTY DAMN YEARS AGO), but the story was that a genetic basis for criminality has been discovered. And the legal system being the horrible fraud that it is, the rules have come down that those with this particular genetic quirk are “disabled” or some such… and thus cannot be prosecuted if they commit a crime. A criminal gets arrested, hauled down to jail, given the genetic test… and usually hustled right on out onto the street. What the end result in the story was, I do not recall. But over those NEARLY THIRTY DAMN YEARS, the basic idea has stuck with me. This has been due in no small part to the fact that on occasion legal systems around the world have actually used the criminals screwed up brain or belief system to mitigate or even excuse crimes.
So, now it seems that science has found physical, objective tests that can predict criminal behavior. Will these be used to excuse criminal behavior? Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, I believe it is illegal to can someone for having a disease. A genetic predisposition to criminality will likely be classified as a disease or disability. While I’d say locking ’em away when they haven’t done anything illegal would be tragically wrong, what to do with ’em when they *do* break the law? Will we have a multi-level legal system, with different punishments, perhaps because someone without the genetic quirk “should have known better?”
I’m going to have to re-read the sci-fi story…
10 Responses to “The New Untouchables”
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Something vaguely similar was in David Brin’s novel EARTH (yes, I know that Brin has some off-beat biases)
In the novel, a sort of scan can be used to determine if a person believes that life is a zero-sum game, or a non-zero-sum game. The former are treated as dangerous sociopaths and have the choice of either [a] forced to spend the rest of their lives living in a special enclave with others of their kind or [b] living in ordinary society with a special tracking device implanted in their bodies and their location being constantly monitored by the police.
ummmmm, maybe it was Brin’s SUNDIVER
This idea is an extension on the bias of social workers: to find a diagnosis so the client can be shuffled off into the budget of another department. In practice, when the county finds someone with brain damage they medicate them and hope they do no damage.
I’ve heard the idea in the distant past. I recall reading about it in the 60s, as a way to reduce the social impact of the various “revolutions” of that sad era.
>…a sort of scan can be used to determine if a person believes that life is a zero-sum game, or a non-zero-sum game.
Ah ha, if they’re a leftie of a conservative?
Ugh, leftie =or= a conservative.
Scott, your memory of Analog back issues is vastly superior to mine!
Other fictional treatments of non empathic Bad Girls are “The Bad Seed” and “The Last Seduction”, where Linda Fiorentino delivers a chilling portrayal of a woman who is just plain totally bad.
Yeah, you gotta wonder if these folks are going to be registered and medicated… for their own good, of course.
Can we start the testing in Congress?
> Can we start the testing in Congress?
I would suggest starting at the state level. For instance, announce that on this coming Thursday, a basic citizenship, economics and Constitutional knowledge test will be held at the Wisconsin state house for Wisconsin elected officials. Any such official who does not pass the test – and it will only be held once, under proctored supervision – will lose all income, health benefits and pension for the coming year.
> your memory of Analog back issues …
… is spotty. Some stories have stuck with me. others I have zero recollection of even having ever read.
IIRC, the guy that found this also did the test on himself and … found he was predispositioned for such behavior BUT he wasn’t a whichever-path. This he credited to the upbringing from his Mother.
Thus a researcher looking at the ‘nature’ part of nature vs nurture proved ‘nurture’ can overcome ‘nature’.