Journal of Law and Criminal Justice

Neuroscience as Revival on Lombroso’s Theories
di Laura Zavatta

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to reflect, once again, about the dilemma of the existence of free will, and about the widening of the sphere of its implications from the legal and philosophical field to that of Neuroethics. This science tries to solve the problem of the imputability trying to understand whether a man is free to self– determination or if his conduct is inevitably influenced by the morphology of his brain and by the characteristics of its genes. The solution of these problems is essential to help the judge to decide on the criminal responsibility of the offender. Who committed a crime can be held responsible for his actions when a brain disease is detected? It is also necessary to solve the problem, that Lombroso had already posed nearly a century and a half ago, about the treatment of the ‘born criminal’: if he must be punished using the tools of the law or if he must be treated with solutions and adequate medical facilities. According to recent studies, the gene of crime may lie in the prefrontal cortex, area of the body where you can check if a person is destined to become a future criminal. This alarming theory has been formulated after extensive studies carried out on children, in which, according to some researchers, early signs of deviance could be identified.

Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jlcj.v3n1a8