Journal of Law and Criminal Justice

At the Origin of Crime - Current Developments in Neuroscience
Laura Zavatta, Rocco Cantelmo

Abstract
A recent experiment on the human brain has aroused the interest of the scientific world, showing that, despite the fact that the brain knows the boundary between right and wrong, good and evil, every individual can easily get used to commit criminal acts. For this reason, in a civil society, a system that continuously reinforces the awareness of the boundary between good and evil that already exists in each of us is indispensable. According to some philosophers, every member of society acquires the habit of behaving in accordance with what is imposed by social morals and prescribed by law in order to enjoy individual freedom in a peaceful coexistence. But for such coexistence to be possible, all members of society, without distinction, must be subject to the rules of the legal order, respecting the laws issued by the state authorities that have a duty to fight crime for the protection of communities. However, although the law induces people to behave correctly, it is not possible to definitively change selfish human nature and - as some neuroscientists have recently discovered - free it from the influence of certain anomalous tendencies or real brain diseases.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jlcj.v7n2a7