Professors from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London have found differences in the brain which may provide a biological explanation for psychopathy.

The research investigated the brain biology of psychopaths with convictions that included attempted murder, manslaughter, multiple rape with strangulation and false imprisonment.

Using a powerful imaging technique (DT-MRI) the researchers have highlighted biological differences in the brain which may underpin these types of behaviour and provide a more comprehensive understanding of criminal psychopathy.

While psychopathy is strongly associated with serious criminal behaviour (eg rape and murder) and repeat offending, the biological basis of psychopathy remains poorly understood.

Also some investigators stress mainly social reasons to explain antisocial behaviours. To date, nobody has investigated the ‘connectivity’ between the specific brain regions implicated in psychopathy.

Also, the degree of abnormality was significantly related to the degree of psychopathy.

These results suggest that psychopaths have biological differences in the brain which may help to explain their offending behaviours.

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