The French newspaper Le Monde reviewed an article about the relationship between brain and murder and violence. In an attempt to explain this, the study depicted the brains of prisoners and revealed a gray matter deficit in the brain of the perpetrators of the murders.

"If it is scientifically proven that the brains of the criminals are different from the brains of ordinary people, it will raise many questions, especially in the field of justice, because some will lead to the reduction of the accused's responsibility, while others will demand that the punishment be increased," said Florence Rosier.

In this context, the paper reviewed the study, published July 5 in Brian Imaging and Behavior, which shows brain abnormalities that distinguish killers from perpetrators of violent aggression or acts hostile to non-violent society.

The study was conducted in the United States in the prisons of New Mexico and Wisconsin, with the permission of the governors of these states and the written consent of each participant. The researchers examined the brains of 808 detainees using a portable magnetic resonance imaging device.

Lack of gray matter
The researchers compared three groups of men between the ages of 33 and 34, 203 of whom committed homicides, and 475 committed other acts of violence such as armed robbery, kidnapping and domestic violence, and 130 perpetrators of less violent crimes such as drug trafficking or driving under alcohol, fraud and theft.

The result - according to the newspaper - that the brains of the perpetrators of murder compared to the brains of the other two groups, showing a significant shortage of gray matter, which is a brain tissue rich in nerve cells.

This deficiency was observed in many cortex regions that play a key role in decision-making, behavior control and emotion regulation, while no difference was observed between the brains of the prisoners of the other two groups.

In the study, researchers note that there were no statistically significant differences between the three groups in terms of drug use, mean IQ, or mental moderation.

According to the psychiatrist at Montpellier University Hospital, Mathieu Lacanmber, the study showed that there is no specialized brain area in the killing, nor is there a "crime gene." He adds that the defects observed in the gray matter are similar to those found in people who are victims of abuse or neglect But this does not mean that children who suffer from abuse or violence will become murderers.

Diluted circumstances
The author says that this study remains limited, of course, despite its importance, because, for example, it did not include a group of people who did not commit any crime.

Moreover, the authors of the study did not distinguish between criminals who were intentionally killed and premeditated, and those who were killed as a result of an impulse reaction. The question that remains to be found is the reasons for this lack of gray matter among killers.

At the judicial level, one researcher, Jean Desetti, has hoped that the shortcomings observed in the brains of killers would find mitigating circumstances in trials, especially when it comes to the death penalty.

In the United States, the Supreme Court and the lower courts have already expressed explicit reservations to condemn criminals suffering from brain abnormalities, while some believe that the brains of killers can not be changed, so they should be imprisoned for life unless treatments are developed to heal those brains.