The Factors in Brain Damage

“How Brain Damage, Genes, and Environment, Lead to the Germination of Killers” Many of the most watched television shows have a basis of crime, and murderers are almost always involved in these shows. What is rarely explored in these shows however is how the psychopathic killers become this way. Neuroscientist and Professor Jim Fallon has been studying the brains of psychopathic killers. He has developed three factors based on analyzing a plethora of brains to determine how psychopathic killers come to be. What this lecture helps open for exploration is why places with a small amount of violence stay that way, and violent places continue to produce killers. The first factor is brain damage. “ … This depends on when the damage occurs, it is a very precise thing. All of the killers and psychopaths had damage to their orbital cortex, right above the eyes.” All of the brains that Mr. Fallon looked at had this in common. The second factor is genetics, there is actually a gene for violence, MAOA. This gene is only on the X chromosome so it is passed from mothers. This is why men tend to be more aggressive because in females this gene is diluted . However this factor leads to the next factor. “In order for boys to show this gene they have to go through something really traumatic usually before puberty.” Fallon goes on to say that “ Either being involved or seeing violence...so, if you have this gene and you see a lot of violence it could be a recipe for disaster.” Fallon discusses that a few places in the Middle East such as Israel, so many young children are witnessing and involved with violent situations, this is one factor that makes them more prone to become violent adults and threats to other human beings. On the other hand, East Aurora N.Y, is safe, sheltered and happy for the most part. There is crime in East Aurora but not many homicides occur. With Fallon's research on the factors of a psychopath one might conclude that the overall crime rate of a place