12. Feb. 2010. – 12:27:04
The debate about whether "nature or nurture" has
the most effect upon our personality and behaviour has been around in its current
form for over a century. Whilst the Freuds and Jungs of this world relied upon
dreams, memories and ephemeral considerations of family life, behaviourists,
physiologists, bio-chemists, biologists, anthropologists and geneticists
amongst others are increasingly opening up opinions of what makes us what we
are. The upshot of their researches is that we are the product of the
electrical and bio-chemical reactions within our brains. If this research
continues to discover evidence of what could be termed pre-determination then
what lessons does it have for our current thinking on an individual`s innocence
until proved guilty in court of law?
The first Intellectual Disabilities and Criminal Justice
Conference, organised by the University of Chester Faculty of Health and Social
Care will take place on July 8, 2010. It will analyse the relationship between
intellectual disability and the criminal justice system.
For "intellectual
disabilities" it is easy to substitute "low IQ" and to progress
to a situation where in the name of "crime prevention" action is
taken against those whose "likely criminal behaviour" is considered
to have breached a threshold. The film "Minority Report" starring Tom
Cruise explored this subject with some critical success. What the academics
conclude at Chester will make for interesting reading.
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