Compassion of mental crime

The psychic criminals are still compassionate, but that sympathy is only 'turned on' at will, not automatically programmed like a normal person.

Scientists from the Social Brain Laboratory in Amsterdam (Netherlands) found that psychopaths were not "broken" by emotional nerves as people thought. Instead, they can still choose objects to empathize with, meaning to arbitrarily use their emotional abilities. This may explain why the perpetrator is so heartless, but still able to be easily intimidated when interacting with members of society. To draw this conclusion, the team of experts studying crimes has been condemned, by analyzing their psychological developments when watching recorded videos. The results showed that, although psychiatric criminals still have compassion, they can easily harm others because they do not automatically feel pain when they see their victims writhing.

Metamorphic character Hannibal Lecter in the movie The Silence of the Lambs - (Photo: Reuters)

Offenders diagnosed with mental illness are a frightening threat to society, as they always tend to harm people, and are willing to repeat criminal acts if released. Another study, analyzed through brain scans, showed that the ability to empathize with a psychiatrist was significantly reduced when witnessing the pain of others. But when asked to recognize the feelings of the opposite person, they can trigger their own compassion. However, it is still unclear the mechanism of 'slip' of sympathetic ability in the criminal with mental problems. The research leader, Professor Christian Keysers explained, is like the doctor Hannibal Lecter in the film The silence of the sheep , the mental criminals are often locked up in prisons that have a dark security level. Many, where there are no advanced technology devices to study their brains, like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The transfer of objects to science centers needs to ensure there is a tight escort of security forces, which most judicial systems are not ready to respond to.

However, the Dutch judicial system seems like an exception. This is also the first time a judicial network in the world actively cooperates with psychological survey institutes and provides research objects in an effort to understand psychopaths. A total of 18 mental crimes were transferred to the Groningen lab, where Dr. Keysers's team was able to use the MRI device while tracking prisoners' reactions and comparing them to healthy ones. According to a report on specialized Brain, experts say the human brain is equipped with what scientists call 'mirror systems' . The small brain lobe in front, when activated, can make people feel emotions like pain and disgust. Scientists specializing in the brain detect when normal people see other people moving their bodies, or have emotions, similar cortical regions are activated as well. In other words, the activities or feelings of others become their own.

There is a theory that people with mental problems may for some reason break the 'mirror system' , making them unable to sympathize with the victim. However, the results show that psychiatric offenders still activate this system, but much less than normal people. That makes it easier for them to hurt others.