Rick Biological Factors

Rick displays characteristics of a typical criminal who was brought up within his environment. Biological factors creates an explanation of Rick's behaviours. Biological factors are the causes and what develops criminal behaviour, there are many different aspects where biological factors will come into play when creating the foundation for a criminal or at worst a serial killer. Rick's behaviours display clear signs of risk taking, and issues caused by environmental factors that would have been from his mothers pregnancy to his early childhood. His mothers alcoholism and his alcohol use would play a key role in Ricks life due to exposure during her pregnancy and his early use. Rick also appears to be a clear candidate for the MAOA-L gene that is found amongst serial offenders. Alcohol can have a serious effect on the brains development during a pregnancy, most importantly it can cause …show more content…
This can be linked to the Interactions of the Sociomotional system that is located in the limbic system, including the amygdala and prefrontal area, and the cognitive control system located in the prefrontal and parental regions (Steinberg, 2010A, 2010b). Risk taking in adolescence can involve substance abuse, binge drinking, and impaired driving. Risk taking can be major factors that lead to delinquent, antisocial, and violent behaviours. Rick is 14 when he has dropped out of school, started using cocaine, and has gained a dependency on alcohol. This could be caused by the interactions between Rick's sociomotional system and his cognitive control systems, this is known as the dual systems model of adolescent risk taking. There is a gap between these developmental changes that causes a heightened vulnerability towards risk taking at middle adolescence (steinberg, 2010a). Rick's sociomotional system responsible for regulating his stimulation seeking would be at a high wile his cognitive