The Societal Costs of Failing to Intervene After a Pediatric Brain Injury
Children suffering from brain damage who have been born to stable, financially secure, emotionally well-adjusted parents have the best prognosis for maximizing their potential. Unfortunately, there are many children with brain damage who are born to parents without the financial resources or connections to obtain the physicial and psychological rehabilitation that their chidren desparately need.
Additionally, some children recieve brain injuries due to fetal alcohol syndrom, several physical abuse, or for other reasons than can be directly traced to their parents as the cause. Often, these children not only fail to obtain the necessary rehabilitation, but also are victims of severe child abuse, and are at risk for inherited psychiatric disorders, and nutured psychological discorders.
Only 6% of the population causes the vast majority of violent crime - about 70%. (See 1 below). Three elements are almost always present in death row inmates who have been condemned for committing murder before they were eighteen: (1) neurological brain damage; (2) child abuse; and (3) a psychiatric or psycholgocial disorder that involves paranoia. (See 2 below). Child abuse generates base instincts for violence. Frontal lobe damage removes the inhibiters that would normally keep a person with base instincts for violence from acting upon those instincts. Mental illness causes a misperception of the existence of a threat, prompting a response that is out of line with the reality of the situation.
Clearly, the majority of children who suffer brain damage, or have psychological/psychiatric ilnesses will NOT commit crimes of violence. Similary, 90% of children who were victims of abuse do not commit crimes of violence and do not abuse their children. Unfortunately, however, a frightening number of the people currently imprisoned, whether in juvenile delinquency facilities, adult prisons, or on death row, have the trifecta of neurological damage, child abuse damage, and a paranoia related mental illnesss.
What can we do to intervene? We can improve upon the resources available to diagnose and treat pediatric brain injury. The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation is leading the effort in this area. We can continue our fight against child abuse with early intervention services as a way to remove the base instincts for violence created in abussive households.
1. (M. Wolfgang, "Delinquency and Violence from the Viewpoint of Criminality," in The Neural Bases of Violence and Agression, W.S. Fields and W.H. Sweet, Eds. (St. Louis, Mo.: Warren Green, 1975), pp. 456-93).
2. Pincus, Jonathan H, M.D. Base Instincts. What Makes Killers Kill? (W.W. Norton & Company 2001).
Additionally, some children recieve brain injuries due to fetal alcohol syndrom, several physical abuse, or for other reasons than can be directly traced to their parents as the cause. Often, these children not only fail to obtain the necessary rehabilitation, but also are victims of severe child abuse, and are at risk for inherited psychiatric disorders, and nutured psychological discorders.
Only 6% of the population causes the vast majority of violent crime - about 70%. (See 1 below). Three elements are almost always present in death row inmates who have been condemned for committing murder before they were eighteen: (1) neurological brain damage; (2) child abuse; and (3) a psychiatric or psycholgocial disorder that involves paranoia. (See 2 below). Child abuse generates base instincts for violence. Frontal lobe damage removes the inhibiters that would normally keep a person with base instincts for violence from acting upon those instincts. Mental illness causes a misperception of the existence of a threat, prompting a response that is out of line with the reality of the situation.
Clearly, the majority of children who suffer brain damage, or have psychological/psychiatric ilnesses will NOT commit crimes of violence. Similary, 90% of children who were victims of abuse do not commit crimes of violence and do not abuse their children. Unfortunately, however, a frightening number of the people currently imprisoned, whether in juvenile delinquency facilities, adult prisons, or on death row, have the trifecta of neurological damage, child abuse damage, and a paranoia related mental illnesss.
What can we do to intervene? We can improve upon the resources available to diagnose and treat pediatric brain injury. The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation is leading the effort in this area. We can continue our fight against child abuse with early intervention services as a way to remove the base instincts for violence created in abussive households.
1. (M. Wolfgang, "Delinquency and Violence from the Viewpoint of Criminality," in The Neural Bases of Violence and Agression, W.S. Fields and W.H. Sweet, Eds. (St. Louis, Mo.: Warren Green, 1975), pp. 456-93).
2. Pincus, Jonathan H, M.D. Base Instincts. What Makes Killers Kill? (W.W. Norton & Company 2001).