What is the main factor driving a person to commit a crime? Classical law doctrine assumes that this is related to a person's "free will". The perpetrator chose between committing the crime or not. It is thought that if he did not want it, he would not have committed the crime. However, some trends do not accept the classical view and link criminal behavior to other factors. For example, biological positivism, which was effective in the second half of the 19th century, claims that the main cause of criminal behavior is the biological characteristics of the perpetrator. According to this trend, one does not choose to be guilty. The criminal has already been born as a criminal organism. One cannot be guilty, born guilty, will say biological positivists. This trend fell out of favor and was put on the dusty shelves of the history of science, with the realization that most of its arguments had no scientific basis. However, thanks to neuroscience, a multidisciplinary research field whose star started to shine in the last quarter of the 20th century and whose influence gradually became stronger, questions were asked whether biological positivism was revived for a while. This talk will focus on aspects of neuroscience research to explain criminal behavior and discuss the possibility that such a process could drag us into a dystopian world.
Participation of the Law and Social Sciences Faculty students and Human Rights activists in the Open Courses program is envisaged.
Open Courses -16 / Prof. Dr. Ozan Erözden
Subject: Who Is the Prisoner of Destiny Called? Biology of Criminal Behavior
Date: 08 May 2021
Time: 16.00
The Open Lesson will be held through the Zoom application.
Click on the link to get the zoom link and details. You can access the registration form here.