A professor at UNM’s Mind Research Network is using MRI to view the brains of violent criminals, particularly subjects devoid of empathy or remorse, more commonly known as psychopaths.
“(Psychopathy is) clinically one of the most interesting disorders that one could study,” Dr. Kent Kiehl said. “They’re just so completely and utterly different, and they have this complete inability to understand things that we do, like feelings toward your kids or family.”
According to one of Kiehl’s latest studies, published in The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, psychopaths have subtle but profound differences in the structures of many brain regions, including those responsible for traits like aggression, impulsivity and irresponsibility. These differences influence a person to become violent or criminal, and may explain much of their behavior, he said.
“You end up having an appreciation that (psychopathy) is real,” Kiehl said. “You can say that there is collateral data that is highly related, you can convince people that the disorder is real. And then when you replicate it again and again, people can go ‘OK, this is the science in the field.’”
Lately, Kiehl said he is using his expertise to reveal why some youths are more disposed to violent crimes than others, a pursuit motivated by the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. In an effort to understand why 20-year-old Adam Lanza opened fire in a school full of children, parents of the victims approached Kiehl asking for help, he said.
He and his team imaged the brains of more than a hundred teenagers incarcerated in maximum-security facilities in New Mexico, classifying prisoners by whether they had committed homicide. His findings show that violent teenage offenders have reduced brain volume in certain regions, similar to the patterns found in adult psychopaths.
“(Teen homicide offenders) are so different, they are not developing along the same trajectory as their peers,” Kiehl said.
After careful analysis of the brain scans, Kiehl and his team were able to predict with about 85 percent accuracy which of the incarcerated youths were guilty of homicide and which were not. Additionally, Kiehl said he has previously identified increased impulsivity and reduced self-control in teenagers who have committed crimes ranging from drug abuse to violent offenses.
“I think this highlights that these misbehaviors might be some sort of developmental delay,” Kiehl said. “The child might be 16 years old, but have the impulse control of a 5-year-old.”
This research is particularly groundbreaking due in part to the impractical nature of transporting violent offenders to facilities with MRI machines, he said. Instead, Kiehl brings the equipment to them with his mobile MRI machine, an idea he got after a near-disastrous event.
“I was almost run over by a semi in Vancouver,” Kiehl explained. “When the driver stopped to see if I was alright I looked into the trailer and saw that it was actually an MRI in there. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible until I saw that”.
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It was about a decade later that he finally gathered enough resources to realize his vision, he said.
“A lot of things came together, a lot of engineering,” Kiehl said. “It’s the most advanced MRI machine that has ever been put in a trailer, the only one dedicated for doing functional brain imaging. It truly is a state-of-the-art, unique system.”
Now the mobile MRI travels around the country, visiting different maximum-security prisons and collecting brain scans. Kiehl also has a “small army” of researchers departing daily from UNM, visiting prisons and performing assessments of inmates, he said.
“Every day the goal is to keep studying and keep improving” Kiehl said.
This goal has been made easier due to the enthusiastic response his research gets from prisoners involved in the study, he said.
“They volunteer,” Kiehl said. “They like getting pictures of their brains and talking about their issues. It’s a nice break from their normal routines.”
One of the primary goals of his research, he said, is to help identify appropriate treatment options for violent offenders, both children and adults — and particularly those classified as psychopaths.
“It’s fascinating, you know, I think they can be managed. I think they can be given the skills to help them be less antisocial, to be less criminal,” Kiehl said. “I think it’s really important to educate people that even if we find a difference (in the brain), it doesn’t mean that they’re not malleable. They can change over time. We’re working really hard with treatment programs that are showing positive success.”
Lauren Topper is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com, or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
