NEUROSCIENCE SOLVES GUN CRIME
psychologist drew westen selectively reviews evidence about mental health, brain development & violent gun crime in the usa. his conclusion that frontal lobe development stops gun crime is strong, but the evidence presented is weak
reported in: The Washington Post by Drew Westen on 5th April 2021
this story was in episode 7 #gun #control #development #frontal #lobe
the error bar says
psychologist professor Drew Westen reports in The Washington Post that people aged 16-24 commit half of all murders in the USA, mostly gun-related. this, he argues, is because young people are more vulnerable to mental illness, & their frontal lobes are under-developed
does frontal lobe development stop gun crime?
the article contains a lot of claims & links to a wide variety of sources. some claims are not supported, some links don't work & some of the data are quite old. but, in general, it looks correct, at least, to say that most murderers are young men
but since most of the victims of murder are also young, older non-murderers may have no more developed frontal lobes than younger murderers. instead, they may just have survived this most dangerous period of life
no sources are provided for the frontal lobe development claim, nor for the recommendations of neuroscience on the minimum age for gun ownership. no alternative explanations are considered
