Evaluation: Biological Treatment for Offenders (Diet)

High sugar diets and crime
1. Moore et al found that 69% of violent offenders in a group reported eating 'confectionary' pretty much every day during their childhood. This suggests there may be a link between the two, however it would be unwise to conclude that sugar causes violent crime.
2. A high sugar diet create high glucose levels which, in turn, trigger major insulin secretions to soak these up. This leads to hypoglycaemia (a shortage of glucose) which is associated with irritability, difficulty making judgement, and in extreme cases violent outbursts.
  1. Benton found that children playing video games became more aggressive as blood sugar levels decreased, suggesting blood sugar does impact behaviour.
3. A weakness is that it is difficult to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between diet and crime. Crime is a complex activity that is unlikely to be solved by treating a single factor alone. Those in society with the poorest diets are also more likely to live in socially and economically deprived circumstances, which may be other root causes of offending behaviour. Therefore, the positive effects of an improved diet may be short lived if offenders are returned to the same circumstances following their sentencing.
Vitamins, minerals and fatty acids
1. Brain functions depend on biochemical processes, which depend on a steady supply of the right sort of vitamins and minerals. Unsaturated fatty acids, such as omega 3, magnesium, zinc and iron, as well as vitamins B, C and D are the ones that are most commonly linked to criminal behaviour.
2. The more junk food people consume the less space there is in the diet for healthier nutritional content. The lack of such nutrients has been linked to particular mental illnesses like depression, as well as behavioural problems like aggression.
3. Another weakness of improving diet as a treatment for offenders is that most studies done on the subject are geared towards aggression and anti-social behaviour only. Although many criminal acts are to do with aggression and violence, many aren't - for example, financial crimes are unlikely to be helped by a change in diet. This means that the benefits of an improved diet may not apply to particular types of offenders who did not commit an aggressive or violent crime.
Diet changes as a treatment for crime
1. To improve the diet of offenders, a baseline measure of diet is first established to find out which minerals/vitamins the offender is lacking and how this is best addressed. In most cases, a multi-vitamin will be added to the offender's diet, after which any effects on behaviour will be monitored over a certain period.
2. A strength of improving the diet of offenders is that research supports the idea that it is effective. Gesch et al found that by supplementing offenders' diets with vitamins, minerals and fatty acids is linked to a decrease in incidents of anti-social behaviour, including aggression.
  1. Schoenthaler conducted a similar experiment to this and found a 48% reduction in formal disciplinary incidents among offenders who replaced sugary drinks, cereals and desserts with low-sugar alternatives. This suggests that high sugar diets are associated with anti-social behaviour which can be controlled if sugar consumption is reduced.
  2. However, both of these studies were conducted in an institutionalised setting where behaviour is strictly enforced and controlled so we cannot know whether the effects of diet on anti-social behaviour would generalise to real life
  3. Gesch's study was extremely well-controlled and he used a double-blind procedure which minimised the effect of demand characteristics among the offenders, as well as experimenter effects amongst the staff administering the dietary pills. The groups were also matched on key variables which meant that the difference in outcome between the two groups could not be explained by other participant factors. This means his findings are valid.

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Evaluation: Biological Treatment for Offenders (Diet)

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