A new post atQuartz discusses
The disturbingly accurate brain science that identifies potential criminals while they’re still toddlers... scientists are able to use brain tests on three-year-olds to determine which children are more likely to grow up to become criminals.
Hmmm. Not really. The research in question is from from North Carolina researchers Avshalom Caspi et al.: Childhood forecasting of a small segment of the population with large economic burden. It's based on a long-term study of 1,037 people born 1972-1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Neuroskeptic readers may recall that I've blogged about otherpapers based on this same cohort.
Caspi et al. report that
A segment comprising 22% of the cohort accounted for... 81% of criminal convictions. Childhood risks, including poor brain health at three years of age, predicted this segment with large effect sizes.
There's nothing new in the finding that a small proportion of the population is responsible ...
