Question

1. Should those with a chronic history of criminal offenses be treated with psychosurgery or electrical brain stimulation? Why (or why not)?

2. What do you think of psychosurgery or brain stimulation as an alternative to the death penalty?

Answer 1

Psychosurgery

Psychosurgery has always been one of the controversial methods. It was commonly used on patients with mental disorders. It is a neurosurgery and the most popular one in the lot is lobotomy. The idea behind psychosurgery is that destroying the connections in the brain will stop the bad behaviours.

In lobotomy, the connections in the prefrontal cortex of the brain are severed. In simpler words, a small but significant part of the brain is removed. It was considered a miracle cure in the 1940s to treat mental health issues like schizophrenia, compulsive disorders, bipolar disorder, and severe depression. However, the only reason for the popularity of lobotomy was that there was no other treatment for these disorders.

Many patients undergoing psychosurgery were either paralysed or dead. The small percentage of survivors were left with a damaged personality. They lacked empathy, ability to function independently, and inhibitions. Some even committed suicide due to the dullness they experienced.

Today, lobotomy is rarely performed. Today, there are different types of psychosurgery - capsulotomy, cingulotomy, subcaudate tractotomy and limbic leucotomy. These are less invasive and mostly performed with the help of sophisticated methods like radiation or thermocoagulation. And, the side effects are much less serious in nature. Some risks are incontinence, weight gain, seizures, and decline in cognition.

Electrical Brain Stimulation

Electrical brain stimulation is a technique in which the cell membrane of the neurons in the brain are excited using electricity. It was used in mental health asylums in the 19th century as a means to treat illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It had little success in treating the patient and led to a bunch of side effects. Most common emotional side effects were anxiety, fear, sadness, and depression. Some patients experienced a decline in cognition and ended up with paraphasia, aphasia, Deja vu, and agraphia.

Today, electrical brain stimulation is used in a refined fashion to treat problems like Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.

Can psychosurgery and electrical brain stimulation help in reforming criminals?

If the goal is to bring a change of mind-set in criminals, psychosurgery will not help as it only deals with the physical part of the brain. As of now, psychologists haven’t been able to physically locate the neurons that cause people to commit crimes.

However, electrical brain stimulation may help in advanced, well-researched methods of therapy. Some scientists have found that it can reduce people's tendency to commit crimes and enhance their moral awareness. A part in the prefrontal cortex of the brain is linked to violent acts and treating this particular part with electrical current may bring a positive change in their psyche.

Even though it may prove efficient in future, experts are still exploring the biological aspect behind violent crimes. It will be a long time before a therapy using electrical brain stimulation can be implemented to rehabilitate criminals.

Psychosurgery or brain stimulation as an alternative to the death penalty

Lobotomy was criticised widely for being barbaric. Even with the elegant means used today, it comes with side effects. However, psychosurgery is a treatment. It is not a method of punishment.

Electroconvulsive therapy aka shock treatment is used to treat psychosis (detachment from reality). Even then, the patient suffers a great deal of physical pain and discomfort. However, the electric hair was associated with the death penalty in the US for the longest time. It is no longer popular as lethal injection is considered more humane.

Using shock treatment as a method of torture instead of the death penalty does not comply with human rights. It will be similar to historical practices of torture like lynching and third degree. Even the US military is prohibited by law to use electric shock to torture subjects.