What is on my mind? The Law, Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis

In criminology, we can observe a return to biology when we are trying to explain why someone has committed a crime. Neuroscience and genetics are the two sciences that seem to offer new understanding of criminal behaviour. This paper, however, argues that our fascination with these two sciences forgets the power of fantasy when we are searching for the question of what makes a criminal. With the help of psychoanalysis, the paper shows that criminal behaviour is far more complex than a set of genes or the neurons of our brain. The paper also points out that the turn to biology often prevents us from thinking through the influence of the “social” on the psychological make of the individual.