Criminal Minds - Exhibition Proposal
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Transcript of Criminal Minds - Exhibition Proposal
Criminal minds
Proposal for the Wellcome Collection Temporary Exhibition Space
Emma Bornebroek and Margaux Calon
Criminal Minds
Emma Bornebroek and Margaux Calon
Proposal for the Wellcome Collection Temporary Exhibition Space
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Table of Contents
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Introduction........................................... Aims and Objectives.............................. Floor Plan and Content Overview......... Text......................................................... Mise en Scene........................................ Mood Board....................................... Introductive/Conclusive Space.............. Room 1 – A Crime?.................................. Definitions.......................................... What If?.............................................. Room 2 – Criminals?............................... Killer Instincts.................................... Criminal Subconscious...................... Corrupted Minds............................... Room 3 – Causes??................................. Early Criminology............................... Free Will............................................. Causes and Correlates....................... The Biology Underneath................... Room 4 – Cure or Conviction?............... Preventing Crime............................... Science in the Courtroom................. Towards a Cure?................................. Events..................................................... Evaluation.............................................. Fold Out Map.........................................
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Criminal Minds – The Exhibition
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Introduction Whether it is the recent attack in Woolwich, Jack the Ripper or the Columbine High School Massacre, horrific events often seem to raise the question of why certain members of society commit unspeakable crimes? And as understanding something is often the best way to start dealing with it, asking this question makes sense. However, in addition to attempting to understand, Western society simply seems to be fascinated by crimes and criminals in general. Crime series such as Dexter and NCIS are ever popular, and media coverage of criminal cases is vast, testifying our horrific voyeurism. In some regards, this attention is problematic, as it is often stereotypical and contributes to a narrow perception of crime. In reality, the subjects of crime and criminality are complex. They rely on cultural and philosophical concepts, calling for a reflection on the nature of society and individual. Besides the cultural side, comprehending crime has also increasingly become a topic of science. Especially medicine is now making steps towards understanding crime by prying apart the complex biological contributions to our criminality. Such understanding could have important implications for our ideas about crime. Given these developments, we feel it is important to provoke a discussion about crime that considers all the different aspects that relate to it, including science, society, professional fields, and of course, criminals themselves. This discussion would be particularly relevant to the Wellcome Collection as it puts a the biomedical aspects of understanding crime in a larger social, cultural and historical context, providing the 'incurably curious' with insights into different ideas and with new ways of thinking.
Aims and Objectives Our aim is to invite people to challenge their assumptions about criminality. To allow people to go beyond society’s often black and white perception between bad and good, criminals and citizens, insanity and normality. Within this, our sub-‐aim is to raise the attention on the fact that science can play a role in challenging society’s ideologies. In this, we feel it is possible nor desirable for us to assert what their should replace their current assumptions with by providing 'answers'. First of all, there are no clean answers within science and philosophy, and secondly, the idea of crime depends on each individual's opinion on society and morality too much. Instead, what we intend to do is to is ask questions and provide visitors with the elements that may help them formulate their own questions and eventually, their own answers. To achieve this, we aim to adopt a number of different strategies. First of all throughout the exhibition, we will provide visitors with elements of different sides and aspects of the issues at hand. Secondly, the interpretative material will often ask questions. Thirdly, we will incorporate interactive that stimulate people to voice their opinion or reveal their behaviours on subjects like the subjectivity of the notion of crime, human’s potential to behave as criminals or the assessment of a criminal’s responsibility. To engage visitors into an introspective reflection in an effective way, our exhibition progresses from the general to the particular. To start, we want to provide visitors with handles to consider the idea of criminality. This will be done by first considering what is defined as a crime in different cultures and historical periods. Following this will be a consideration of how philosophy and psychology approached the question of the human’s criminal nature. These two aspects then act as a contextual introduction into the areas of the exhibition that address the more specific question of the biological and environmental causes of criminality, and the ambiguous role that science plays in criminological studies.
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Text
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The structure of our exhibition is such that it doesn’t need too much text to make sense. As we intend to induce the visitors to reflect on their perception of criminals and investigate the criminal minds we don’t want text to be too invasive, distracting and directing. However, it is important to provide information; therefore labels will give details about the context of the objects and for star objects, the visitor could access a larger amount of information on digital tablets and leave comment, as is done at the Natural History Museum in the Treasures Gallery.
Hierarchy Exhibition introduction: 70-‐100 words Theme: 30-‐50 words (raise topic, ask question) Sub-‐theme: 50-‐70 words (information about each subthemes) Object label : 10-‐50 words (anecdote or history, explanations when suitable Examples Exhibition introduction: 100-‐150 words Whether it is the recent attack in Woolwich, Jack the Ripper or the Columbine High School Massacre, horrific events often provoke debate of why certain members of society commit unspeakable crimes. But for most of us, newspapers headlines and crime series are the only elements we have to make sense of criminal behaviour. This exhibition is an invitation to question our conception about criminality and its interaction with society and science. Theme: 30-‐50 words (raise topic, ask question) Cultures in different part of the world and of the history have different ways of defining what a crime is. But what we all have in common as a humankind is our potential to be violent and harm others. Is it the nature of human to be criminal? Sub-‐theme: 50-‐70 words (information about eact subthemes) From the content of our genes and the lessons of evolutionary biology, it has become clear that nature is filled with competition and conflicts of interest that eventually lead to violent and criminal behaviour. This subsection explores the theory of the “killer ape”, suggesting that humankind is naturally evil and that only civilization prevent us from acting like beasts. Object label : 10-‐50 words (anecdote or history, explanations when suitable) Human skull bearing Homo neanderthalensis feature with cut marks from butchering with a flint stone. -‐ 35 000 BC, Les rois Cave, Aurignac, France
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Mise en scene
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Overall Atmosphere and Inspiration Our aim is to create an atmosphere that is introspective and intimate yet clear, thereby departing from the cliché of the gruesome and sensationalist 'haunted house'.
When creating the ideas for our mise en scene, we kept in mind the way the exhibition Death: a self portrait managed to deal with a dramatic subject by setting a cosy and intimate atmosphere, and also took inspiration from the Brain exhibition mise en scène.
Colours The colours generally associated with criminality are black and red. However, this colour scheme would be too stark for our more broad-‐minded approach of the subject. In order to fit with our intentions, we adopted shades of grey, rather than black as the main colour, and a spectrum of four warm reds from purple-‐red to brown-‐red for highlights.
Use of Glass Walls, cases and other divisions will be primarily made of glass. The use of this material will give the visitor the opportunity to visually connect the different parts of the exhibition, thereby strengthening the harmonious flow and interconnection between the rooms. On a more metaphorical level, we chose to use glass wall and cases to depart our exhibition from the dichotomy in and out-‐ in and out of jail and of society.
Use of Glass
Lightings General lighting in the rooms will be of normal levels, except for some parts where a specific atmosphere wants to be created: for example, the subcategory ‘a criminal subconscious’, dealing with psychology, will require dimmer lights, and the majority of the 'causes?' room will be more brightly lit. In addition, spot lighting will be used on certain objects placed in front of a dark background in order to connote a piece of evidence, and also create extra shades of grey. Lastly, some specimens will be singled out with a spotlight in order to emphasis a certain aspect or to guide the visitor in a precise direction.
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Mise en scene
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Match with existing structures The general layout of the temporary collection space particularly fits our subjects. Indeed, we like the dichotomy between the bright wooden floor and the dark industrial ceiling as it acts like a metaphor of our approach to the subject : between brightness and darkness is our exhibition, a grey area playing on shades and light, walls and open spaces.
Entrance Outside the temporary collection space, we will use the glass panelling as a way to advertise the exhibition and catch people’s attention with a large grey panel that shows the title of the exhibition and the logo.
Logo The Criminal Minds Exhibition Logo is a commissioned piece of art with multiple layers. At fight sight, it seems to be simply a brain in the shades of the colours of the exhibition. This in itself would fit, as minds are often directly linked to brains. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that the lines that make up the brain are forensic body shapes. Firstly, this matches the theme of crime, and secondly, the use of many body shapes, or people, matches with the idea that society also has a big role to play in defining crime.
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Introductive/Conclusive Space
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Match with existing structures The general layout of the temporary collection space particularly fits our subjects. Indeed, we like the dichotomy between the bright wooden floor and the dark industrial ceiling as it acts like a metaphor of our approach to the subject : between brightness and darkness is our exhibition, a grey area playing on shades and light, walls and open spaces.
Introductive/Conclusive Space Upon moving through the entry doors, the visitor will first be faced with a big curved wall that displays the exhibition title. Directly at the start, there will be an interactive which invites visitors to write on a touchscreen what words “criminal minds” connotes to them, and to indicate whether they have already seen the exhibition. Moving slightly further into this space, two word clouds are projected on the wall that enables visitors to compare people’s vision of the subject before and after the exhibition in a snapshot. Within the same area, 'teaser' questions relating to the exhibition content will hang from the ceiling on the way to the entrance of the first room. We hope that this explicit self-‐questioning, together with the time it takes to walk from the entrance and interactive to the entry to the first room, will allow people to start thinking about criminal minds before coming up close with any of the material in the exhibition. Also, this introductive conclusive space will contain windows to each part of the exhibition, to arouse curiosity for new visitors or allow recollection for those who have gone through the exhibition. Furthermore, this room will include a small seating area with a number of books related to the exhibition, for those visitors who are interested in finding out more.
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Room 1 – A Crime?
Introduction To explore criminal minds, you first need to define what crime is. On first thought, this might seem unproblematic. After all, we all recognise it in the media, and it is even written down black on white in extensive law books. However, on a closer look, a definition of crime might not actually be so unproblematic. By showing how definitions of crime vary over space, time and circumstances, this room invites the visitor to question any preconceived notions of crime they might have. In addition, this room might also make people wonder why people commit crimes, thereby creating anticipation for the rest of the exhibition.
Subcategories Definitions -‐ In Our Media -‐ In Our Law -‐ In Law Abroad -‐ In Past Law -‐ In Religion What if? -‐ Official -‐ Incapable Criminal -‐ Justified
Display This room, and every following room, starts with an introductory panel that raises the questions addressed in this area. After this, the visitor will move from areas exploring crime in media and law into into a spacious gallery that displays different religious art relating to crime, before ending in the subsection that asks visitors about if certain acts are crimes in different circumstances. Though the from one section to another is relatively linear, people can choose their own areas of interest within the sections.
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Introduction This subsection deals with definitions of crime and non-‐crime in different contexts, starting from the mostly familiar and uniform moving into the more unfamiliar and variable. It starts by giving examples of what crime is according to the mass media, thereby giving an indication of commonly held notions. Next it deals with crime as defined in our law, law abroad, and past law. This section ends with an exploration of definition of crime in different religions.
Subtheme 1a - Definitions
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Area A – In Media News outlets extensively cover crime, and thereby both reflect and inform common notions of what a crime is. This area displays such media coverage of crime, allowing people to come into the mindset of thinking about crimes through familiar territory, and potentially becoming stimulated to think about the minds behind these crimes. Exemplar Objects -‐ newspaper coverage of Boston Marathon Bombing, London Bus Bombing, Serial Killer 'Dr Death', Serial Killer Couple and the Great Train Robbery -‐ news show clips of similar stories
Area B – In Law B1-‐ In our law Law, by definition is the black and white version of what a nation has decided is criminal. Therefore, our own law gives a good starting point to allow people to explore what, technically speaking, is a crime
Exemplar objects -‐ collection of modern british law books, shelved in a bookcase-‐like manner, and opened on relevant pages -‐ tablets that allow visitors to explore the law books further, with preset options for exploring prominent cases such as murder. -‐ short information bites on what punishments were given in different circumstances, to give a more tangible indication of how 'criminal' a deed is thought to be.
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Subtheme 1a - Definitions
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B2-‐ In law abroad Though law might be black and white, it is not black and white everywhere. Considering contemporary laws from other countries therefore provides a first starting point to suggest that notions of crime might not be fully universal. This case is located right by the 'in our law' case to allow comparison. Exemplar Objects -‐ collection of foreign law books, opened on pages that deal with similar cases, highlighting similarities and differences. -‐ tablets that allow visitors to explore the law books further, with preset options for exploring prominent cases such as murder. -‐ short information bites on what punishments were given in different circumstances, to give a more tangible indication of how 'criminal' a deed is thought to be.
B3-‐ In past law Definitions of crime and thoughts on how criminal certain actions are have been fluid over time. Through old law books, reports of cases, and punishments that were deemed appropriate at the time, this case explores the notions of crime in the past. Besides looking at what was criminal, it also considers what types of activities were not considered criminal at the time, with a prominent example being slave trade. Exemplar Objects -‐ Old law books and reports: Year Book Literature – Reports of pleadings in cases decided in English courts from the reign of Edward I (1272-‐1307), to that of Henry VIII (1509-‐47). Includes “black-‐letter editions” published between 1480 and 1680, modern editions, and abridgments. -‐ Canon law – Approximately 2000 manuscripts and early editions of the ecclesiastical law of the Roman Catholic Church; includes numerous editions of the Decretum Gratiani, first compiled about 1140 by an Italian monk -‐ Incunabula – Includes more than 300 volumes dealing with Roman, Canon, feudal, and French customary laws published in cities throughout continental Europe and England before 1501 in Latin and vernacular languages of the period
-‐ old punishment devices -‐ slave trade related leaflet and painting
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Subtheme 1a - Definitions
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Area C – In Religion For many people, both in the past and present, religion forms a guideline on what is good and bad. This area explores these notion from within different religions with artworks each displayed individual on the walls. Besides these artworks, this section also has a centrepiece that contains a maya vessel with depiction of human sacrifice, to emphasise the point that certain things we would now consider criminal, were sometimes not considered criminal in religion and in fact done for religion. Exemplar Objects -‐ Christianity: Hieronymous Bosch's, The Seven Deadly Things and the Four Last Things -‐ Buddhism: the Pancha Sila, the five precepts of morality -‐ Islam: precepts as set forth in the Koran -‐ Maya: vessel with depiction of human sacrifice
C1
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Introduction In the end, what is a crime to someone will depend significantly on the circumstances. This part of the room poses examples to the visitor, and asks them, what is the act has these circumstances, is it a crime to you? On the one hand, the already variable definitions of a crime presented in the earlier part are questioned by this whilst on the other hand, it provides the visitor with an opportunity to define for themselves what is a crime, and therefore who might be a criminal, preparing them to explore criminal minds. Throughout this area, there will be interactives that allow people to voice their opinion on how criminal the cases presented are in their opinion. Selected cases that are presented in the areas will have a frame around them that can change colour from white, not a crime at all, to black, fully a crime. Using a touchscreen, people can select where between the two extremes this act lies. All the votes will averaged, framing the case with the resulting shade of grey. There will also be the option of responding with written messages.
Subtheme 1b – What if?
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Area A – Official Is an act as much of a crime if it is done by official bodies through official ways?
Exemplar Objects -‐ guillotine: In the middle ages, many people received death penalty using a guillotine. Is murder acceptable if it is an official punishment of a criminal? -‐ mexican execution: Again, is murder acceptable if it is an official punishment of a criminal? -‐ battlefield: is destruction of property not a criminal if it happens in an official war?
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Subtheme 1b – What If?
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Area B – Incapable Crime Is an act as much of a crime if it is performed by somebody who might have been mentally incapable? Exemplar Objects -‐ lion killing another animal's young: a lot of killing goes on in nature, but this is normally not seen as a crime, is it a crime? -‐ elephant on trial: normally, animals are not help responsible, however, in this case, the elephant was accused of murder of three women who visited a parade the elephant was in -‐ The famous case of the murder of the two year old toddler Jamie by the schoolboys Jon Veneables and Robert Thompson
Area C – Justified Is an act as much of a crime if it was committed in response to another wrong deed? Besides posing examples, this area displays a short video of an experiment that showed that babies as young as 8 months old already think it is acceptable to be unkind to those who have been unkind to others. Exemplar Objects -‐ video showing the puppet show in the experiment together with the baby's reaction -‐ news article about case of Patrick and Anne Burke. Anne Burke killed her husband, Patrick Burke, by striking him on the head 23 times with a hammer as he lay in bed. However, she was violently abused by her husband throughout their 32 year marriage. Is the murder as much of a crime still?
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Room 2 – Criminals?
Subcategories
Introduction Cultures in different part of the world and of the history have different ways of defining what a crime is. But what we all have in common as a humankind is our potential to be violent and harm others. Is it the nature of human to be criminal? This second room investigates the origins of the violent nature of human beings. The aim is to break with the idea of criminals being a distinct element of society by asking the following question: are we all potential criminals? To address this question, we will dive into a debate among philosophers and psychologists about the so-‐called “ origin of evil” : nature or culture ? It provides an historical and a philosophical background to our exhibition and invites the visitor to think about its own behaviour as an individual and a member of society.
Display This second room investigates the origins of the violent nature of human beings. The aim is to break with the idea of criminals being a distinct element of society by asking the following question: are we all potential criminals? To address this question, we will dive into a debate among philosophers and psychologists about the so-‐called “ origin of evil” : nature or culture ? It provides an historical and a philosophical background to our exhibition and invites the visitor to think about its own behaviour as an individual and a member of society.
Crim
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Subcategories -‐ Killer Instincts
-‐ The Feral Nature of Humans -‐ Are we Naturally Selfish? -‐ Do Animals Commit Murder? -‐ Civilization: a Safeguard?
-‐ Criminal Subconscious -‐ The shadow -‐ Thanatos -‐ Catharsis
-‐ Corrupted Minds -‐ Altruism -‐ Performance Art -‐ Le Jeu de la Mort -‐ The Role of the Media
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Introduction Area This introductive area contains a text and a star object illustrating the idea of the original crime. The statue of Cain slaying Abel, a Biblical scene referring to the first human crime, is staged as a star object and spot lighted from below in order to arouse the visitor’s interest and provoke a dramatic impression.
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Area A -‐ The Feral Nature of Humans A1: This case explores the feral nature of humankind based on Darwin’s theory that human and animals share the same will to fight for survival. It also shows how, before Darwin and 19th century naturalism, philosophy and more precisely Thomas Hobbes in the 16th already established a direct link between animals and human in an attempt to establish the origins of humanity’s evil. Exemplar objects -‐ Portraits of Charles Darwin and Thomas Hobbes -‐ Injured skull of homo neenderthalus: theories say that homo sapiens might be the cause of their disappearance. -‐ Copy from 1676 of Thomas Hobbes famous book “Leviathan” A2: Painting of prehistoric man fighting, L’agresseur, Léon-‐Maxime Faivre
Area B -‐ Interactive: Are we naturally selfish or collaborative? This interactive questions Thomas Hobbes assertion in his Leviathan that the human nature is to be purely focused on its own interest. This interactive propose simple group-‐based financial decision tasks : it requires from participants to choose between acting selfishly—opting to maximize individual benefits at the cost of the group—or cooperatively—opting to maximize group benefits at the cost of the individual. Levels after levels, the time to take these decision will be shorter. This game aims at showing that faster—that is, more intuitive—decisions are associated with higher levels of cooperation, whereas slower—that is, more reflective—decisions are associated with higher levels of ‘selfishness’.
Subtheme 1a – Killer Instincts
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Subtheme 1a – Killer Instincts
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Area C – Do animals commit murder? This area suggests that we should be cautious in drawing comparison with animals to explain our own behaviour as ‘murder’-‐ different from the killing in order to eat-‐is rare among other species. It addresses the following question: are human the only criminal living being? Exemplar Objects -‐ Mosaic from Pompeii of a coquerel fight -‐ Quote of anthropologist Ashley Montagu written on the wall: “There is no more reason to believe that man fights wars because fish or beavers are territorial than to think that man can fly because bats have wings.” -‐ Video of Jane Goodal TED talk “What separates us from Chimpanzee”
Area D – Civilization: a safeguard? This area is common to this subsection and the subsection “a criminal subconscious”, because it questions the assumption shared by Thomas Hobbes and Freud that even though we are equally predisposed to commit crime, modern civilization and social structures inhibit antisocial behaviours. Through a series of objects, this area raises the following points: -‐ Some social structures do consider antisocial behaviour as legitimate -‐ Modern civilizations have committed the worst crimes, like the United States and the atomic bombs, whereas some tribal societies (e.g. the Ifaluk in Micronesia the Batek in Malaysia) are considered by anthropologists as being “peaceful”. Exemplar Objects -‐ Collection of Corsican knives used for Vendetta, a system that allows private justice and can lead, in Corsica and Albania, to the annihilation of entire families up to 7 generation. -‐ Pictures of tattooed criminal gang from Japan, Russia and Mexico. -‐ Objects from Hiroshima melted by the atomic bomb. -‐ Interactive map of the world alternatively showing the countries with the most criminality and the places where ‘peaceful’ societies live.
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Introduction If all humans, seeing as we all came from the same ancestors, have the potential to be destructive why aren't we? Culture and the rise of civilization may have something to do with it. We learn to control our impulses or instincts as young children. However, for Jung and Freud, the founding father of the psychoanalysis in the 20th century, pulsions of death and destruction-‐ called 'shadows' by Jung and ‘Thanatos' by Freud are still present in our subconscious, and can be only be managed through psychoanalysis. This reflexive part invites visitors to think about their dark inner self. In order to create an introspective atmosphere this part of the room is slightly more spacious, darker and more dim lighted.
Subtheme 1b – Criminal Subconscious
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Area A – The Shadow Carl Jung recognized that our potential to commit crime is ingrained in human culture and that we need more understanding of the human nature, because the only real danger that exists is man himself. Since Jung was a psychiatrist, he valued individuals and thought that each person had the ability to control their criminal nature or shadow thanks to introspection. This area proposes 2 experiments to the visitors:
A1: The visitors are invited to sit or lie down on a black sofa-‐like the ones we can find in the office of a psychiatrist-‐ and listen to recordings of criminals’ session with psychiatrists. The testimony are anonymous and carefully selected as what we want is to share the feelings of the criminals about their own behaviour, not about the details of their crimes. Low and calm voice will be preferably selected in order to create an intimate atmosphere, reinforced by dim lights and the alcove like shape of the walls. A2: This area displays 2 commissioned artwork by Tim Noble and Sue webster : a combination of sculpture made of diverse everyday objects and bright light that creates two amazing shadow sculpture representing a human shape in a violent position projected onto the wall. The visitors are invited to interact with the sculptures by placing their own shadow next to them.
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Area B – Thanatos Writing to Albert Einstein in the early 1930s, Sigmund Freud suggested that “man has in him an active instinct for hatred and destruction.” Freud went on to contrast this “instinct to destroy and kill”-‐ Thanatos-‐ with one he called Eros-‐an instinct “to conserve and unify”. According to him, human is willing to surrender his destructive instincts to the needs of the greater community but actually he will never be able to supress his most basic instincts. This case will show how this idea of humankind being twofold has been represented in different cultures, at different times.
Exemplar Objects -‐ Letter from Freud to Einstein -‐ La jeune fille et la mort, Drawing of Niklaus Manuel Deutsch, 1517 -‐ Greek vase representing Thanatos, God of destruction and death. -‐ Antique Chinese plate with Ying and Yang. -‐ Copy of Louis Stevenson’s book, Dr Jekyll and M. Hyde
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Area C – Catharsis This area, composed of paintings, pictures and objects, is called after Aristotle’s concept of the purgation of emotions through art. The word was then employed by Freudian analysis's in the 20th century to describe the act of expressing pulsions that have been repressed or ignored. This area underlines how, across the ages, civilization has allocated spaces for people to feed their fascination for violence and death. Exemplar Objects -‐ Series of pictures showing crowds at public executions in different countries and at different time. -‐ Death of the Toreador by Picasso, 1933 with objects used during bullfights. -‐ Le gladiateur by Jean-‐Léon Gérome, 1872 with weapons used by gladiators in the arena.
Subtheme 1b – Criminal Subconscious
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Introduction With this final sub-‐theme, our aim is to counterbalance the idea exposed with the two first themes that man is naturally evil and that only society can prevent him from being a beast. We focus on the case of the 18th century french philosopher Jean-‐Jacques Rousseau, which, in his dramatic opening lines to his immensely powerful treatise "The Social Contract," wrote that man is naturally good but becomes corrupted by the pernicious influence of human society and institutions. This last sub theme allows us to finish on an optimistic note and is a good way to introduce the third theme of the exhibition which will look at the causes of crime, including the environmental causes.
Subtheme 1c – Corrupted Minds
Crim
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Area A – Altruism This case will give a broad overview on human’s altruism. It is split in two as it focuses on two key characters living at different times but sharing the idea that man is capable of altruism and empathy: Jean-‐Jacques Rousseau and Daniel Batson, an American social psychologists specialized in the social psychology of altruism and empathic concern. In the middle, An interactive based on Daniel Batson’s experiment invites visitors to put their hand in a sensor detecting short-‐time stress response while watching images of someone having their fingers pinched on a door. A screen showing the evolution of the blood pressure and heart rate allows visitors to see the physiological form of what Daniel Batson considers as empathy.
Exemplar Objects -‐ A copy of The Social Contract, by Jean-‐Jacques Rousseau -‐ An interactive -‐ A series of objects symbolizing human altruism in western society: a fireman helmet, a salvation army donation box etc.
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Subtheme 1c – Corrupted Minds
Crim
inals?
Area B – Performance Art This area displays a performance art by Maria José Arjona. Before the opening of the exhibition, Maria José Arjona will be filmed while blowing bubble that symbolize “innocence." But when the bubbles burst on the wall, they leave red spots behind; an element of violence that penetrates the seeming idyll of this "untitled" performance. The video of the performance and interview of the artist will be displayed next to piece of art. This performance is particularly relevant to illustrate Rousseau’s conception of man as a candid being until society exert its bad influence on him and eventually, turns him into murderers.
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Area C – Le Jeu de la Mort Le jeu de la mort is a French documentary broadcasted on television in march 2010. The documentary stages a fake game show during which a candidate-‐who thinks the TV show is a real show-‐must send electric shocks to another candidate at levels that can cause death. This documentary reproduce the Milligram experiment made in 1960 in the United States to study the influence of authority and shows that on 80% of the cases, people obey to the order and inflict lethal shocks. This area displays the box used during the show and invite the visitors to be in the same situation as the participants: they can choose different levels of shocks and see on the screen the reaction of the actor filmed for the documentary. Although this is different from the real experience as the visitors are aware that Le jeu de la mort is fake, it induce visitors to ask themselves “What would have my reaction been?”.
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Subtheme 1b – Corrupted Minds
Crim
inals?
Area D – The Role of the Media This area addresses the question of the role of the media regarding criminality and violent behaviours. The media reflect society’s “horrific voyeurism” by the importance it gives to criminal stories and is accused by some associations and specialist to provoke violent behaviours, namely among teenagers. D1: Montage of newspapers headlines about crimes and screens showing video games, criminal series and action movies. An infographic will show the number of crime-‐related content that could be seen on british TV in a week. D2: will focus on the special case of Columbine High School Massacre which occurred in 1999. This massacre sparked a debate over the influence of violent movies and videogames in American society. This case displays the guns that were used during the massacre as well as the original pages from one of the two murderer’s diary. + running shots of DOOM II ‘Harris Levels’, a game level designed by Harris in one of the games he played much
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Room 3 – Causes?
Subcategories
Introduction Whether humans are naturally criminal or not, it is clear that there are differences between individuals within society. What is it that makes one person commit a crime whereas another remains a peaceful, law-‐abiding citizen?
Over history, numerous studies have looked into what factors might contribute to people committing crime. From an interesting, though pseudoscientific start around the 18th and 19th century, criminology into causes has now grown into a mature field of often medical research, which is starting to give us some understanding of the causes of criminality. This room aims to give the visitor an insight into these different aspects of criminology, and thereby giving them the handles to start thinking about the causes of crime.
Display This room is divided into two parts, each of which carries its own atmosphere. The main area, which focuses on contemporary explanations for criminal behaviour, has an open, spacious and orderly structure. Visitors can move freely within this area, and choose their own pathway from one end to the other. As the different segments of this area are closely connected, there will be no overt distinction between the parts. The lighting in this area will be relatively bright, as will the colours. Together, this aims to convey an atmosphere of science. The smaller subsection of this room, which deals with the past of criminological studies, will have a completely different feel to it. In order to create the atmosphere of the time, the lighting will be darker, the packing of objects more tight and props will be used to make it a fusion of an old-‐fashioned cabinet of curiosities and the general mise-‐en-‐scene of the exhibition in general.
Cau
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Subcategories Early criminology -‐ The Atavistic Born Criminal -‐ Phrenology and Physiognomy -‐ Brain Studies Free will -‐ Two Theories -‐ Interactive
Causes and Correlates -‐ A Wall of Potential Correlates Biology Underneath -‐ Brains -‐ Genes
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Subtheme 3a – Early Criminology Caus
es?
Area A– The Atavistic Born Criminal In the late 19th century, Cesare Lombroso, who headed the Italian school of criminology, brought forward the idea that criminals represent evolutionary setbacks. Being a more primitive form of humans, these 'atavists' were less able to control their animal-‐like impulses, and hence committed they crimes. Lombrose also thought the atavism showed in criminal's physique, and he collected vast amounts of data on this. Exemplar Objects -‐ Portrait of Lombroso -‐ Original tools used for measuring physical characteristics -‐ A first print copy of Lombroso's book 'criminal man' -‐ Illustrations from Lombroso's book 'criminal man' -‐ Wax heads of examples of Lombroso's atavistic types
Introduction This sub-‐themes explores the intriguing beginnings of attempting to explain criminal behaviour. Though most of the theories presented in this area are now seen as pseudoscience, these early studies were important stepping stones in going towards scientific explanations for criminal behaviour, and therefore remain important within criminology.
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Subtheme 3a – Early Criminology Caus
es?
Area B – Phrenology Another theory popular in the 19th century was that of phrenology. According to this theory, which was developed by Joseph Gall, measurements of the skull gave you information about the relative size of different brain areas. This in its turn, was thought to explain the behaviour of a person, including whether or not someone is a criminal. Though now seen as a pseudoscience, phrenology played part in moving towards the study of neuropsychology. Exemplar Objects -‐ Plaster heads of convicted criminals. -‐ A set of 60 miniature phrenology heads, with the criminal heads highlighted -‐ Skull with phrenological markings on it -‐ Basic phrenological study skull -‐ Poster illustrating the different functions of different areas -‐ Phrenology measurement helmets
e
Area C – Physiognomy Physiognomy suggested that a person's character and personality could be inferred from the appearance of the face. Initially used by the ancient Greek philosophers, it was revived in the late 18th century by Lavater. Despite now being seen as a pseudoscience, some recent studies have shown that facial appearance to a small extent indeed correlates with behaviour. Exemplar Objects -‐ Collage of serial killers -‐ Physiognomy book print from Lavater
e
Area D – Brain Studies Besides looking at outer appearance, there were also early studies that looked directly at the brain, and at the criminal brain more specifically. Exemplar Objects -‐ Pictures of dissections of brains of criminals -‐ Exhibits, pictures of 50 criminal brains -‐ Conserved criminal brain in a jar
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Subtheme 3b – Free Will Caus
es?
Area A– Two theories Using a examples from popular culture, this area will introduce two streams of thought regarding the question of whether criminals have 'free will', in their acts. The idea that there is free will, as was believed in the so called 'classical school', will be hinted at by tv series and other popular culture examples that are implicitly based on this belief. The idea that certain factors are so influential as to not allow full free will, will be introduced by other tv series and popular culture examples that are based on this belief. In both cases, objects relating to the relevant academic schools will also be included. Exemplar Objects -‐ Poster and selected scenes of breaking bad, which is a series where a formerly law abiding chemistry teacher decided to go into the drugs business, so that he can make money. -‐ Original copy of 'on crime and punishment', which argued for rational choice theory, saying that man chooses to commit crime as a reasoning individual. -‐ Poster and selected scenes of ‘Dexter', which is about a man who was genetically predisposed to become a serial killer, but good upbringing by his adopted father means he kills criminals, rather than innocent people. -‐ Chicago school of criminology's notes on zone and criminality, which argued that youth in certain parts of town commit crime because of the conditions of the town they live in -‐ Twin study on both twins committing crime
Introduction The very idea that there are causes of crime seems to suggest to some extent that there is no such thing as full free will. However, the question of free will has not been settled in science or philosophy. In order to address this aspect of thinking about causes of crime, this area considers the opposing schools of thought on this matter.
Area B– Interactive Based on the partial reconstruction of an experiment on decision making, this hands-‐on exhibit aims to make people think about how decision making might not be the way we think it is. It will briefly invite people to press a button either with their left or their right finger, whenever they want to. Next, it will question them if they think they knew when they were making this decision. Following this brief introduction will be, a short video of an experiment based on the same task that showed that actually, the decision to press with either left or right can be detected in the brain several moments before the subject said they made the decision.
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Subtheme 3b – Free Will Caus
es?
Area B – Phrenology Another theory popular in the 19th century was that of phrenology. According to this theory, which was developed by Joseph Gall, measurements of the skull gave you information about the relative size of different brain areas. This in its turn, was thought to explain the behaviour of a person, including whether or not someone is a criminal. Though now seen as a pseudoscience, phrenology played part in moving towards the study of neuropsychology. Exemplar Objects -‐ Plaster heads of convicted criminals. -‐ A set of 60 miniature phrenology heads, with the criminal heads highlighted -‐ Skull with phrenologycal markings on it -‐ Basic phrenologycal study skull -‐ Poster illustrating the different functions of different areas -‐ Phrenology measurement helmets
e
Area C – Physiognomy Physiognomy suggested that a person's character and personality could be inferred from the appearance of the face. Initially used by the ancient Greek philosophers, it was revived in the late 18th century by Lavater. Despite now being seen as a pseudoscience, some recent studies have shown that facial appearance to a small extent indeed correlates with behaviour. Exemplar Objects -‐ Collage of serial killers -‐ Physiognomy book print from Lavater
e
Area D – Brain Studies Besides looking at outer appearance, there were also early studies that looked directly at the brain, and at the criminal brain more specifically. Exemplar Objects -‐ Pictures of dissections of brains of criminals -‐ Exhibits, pictures of 50 criminal brains -‐ Conserved criminal brain in a jar
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Subtheme 3c – Causes and Correlates Caus
es?
Area A– A Wall of Potential Correlates Along the full length of the wall of display area A, a mind map will be displayed that shows all factors that have been investigated to correlate with crime, as sourced from the book 'correlates of crime'. The mind map will be designed in such a way that the shades and size of the words indicate whether the current evidence supports or dispels the idea of a correlation, and how significant the idea is. Exemplar Objects -‐ Mind map: examples of mind maps that it might look like -‐ Correlates of crime: the index of the book to show what it's about
Introduction From childhood friendships to the shape of your face, a multitude of factors have been suggested to cause or correlate with criminal behaviour. Some of these potential factors have been backed up by science, whereas others have been cleanly dispelled. However, in many cases the story is more complex. This area aims to give an insight suggested causes and correlates of crime. By exhibiting evidence, questions are asked on to what extent a factor indeeds correlate with crime, and what this means for causation.
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Subtheme 3c – Causes and Correlates Caus
es?
Area B– Highlighted Hypothesis Along the full length of the wall of display area A, a mind map will be displayed that shows all factors that have been investigated to correlate with crime, as sourced from the book 'correlates of crime'. The mind map will be designed in such a way that the shades and size of the words indicate whether the current evidence supports or dispels the idea of a correlation, and how significant the idea is. This area will focus in on a number of the most prominent hypotheses regarding causes or correlates of crime: Highlights, broken childhood, substance abuse, phychological traits, socio-‐economic factors, gender, video games, intelligence, body types. Each hypothesis has its own display case with objects to represent the cause, an infographic to explain the science and an interactive where suitable. When suitable, the display cases will be placed close to other parts of the exhibit that relate to them. With regards to display cases, each will have a different height, so that together, the block shaped displays will hint at the type of bar graph often seen in crime correlation studies. Exemplar Cases -‐ Videogames : Almost every time a major shooting massacre occurs, the question of whether violent video games stimulated the shooter to commit this crime is raised. The evidence on to what extent violent games do stimulate real-‐life violence is variable, and this will be displayed in an infographic. Alongside this, there will be cases of violent videogames, to illustrate the extent of the market. Also, there will be videos of gameplay of a DOOM2 'Harris Level', which was made by one of the shooters in the columbine high school massacre, and of gameplay of 'Grant Theft Auto', a modern violent game often suggested to stimulate criminal behaviour. This display is placed close to the Columbine High School Massacre shared case. -‐ Psychological traits: In many films, criminals are portrayed as psychopaths. Though there is indeed a correlation between mental illness and crime, the real story is much more subtle than that. This case will provide an overview of the popular notions the current evidence on links between psychological traits and crime. Furthermore, it will ask the question to what extent even having some 'psychopath' characteristics has to be bad, as such traits might also help you be a good doctor, army sergeant or police officer. In an interactive, people can take a 'psychopath challenge', to see how they score on the 'psychopath scale'. Objects will include film posters, the famous 'ink blot tests' and a copy of the DSM IV on mental illnesses. -‐ Body types: In recent days, a number of studies have been performed that show some degree of correlation between body types and aggression. As it is the modern day variant of studying people's physical appearance to tell their personality, this case is be placed close to the historical sub-‐theme of physiognomy, phrenology and atavism. A recent study that showed that ice hockey players with wider facer were more aggressive during the game will be a focus point. This case will also include an interactive that allows people to see where on the spectrum their own face width lies.
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Subtheme 3d – The Biology Underneath Caus
es?
Area A – Brains A1
This area will look into the latest research results on brains and criminal behaviour. Most significantly, it will tell the story of the prefrontal cortex as the 'guardian angel' of our behaviour, and the limbic system as the impulsive criminal. It will also focus on how exactly science is finding such answer to the question of our brains and criminal behaviour. Exemplar Objects -‐ Mini-‐documentary with James Fallon, who studies criminal brains and found that he himself has a 'criminal brain', as is shown in area A1. This will explain the role of the brain areas. -‐ 3d assemble and disassemble model that highlights the brain areas now known to be involved in controlling our (criminal) behaviour. -‐ Models of fMRI scanner used in many of the brain research studies.
Introduction Introduction Though studies into correlates and causes can give us useful indication of what outside factors link with crime, science has also gone one step further in trying to explain why certain people commit crime, by exploring what goes on inside people. Both in the field of neurology and genetics, steps are being made that might bring us closer to understanding what causes crime.
A2
This wall will display a large print of the brain scan of James Fallon, a scientist who studies the brain of criminals, and found out that his own is characteristic of a criminal brain. This image is interesting because it shows that even though there is such a thing as a brain that predisposes to criminal behaviour, this does not necessarily mean you are a criminal. Exemplar Objects -‐ mini-‐documentary with James Fallon, who studies criminal brains and found that he himself has a 'criminal brain', as is shown in area A1. This will explain the role of the brain areas. -‐ 3d assemble and disassemble model that highlights the brain areas now known to be involved in controlling our (criminal) behaviour. -‐ models of fMRI scanner used in many of the brain research studies.
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Display area B2 This wall will hold a large print of the full chromosome set of humans, with those areas where genes that associate with criminal behaviour have been found, highlighted.
Subtheme 3d – The Biology Underneath Caus
es?
Area B – Genes B1
Increasingly, science is finding out that criminal behaviour does to some extent seem to be inheritable, and even more impressively, it is finding single genes that associate with criminal behaviour. This area will investigate the basis of this genetic side to criminal behaviour, including the 'warrior gene' MOA-‐A, certain variants of which have been associated with violent behaviour. It will also look into how science is uncovering such aspects. Exemplar Objects criminal and violent behaviour can be inherited -‐ Live fruit flies. Live specimens of fruit fly strains that were bred in an experiment showing that within about 20 generation, you can create both very aggressive and very docile fruit flies. The fruit flies will be seen fighting to defend their territories to certain extents. If not possible, videos of the original experiment are available. -‐ James Fallon family tree. James Fallon, the scientist with the 'criminal brain', has a whole family history of violent behaviour, starting with the famous case of of lizzy borden, who killed her father and stepmother with an axe in 1892. the MOA-‐A 'warrior gene' -‐ Mouse experiment where they deleted this gene, resulting in highly aggressive mice. -‐ Stuffed mice from fighting -‐ Video on behaviour -‐ Infographic in difference in behaviour -‐ Infographic showing that certain variants of the MOA-‐A gene, when combined with maltreatment in childhood, result in higher incidence of criminality in adulthood Finding specific genes -‐ Pictures of machines used in genetic testing -‐ Video clip illustrating how genetic testing works
B2 This wall will hold a large print of the full chromosome set of humans, with those areas where genes that associate with criminal behaviour have been found, highlighted.
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Room 4 – Cure or Conviction?
Subcategories
Introduction The attempt of science to determine the biological cause of criminality in the past centuries have raised controversial issues and sometimes led to unbearable extremes. However, the progress made today by science in this field could help dealing with crime by preventing it and assessing responsibility. Some think science could even cure criminals: but would that be ethical? In the past, scientific theories about the neurobiological origin of criminality were used to back up controversial measures against criminals. But now, it could actually change the way science is done and the way society sees criminals. This final room reflects on the ambiguous relationship between science, criminology and society.
Display This room offers a “chronological” narrative: the first area focus on preventing the crime before it happened, then the visitor enters the second area displayed as a courtroom and finally the last area address the question of what we do with criminals once they have been convicted. This area is open and allows a fluid movement of visitors, namely because this space is used for the lunch workshop activities about profiling and criminology. The different areas are distinguished by the fact that the wall of the central area will be darker and the lights dimmer in order to convey the solemn atmosphere of a court room.
Cure or
Con
viction?
Subcategories Preventing Crime -‐ Eugenics and Sterilization -‐ Spotting Violent Childs -‐ Tracking Criminals Science in Courtroom -‐ The Imbecile Criminal and the Insanity Defence -‐ Brian Dugan Case Study -‐ Be the judge -‐ Electric Chair
Towards a Cure? -‐ Medical Treatments -‐ Let Them Speak their Minds
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Subtheme 4a – Preventing Crime
Cure or C
onviction?
Area A – Eugenics and Sterilization The idea explored in the previous room that biology could play a role in a person’s potential to commit a crime led to extreme interpretations. This area focuses on the case of eugenics in the United States, a social movement that originated in the 19th century claiming to improve the genetic features of human populations through selective breeding and sterilization. The aim of this case is to underline that if eugenics connoted Nazism to most of us, former inmates sterilized by the U.S government are still alive today as sterilization, in some states such as North Carolina, were not declared illegal before 1977. This case is shared with the last subsection of the Room 3 as it relates directly to the idea that criminality may be genetically driven. This shared case allow the visitor to put its content in two different perspectives and contexts. Exemplar Objects -‐ Picture of famous criminal couples (e.g Bonnie and Clyde) -‐ Map of eugenics sterilization legislation in the U.S -‐ Commemorative Sign in South Carolina denouncing the actions of the eugenics board -‐ Video of "Tomorrow's Children": a 1934 movie about the practice of sterilization in the United States. -‐ Sterilization instruments used in Auschwitz -‐ Quote from The Disease of Society by G. Lydston in 1904 written on the case: “The confirmed criminals is simply excrementitious matter that should not only be eliminated, but placed beyond the possibility of its contaminating the body social”
Introduction Introduction This sub-‐themes underlines the controversial nature of the relationship between science and criminology. In some ways, the idea that criminality could be linked to genetics and neurobiology implies that a crime could be prevented before it happened. For instance, promoters of eugenics theories in the United States advocated for a systematic sterilization of criminals in order to prevent the perpetuation of criminal generations. Nowadays, scientific studies suggest that children as young as two could be identified as potential future criminals: is it a good or a bad thing?
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Subtheme 4a – Preventing Crime
Cure or C
onviction?
Area B – Spotting Violent Child This small area looks at the critical juncture where scientific developments in both genetics and neuroscience may soon be able to identify children with a greatly increased risk of engaging in future violent activity. Content will namely include material from the experiment made at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011 that saw in the brains of 3 years old children signs of potential trouble in the future. The text will draw the visitor’s attention on the impact that such “marking” could have on the children’s life. Exemplar Objects -‐ Drawings made by child with violent behaviour, provided by the London Child and Family Therapy Center. -‐ Copy of William Golding’s book Lord of the flies
Area B – Spotting Violent Child
Area C – Tracking Criminals This area examines the tools that were designed in order to catch criminals and asks the following question: is it reliable science?
C1 This case will be split in two shelves that compare criminological tools developed in the 19th century by the French policeman Bertillon with the objects currently used by forensics. Bertillon used scientific method of classification to catch criminals. His methods relying on phrenology and behaviourism were abandoned but some of his inventions, such as the face and side photographs and fingerprints identification were largely used, sometimes raising ethical concerns. This case is shared with the first subsection of the Room 3 that deals with the evolution of criminological studies. This shared case allow the visitor to put its content in two different perspectives and contexts. Exemplar Objects -‐ Anthropometric document of a tzigane women, 1912 -‐ Bertillon’s anthropometrical toolbox compared with a forensic investigation toolbox
Subcategories
C2: Interactives This interactive space aims at underlining the subjective nature of some methods currently used to find and classify criminals. 3 different activities are proposed to the visitors: -‐ Lie to me: On an interactive screen, two pictures of a smiling person are shown, one is a fake smile, the other is an honest smile, and the visitor must guess which of the two picture is a real smile. This game relies on the fact that a real, spontaneous smile incorporates tiny muscles around the eye that are nearly impossible to contract at will. -‐ Portrait Robot: A visitor describes a person he sees on a picture to another visitor that uses a software to recreate the face as accurately as possible. 35
Subtheme 4b – Science in the Courtroom
Cure or C
onviction?
Area A – Assessing Responsibility This area address the question of the responsibility of the criminals by focusing on two special cases: A1: The criminal imbecile In the late 19th century and the early 20th century as a consequence of the eugenics movement arise the concept of the “criminal imbecile” from which society had to be protected. The main studies on the subject by Dr. Henry Goddard in the first quarter of the 20th century combined "criminals, defectives, and delinquents" into a single category. In 1913, The Mental Deficiency Act established that “moral imbecile” were now to be dealt with in special institutions to be created under the Act, rather than in prisons. Exemplar Objects -‐ I. Q Binet test popularized by Dr. Henry Goddard. -‐ Copy of Goddard’s book: The imbecile criminals -‐ Copy of the Mental deficiency Act -‐ Miniature model of Broadmoor Institution, the UK high security hospital.
Introduction
Introduction By revealing the role of brain abnormalities in crime, science steps into a philosophical quandaries: does it reduce a person’s responsibility for his or her own actions? If neurological and genetic factors out of a person's control contribute to criminal offending, do we need to rethink how they are punished? The cases of this sub theme are placed in a way that aims at connoting the atmosphere of a court room. This is emphasised by the presence of an actual courtroom furniture at the very end of the room. The long cases are brightly lit and display a large number of objects placed under plastic seal, as if they were evidences stored in the basement of a judicial institution.
A2 : The Insanity defence In criminal trials, the insanity defence is where the defendant claims they are not responsible for their actions due to mental health problems. In the UK, The first famous legal test for insanity came in 1843, in the McNaughton case. Englishman Daniel McNaughton shot and killed the secretary of the British Prime Minister. The court acquitted McNaughton "by reason of insanity," and he was placed in a mental institution for the rest of his life. The McNaughton rule became the standard for insanity in the United States and the United Kingdom, and is still the standard for insanity in almost half of the states. Exemplar Objects -‐ Straightjacket from the movie “Fly over a cuckoo’s nest” -‐ Engraving of Daniel M'Naghten which appeared in the Scottish Reformer's Gazette in 1843. -‐ Picture and coat of Daniel Sickles, a New York politician who murdered his wife and was found not guilty after pleading “temporary insanity”. It is the first case of insanity plea in the U.S.
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Subtheme 4b – Science in the Courtroom
Cure or C
onviction?
Area B – The Brian Dugan Case Study This area focuses on the work of Kent Kiehl, professor of psychology, neuroscience and law, who claims that society must stop stigmatizing criminals and should focus on finding them treatments rather than trying to assess their culpability. He explains that it is the emotional circuits that stop people from committing crimes, but that in psychopaths those break don’t work. That’s what he explained as a witness in the Brain Dugan case in 1995, the first case to accept a brain scan as evidence. But how do we assess psychopathy? Persons suffering from alcoholism and depression also have abnormal brains, shall they also be judged differently if they commit murder?
Exemplar Objects -‐ Drawings of the Brian Dugan trial along with his inmate outfit -‐ The three picture of the Kiehl’s test during which subjects must rate whether the picture is a moral violation. Both psychopaths and the average person rank the KKK with a burning cross as a moral violation. But when a normal person sees a morally objectionable photo, his limbic system lights up, but the brain of the psychopath doesn’t -‐ fMRI of the brains of 3 persons suffering respectively from alcoholism, depression and psychopathy -‐ Details of the Hare psychopathy checklist which measures traits such as the inability to feel empathy or remorse, along with pictures representing how society interpret psychopathy. -‐ Infographic showing the prison population in UK and the proportion of inmates diagnosed with psychopathy.
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Subtheme 4b – Science in the Courtroom
Cure or C
onviction?
Area B – Be the Judge This area displays a courtroom furniture and more precisely the place where the judge sits during a trial. This furniture is an invitation to the visitor to sit and look back at the evidence in a global way.
Area B – Spotting Violent Child
Area D – Electric Chair This area displays an electric chair from the Ohio Police department museum which executed 361 inmates from 1897 to 1963. This object aims at underlining that in some States of the U.S., assessing the responsibility of a criminal is even more important that his life is at stake. It is also a dramatic way of pointing out that society, in his will to deal with crime sometimes adopt radical solutions. La justice et la revanche poursuivant le crime,
Pierre-‐Paul Prud'hon, 1867
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Subtheme 4c – Towards a Cure?
Cure or C
onviction?
Area A – Medical Treatments This case aims at giving an overview on the sensible issue of finding a medical treatment for criminals: if we found such a therapy, Would it be ethical, or even legal, to compel people with a violent history to have the treatment? The famous book and movie Clockwork orange addresses this question when Alex, the violent anti-‐hero, is cured from his criminal behaviour thanks to the Ludovico technique, a fictional aversion therapy which involves forcing a patient to watch, through the use of specula to hold the eyes open, violent images for long periods of time, while under the effect of a nausea -‐inducing drug. The lobectomy and convulsive electroshocks used in the past to annihilate criminal's pulsions are not very far from this fiction. Exemplar Objects -‐ An electroconvulsive therapy machine from 1945 -‐ Tools used to perform lobectomy -‐ Objects and pictures from the movie Clockwork Orange.
Introduction
Introduction If violent behaviour is at least partly neurological in origin, that raises the question of whether some sort of medical treatment might be able to mitigate or even eliminate that contributing factor, and thus prevent the person from committing future crimes. Maybe one day, criminality will cease to be viewed within a moral and social context and more within the humanitarian context of treatment, as was the case for epilepsy and psychosis. But for now, no effective drug has been found and psychotherapy remains the most effective way of dealing with criminal minds.
"Sometimes I just want to start again, I want to be a blank canvas"
Area B – Let them Speak their Minds This area displays the artwork produced by inmates in the context of the Mirrors Prison Portraits exhibition launched by Inspiring Change, a project designed to prove the beneficial impact of art projects on offenders. This area illustrates the fact that for many psychotherapists, inducing criminals to reflect on their acts remains, so far, the best treatment. Exemplar Objects -‐ Paintings and picture from the Inspiring Change project with quotes from the participant reflecting on their actions.
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Events
Crim
inal M
inds
Opening Event – Screenings
Throughout the opening night, there will be screenings of cultural performances by (ex)convicts. Jesus Hopped the A Train A play by Synergy Theatre Project in London, an arts charity that promotes the rehabilitation of prisoners through plays. The play is a blistering exploration of faith, redemption and desperation, set in the segregation unit of Riker's Island prison Me, them and us A contemporary dance show performed at Bernie Grant Arts Centre by the London Academy of Dance united, an association that works with delinquent teenagers. Jail Guitar Doors A jam by convicts of the Guys Marsh prison Dorset The forgiveness project A series of short films created by prisoners chronicling their life stories and ideas around forgiveness in the context of a digital media course run at High Down prison in Surrey during 2008-‐9.
Introduction Different events will accompany the exhibition. These events aim at highlighting some aspects of the exhibition and give a visibility to former and present convicts.
Open Late -‐ Murder Mystery (Thursday evening, 7-‐10 pm)
This event will invite the audience to take part to a Murder Mystery night around the theme of criminal minds. This event will be the final product of a collaborative project between The Wellcome Trust Collection and selected students in Psychology (UCL), History (King’s College), Neuroscience and Science Communication (Imperial).
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Events
Lecture : The biological roots of crime (Weekday evening, 6-‐8pm)
An evening lecture with British psychologist Adrian Raine who currently holds the chair of Professor of Criminology & Psychiatry in the Department of Criminology of the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. On this occasion, he will expose the ideas presented in his new book: The Anatomy of Violence (30th April 2013)
Films: 4 week Selection of films relating to the exhibition (Saturday evening, 7.30-‐9pm) Each week, a film related to the exhibition will be screened. Before the start of every film, there will be a short relevant talk by a prominent speaker.
Frankenstein: A tale about criminal minds Speaker : David Kirby, author of The Devil in our DNA : A Brief History of Eugenic in Science-‐fiction Films Of Mice and Men : The ‘feeble minded’ criminal and the question of responsibility Speaker : Leeanne McGee, executive director of high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital. Bowling for Columbine: Is society creating criminals? Speaker : Emanuel Tanay, american forensic psychiatrist, author of the study Virginia Tech Mass Murder Clockwork Orange: Can we cure violent behaviour? Speaker : L.MacReynolds, co-‐author of the study A cure for crime: can mental health treatment diversion reduce crime among youth?
Debate : Does science have a role to play in court? (Weekday evening, 6-‐8pm)
Dr A. Kiehl, Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of New Mexico has established the world’s largest database of brain data from incarcerated populations and has testified in many court case. After giving a tour of the A Cure or a Conviction? section, he will animate a debate with the audience about the legitimacy of science to provide evidence in court rooms.
Crim
inal M
inds
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Evaluation
Subcategories
We conducted a short formative evaluation to answer a number of specific questions related to the exhibition. The most significant results are discussed on the two pages below. Full details of the questionnaire and results can be found on the following pages.
Comfort with Potentially Disturbing Images Certain content of our exhibition is potentially disturbing to visitors. In order to getting better insight into how to deal with such content, we looked into people’s comfort with images, and if they felt it should get special treatment. Results and Implications A large majority of the people we interviewed felt neutral towards the images we showed them, and felt they required no special treatment. Some of them explained that visitors going to such an exhibition would know what to expect from it. However, a majority of people considered that pictures dealing with executions and dissections of convict’s heads should have a warning, but they did not think it was necessary to put it into a separate area. Following this survey, we decided to replace the child remains contents, as they were not necessary, and to include a sign at the start of the exhibition.
79%
17%
3% 1%
Average comfort level over all images
Neutral Somewhat uncomfortable
12 9
5 5 4 2
0 0 0
5
10
15
20
Number of ratings within discomfort zone (somewhat, moderately, very)
Out of 20
Subcategories
Interest in voicing and seeing other’s opinion We feel our exhibition topic is well suited to using an exhibition as a discussion platform using interactives. In order to design such interactives efficiently, we asked 20 people to rate their interest in voicing their opinion and seeing other people’s opinion on four different themes. Results and Implications The results told us that people where not really interested in voicing their opinion about what is a crime, but would still like to hear other’s opinion. On the contrary, a majority of them would like to tell their opinion on what ‘ good and bad’ are, yet they are not really interested in seeing other people’s opinion on this topic. The persons that were interviewed expressed a great interest for the role of science in court. Therefore, we decided to host a debate on this specific subject.
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B1-‐ In our law
Evaluation
Interest in Reading Area Initially, we didn’t plan on including a feedback area/reading room in our exhibition, as neither of us are personally interested in such facilities. However, to check if other people share this opinion, we decided to look into people’s interest in a potential reading area. Results and Implications Event though our survey showed that most people had not usually used reading facilities before, more than half of the people interviewed expressed an interest in reading more about the subject in a reading area. Therefore, we redesigned our introductive/conclusive space in order to include a shelf and a couch.
B1-‐ In our law
Appeal of Events We will be organising a number of events to go with out exhibition. However, sometimes it can be difficult to know what events appeal to people. To maximise the number of people attending, we decided to find out how appealing the events were. Results and Implications In general, people found our events rather appealing, with a clear preference for the murder mystery. Thus, we didn’t bring any modification to the program.
37%
31%
17%
15%
Overall Appeal of events
Very appealing Somewhat appealing Not really appealing Not appealing at all
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Popularity of Individual Events Votes for ‘ Very Appealing’
(out of 20)
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