Biological explanations for Criminality

Measuring Biological LinksLook at Family Trees to see how many criminals you have in the family history.

◦ This can tell us about the genetic link.

Examine Genes through blood samples to detect any chromosome abnormalities that can be linked to criminality.

Family StudiesComparing Family trees of Criminals and Non Criminals.

If many relatives are criminals there could be a biological basis for criminality.

If fewer relatives are criminals, then the link becomes weaker.

Some family studies have shown that a child is more likely to become a criminal if their Parents or Grandparents are criminal.

Adoption studies. Prove even stronger evidence for the biological.

They look at relatives, siblings, twins that have been adopted at a young age. ◦ This means there share genes but not the same environment.

◦ This means that we can be sure that genetics cause the criminality.

Mednick (1984)

Studied 14,427 adopted children.

Compared how many had criminal records compared to their biological and adoptive parents.

Found – the adopted children with criminal records for property theft also had biological fathers with criminal convictions, even though they were not raised by them.

This is true for siblings who were raised in different homes.

Twins2 types of Twins

◦ Identical – (Monozygotic)

◦ Non-Identical (Fraternal or Dizygotic Twins)

Identical look the same because they have all their Genes in common.

Non Identical have half their genes in common.

If both identical twins are criminals this suggests a very strong genetic link to criminality.

Christiansen (1977)Studied 3586 pairs of twins in Denmark.

He Found

If an identical twin was a criminal 52% of the time, the other identical twin was also a criminal.

This was only true in 22% of non identical twins.

Christiansen found the link for property crime (Theft), but not violent Crime.

This could be evidence that there is a genetic basis for property crime as it shows a shared criminal tendency in just over half the identical twins studied.

The decrease to 22% can be explained in non-identical twins there share aonly half their genes in common.

Understanding Genetic InheritanceFamily and Twin studies seem to suggest that we are more likely to turn to crime such as theft of shoplifting if we have family members who have been convicted of a crime.

It could however be nothing to do with genetics. Family members are raised together and treated similarly.

Could there behaviour be explained by upbringing or observational learning.

The figures are also based on criminals that have actually been caught and convicted for their crimes.

Chromosome and abnormalities Blood samples can be taken to look at the chromosomes to see if they have any abnormalities that might cause criminal behaviour.

Normally Males have an XY Chromosome pattern.

But in the 1960 researchers discovered with an extra Y chromosome (XYY) are more likely to be violent and Criminal.

This condition is not inherited so does not run in the families. Even through it may be a genetic reason for criminality.

It is a very rare disorder but some men who have this disorder have been found to be more aggressive and slower at learning than average.

MurderersThe following murderers were found to have the chromosome abnormality XYY.

Richard Speck (Murdered 8 student Nurses)

John Wayne Gacy The Clown Killer(Murdered 33 boys and men)

Aurthur Shawcross (murdered 11 Women)

Starter questions:

1. Describe two ways of studying whether criminality is biological.

2. What problems might there be with saying criminality is biological?

3. Minority report – Discuss!

Theilgaard (1984) the criminal geneAim:

Alice Theilgaard (1984) wanted to see if criminals had a particular gene that could be responsible for their criminal behaviour.

Procedure:

Took blood samples of over 30,000 men born in the 1940s.

From these initial blood tests two chromosome abnormalities were found;

XXY Chromosome pattern

XYY Chromosome pattern

Out of 30,000 tested 16 had XXY and 12 had XYY

The men were interviewed by a social worker about their background and their criminal history and given an intelligence test.

A personality test was given to see if they displayed more aggression than the XY Males.

Interviewing and Research Bias

The Social workers did not know the aim of the study. By doing this was able to avoid Research Bias (find out what they want to find out).

Results – Theilgaard Found…XYY – Had slightly lower intelligence and tended to be more aggressive than normal.

This could be evidence for a criminal gene if aggression is a sign of criminality. (but not all criminals are aggressive).

There were far more similarities between the XXY and XYY males than there were differences.

No solid evidence of a criminal gene was found.

Evaluation Strengths

All tests and interviews conducted by independent Social Worker (No researcher Bias)

Used a vast range of tests to measure different aspects of men's lives, backgrounds and personality.

WeaknessOnly a small sample of men used (16 and 12) this is because XYY occurs in estimate 1 in 1000.

Only 12 males tested can not be sure that all XYY are more aggressive and lower intelligence. (Can’t be generalised).

XYY are verily average so can not be picked out from other males easily. Not inherited so can not be tracked easily.

Link between XYY and aggression is only a Correlation not a cause.

The most obvious reason for aggression males were lower intelligence and delayed speech. Could have made school difficult for them. Leading to frustration and aggression in childhood leading through to adulthood.

Similar studiesSimple fact is that from many studies that have been done.

Not all criminals are XYY and not all XYY males are Criminals.

So you can not be sure that chromosome abnormality causes criminality or all criminals would be XYY.

Dilemma

What would happen if XYY chromosome was identified?

Would all XYY be monitored in case they committed a crime?

Could this have lead them to crime as a result of being labelled.