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Asked by 394prmc25 to vediacan on 19 Jun 2015.
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Vedia Can answered on 19 Jun 2015:
Hi 394prmc25,
I don’t think that biology is the root cause of criminal behaviour. I am at two minds over this question because I have done voluntary work with the Metropolitan Police Services, which allowed me to observe why certain people are criminals. The major influence is their surroundings; the people they socialise with, the video games they play. Yesterday a scientist mentioned genetics may play a role in criminal behaviour. I disagree. I think the substances they may take plays a role in affecting their rational thinking process. Hence, it encourages their biological processes (brain) towards criminal behaviour. If they weren’t to have taken any substances, then I believe it is their visual experiences over their lifetime, which plays a role in their thought processes and contributes to their irrational behaviour. We are in an era where everyone wants the perfect lifestyle they see other people have but some of them cannot achieve this due to numerous factors such as income or current assets, so they resort to criminal behaviour. Some people are weak some are not but I do not believe that biology is the cause of this because even the weak can become strong, it is more to do with discipline, and self assurance.
Best Wishes,
Vedia
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Comments
Richard commented on :
Hi,
I think I am the scientist that Vedia is referring to and disagreeing with here.
Vedia is saying here that environment is the primary driver of criminal behaviour. It is true that it does play a big role. However, genetics can determine the influence of that environment. The example I gave was of the “warrior gene”. People with this genetic difference have been shown to be more likely than the general population to be aggressive, especially if they have been exposed to a traumatic environment in early life, or they are subject to extreme provocation i.e. the gene difference makes them more vulnerable to the effects of their environment. It is a case of nurture AND nature, not one or the other. The protein that the warrior gene makes is called monoamine oxidase A. It is one of the drug targets for antidepressants, so it makes sense that it might affect mood.
More evidence comes from animal studies: if you make mice with this same gene difference, they respond much more aggressively to mice they are not familiar with.
However, this is a very controversial area. Why? Because there are major differences in the distribution of the “warrior gene” between racial groups, some people try to exploit this research for political purposes. What they forget is that in people, it seems to be the interaction of a poor environment and genetics that is critical. If you solved the social problems, then people with this gene would be much less likely to have problems. An analogy would be that people with pale skin are more likely to get skin cancer – if they are exposed to excessive sunlight. If they stay out of the sun, their risk decreases.
Richard commented on :
You can read more about this in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. It’s free to access unlike many scientific papers:
http://www.pnas.org/content/106/7/2118.long
Alex commented on :
The cause of criminal behaviour cannot be attributed to biology alone. However, it is the ‘gene-environmental interaction’ that may predispose an individual to criminal behaviour. The gene-environmental interaction is an interesting concept that is also implicated in the causes of a number of mental diseases or mood disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.
Richard commented on :
We can look at this sort of thing using twin studies. If you take a pair of identical twins (same genes, same early environment) and one develops schizophrenia, then the chance of the other getting it is around 40-60%. That compares with around 15% in non-identical twins (same early environment, similar, but not identical genes), and a much lower rate (1%) in the general population. This shows that genetics plays a large role, but does not completely explain your chances of getting the disease. Twin studies are a very powerful way of looking at inheritance of traits.