Certain gene variants may be linked to a propensity for crime, says Professor JC Barnes of the University of Texas in Dallas in the journal Criminology.
Co-authors are Dr. Kevin M. Beaver of Florida State University and Dr. Brian B. Boutwell of Sam Houston State University. The research focused on the question of whether genes could make a person a lifelong criminal, from antisocial behavior in childhood to serious crime in adulthood (or earlier).
The research concept was based on the developmental taxonomy of antisocial behavior created by Dr. Terri Moffitt, which divided the entire population into three parts: people who are criminals throughout their lives, a group that only commit crimes during adolescence, and those who do not commit crimes at all. According to Moffitt, one of these three paths can be driven by environmental, biological, and possibly genetic factors.
Those who are lawful only in their youth usually drink alcohol and use drugs and commit minor property crimes. A smaller group with no criminal tendencies does not engage in this type of activity at all.
Most scientists did not expect that genetic factors could play an important role. Barnes and his colleagues used data from 4000 people from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to see how people end up in one of the three Moffitt categories. The data was then analyzed based on what was learned from the twin studies – a design study was used that looked at the extent to which a person was influenced by genetic and environmental factors.
In the case of unrepentant criminals, an analysis by scientists from the University of Texas has shown that genetic factors appear to have a greater impact on criminal behavior than the environment. People who do not commit crimes owe it as much to the environment as to their genes, and those who err only at a young age are mainly influenced by the negative influences of their environment.
Barnes does not yet know of any specific gene that can be attributed to criminal inclination, but believes it may be an interesting field of study. In his opinion, there is no single gene that makes a criminal, but there are hundreds or thousands of them whose interactions somehow increase the risk of criminal behavior.