Additionally the use of adoption studies can contribute to our understanding of genetic factors in aggression. If a positive correlation can be seen between adopted children and their biological parents ( where no environmental influenced has occurred) in aggressive behaviour then it would suggest a genetic influence. However if a positive correlation is found between adopted children and their foster parents, it shows there must be an environmental effect , a study of 14000 adoptions in Denmark show that a significant number of boys with criminal convictions had biological parents with criminal convictions. This provides evidence for the influence genetic factors has in aggression. A gene called MAOA is associated with aggressive behaviour, it regulated the metabolism of serotonin, and additionally low levels of serotonin are associated with aggressive and impulsive behaviour.
This is “the practice by law enforcement of considering race as an indicator of the likelihood of criminal behavior” (Robinson 530). The issue of using race to identify people is disputable because minorities feel that it is an act of inequality and also humiliating. However, the Supreme Court supports its legality as long as ethnicity is seen as an important factor that determines the detainment of an individual. Therefore, there are many pros and cons about the legality of this law enforcement technique. During times of war, racial
The idea that inherited genetic predispositions may underlie the risk for engaging in criminal behavior is not exactly new. Perhaps most convincingly, several adoption studies in the 1970s and 1980s provided powerful evidence that having an incarcerated birth parent raised one’s own risk of earning a criminal conviction as an adult, even if reared by pro-social, law-abiding – but genetically unrelated – foster parents. This remarkable finding was replicated in adoptive cohorts across cultures, including two Scandinavian studies (Cloninger et al., 1982; Mednick et al., 1984) as well as in the United States (Cadoret et al., 1983). Based on these adoption studies, the genetic effect on criminal outcomes appears important for both
I find it hard to justify the incarceration of drug users as they are harming no one else but themselves. Would you throw in jail someone who tries to commit suicide? Obviously not, well in the same way a drug user is just harming
Melinda Wenner from Scientific American Mind and Benedict Carey from the New York Times both report on this study and use it to prove that birth order indeed effects IQ and therefore effects your personality. The study concluded that the eldest children tend to have IQ’s that are higher than their siblings- an average of three points higher (Carey). It also found that the difference was not because of biological factors, or genes that were inherited, but instead were the result of sociological interplay of parents and other siblings. Both articles defend the findings by explaining that eldest children teach, or tutor their younger siblings naturally. This, in turn, helps the information solidify in their minds creating room for expansion of deeper more abstract
Gershon et al. (1989) research supports this view. In his research, Gershon found that there was a concordance rate (the proportion of pairs where both individuals share a certain characteristic) between family members and the risk of developing depression; he concluded that the more genes individuals share, the more likely they are at developing depression. However, this piece of research could be argued against as it claims that identical (MZ) twins only have a 55% chance of inheriting depression. However, if MZ twins share 100% of their genes, then they should both have 100% chance of developing depression, but according to this research, that is not the case; this research may also suggest that genetics are not the main factor in developing depression.
These findings support the biological explanation as it suggests that depression has a genetic factor. However, as all the pairs twins which were used in the study were raised in the same environment, the depression may have been learned or copied from another family member; therefore, this piece of research cannot be seen as valid. Also, this study could be said to lack reliability as it used a small sample size. Furthermore McGuffin et al’s research could be seen as reductionists as they are over simplifying the complexities of depression. In addition to this, some psychologists also argue that the genetic explanation to depression is deterministic as it claims that if an individual’s family members have depression, then they are definitely going to have depression.
Lombroso stated that born criminals could be recognised because they possessed certain ‘stigma’, an example of this would be big ears, big lips, prominent cheeks bones, extra visible wrinkles, extra fingers or toes, irregularity of the head or face. A male with more than 4 of these anomalies is labelled a born criminal. Females can also be born criminal but they only need as little as 3 to inherit the title of a born criminal. (Lombroso 1876 cited in Akers 1999) This theory of criminal behaviour helped and inspired other criminologists come up with biological theories on criminal behaviour, but it has been proved that Lombroso’s theory on the born criminal is wrong. Charles Goring made an experiment of comparing prison inmates with soldiers, professors, university undergraduates and hospital patients and he found no differences between the 37 physical traits and behaviour, he concluded that ‘there was no such thing as a physical criminal type.’ (Akers,
Contrastingly whites are underrepresented. However such statistics do not tell us whether members of one ethnic group are more likely than members of another ethnic group to commit an offence in the first place; they just tell us about involvement in the criminal justice system. For example differences in stop and search or arrest rates may be due to police racism, while differences in rates of imprisonment may be the result of courts handing down harsher sentences on minorities. There are other sources of statistics to reveal link of ethnicity and offending. Victim surveys ask individuals to say what crimes they have been victims of.
Running head: MODULE 5 HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT Module 5 Homework Assignment Wesley Carpenter Allied American University 02 Oct 2014 Author Note This paper was prepared for SOC 135: Introduction to Sociology, Module 5 Homework Assignment taught by Professor Jesse Kleis. Crime is a big part of this family’s everyday life. Though this statement may elicit thoughts of the stereotypes depicted in movies like Casino or Goodfellas, this family actually has a long track record of run-ins with the law. This particular article received attention throughout the United States and has been cited by politicians, law enforcement agencies, and researchers in criminology, psychology and, now, economics. Butterfield’s article describes how the Bogle