Analysis: What It Takes To Be A Biological Criminal

Running head: What it Takes to be a Biological Criminal

What it Takes to be a Biological Criminal

Criminal behaviors range widely in their seriousness and their affect the public. The bulk of criminal behavior consists of mostly mundane acts such as burglary, robbery and assaults. On the other hand there are a few individuals that kill people and then mutilate their victims bodies. Much of the public can easily believe that there is something wrong psychologically with those few individuals though others may argue that these people are just evil. Thinkquest explains that biological determinism as a theory claims that humans - their appearance, behavior, and even long-term fate - are entirely determined by genes. Biological determinists disregard or deny the effects of environmental variables on the expression
of a given gene, and often assume that a single mutation can have far-reaching effects on the phenotype (2000). Not only is it almost impossible to conclusively demonstrate that crime is a biological trait but it is also just as difficult to explain that it is not a biological trait. Raine states that if psychopathology cannot be defined, one cannot definitively say whether criminal behavior falls into this category (1993). This goes to show that since it cannot be clearly defined that there is no way to state that criminal behavior comes down to being biological or not. Another form of reasoning with this issue is also nature versus nurture.
Some believe that people are born the way that they are and thats the way that they will act. Yet others debate that it depends on how the person was brought up (i.e environmental factors). These include things such as if they come from a background of criminal history in their family, where they grew up or the income of the family. Even still with all the tests that have happened through the years no one knows. This leads to the conclusion that criminal behavior is not just brought about by someones biology but it is also brought out by the environment that they came from. In his book Wright reveals a much better metaphor reflecting the relationship of genes to the final products we call human beings. He calls biologically determined aspects of human behavior the "knobs" of human nature, and environmental factors the forces responsible for "tuning" those knobs (1994). This essentially means that everyone is born with the capacity to do harm/ cause criminal behavior, but it is the environment that sets these thought/ actions off in our
brains. Criminal behavior has always been a focus for psychologists due to the age old debate between nature and nurture. Is it the responsibility of an individual 's genetic makeup that makes them a criminal or is it the environment in which they are raised that determines their outcome?All of this information leads to the fact that we don’t know wether or not criminal behavior is solely determined by biological factors. Yes it may be a cause to why they do it and don’t feel remorse but it doesn’t explain the whole story and give definitive answers on the subject.

References
Adrian Raine. (1993). The psychopathology of crime: Criminal behavior as a clinical disorder. Elsevier. Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=is criminal behavior determined biologically

Library, thinkquest. (2000). Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/ph6.shtml

Wright, R. (1994). The moral animal. New York : Vintage Books. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679763996/o/