Can Genetics Cause Crime ?
Introduction to Criminal Justice System
Dr. Mike Carlie
Are genetic factors more likely to make one person
perform violent acts? Many doctors and researchers in the
field of genetics have searched for a answer to this
During 1989-93 one such researcher named Dr. Sullivan found
some interesting points about genetics and crime.
Sullivan while working for the Bush administration's
secretary of health and human services during 1989-1993 was
appalled by the epidemic of violent crimes he saw taking
place in American cities. According to Dr. Sullivan,
" more than 26,000 Americans were murdered,
and six million violent crimes were committed
with young men and minorities falling victim
Sullivan also reported that about one in every 27 black men,
compared to one in every 205 white men, died violently also
1 in 117 black women met a untimely end as compared to white
women which only 1 in 496 were killed due to violent crimes.
This is not surprising that young males commit most of the
serious crimes. According to an article in Scientific
American, only 12.5 percent of violent crime in the U.S. in
1992 was committed by females. What is also surprising
according to W.W. Gibbs the author of "Seeking the Criminal
Element," in Scientific American,(1995 March) pp 100-107,
is that a very small number of criminals are responsible for
the majority of the violent crime.
Sullivan who is now the president of the Morehouse
School of Medicine in Atlanta wanted to try and address the
violence as a public health issue. In an interview after he
left office in 1993, Dr. Sullivan explains that his rational
for this was that the higher increases in violent crimes and
specifically homicide in the young male population in large
cities. Which was higher...