inherited criminality - criminal behaviours

Question 1

Concordance rate

Answer 1

The probability that 2 people with shared genes will develop the same condition

Question 2

Biological explanation Inherited criminality - family research

Answer 2

Osborne and west - found that 13% of sons with non criminal fathers had criminal records, while 40% of sons of criminal fathers had records
This suggests crime could be genetic - however doesn’t consider environment factors e.g upbringing, socialisation, role models
Can we say for sure it’s an inherited trait?

Question 3

Twin research

Answer 3

Rosanoff et al - studied 97 twin pairs finding male concordance rates of 22/23 MZ and 3/23 DZ

Raine - reviewed the literature comparing the delinquent behaviour of twins - average concordance rate was higher for MZ twins (52%) then DZ (21%)

Ishikawa and raine - meta-analysis found a concordance rate for criminality 44% for MZ twins and 21.6% for DZ

However none say 100% concordance so must be other factors

Question 4

Goldsmith and gottesman - is crime caused by genes

Answer 4

‘Notions such as genes for crimes are nonsense, but the following notion is reasonable: there may be partially genetically influenced predispositions for basic behavioural tendencies such as impulsivity’

Question 5

Candidate genes - MAOA

Answer 5

Could play a role in the development of a disease/disorder
Nickname - ‘warrior gene’
It’s role is to create enzymes that break down serotonin but the warrior gene has a disruption
Linked to aggressive behaviours like murder, rape

Question 6

Brunner et al

Answer 6

Analysed DNA of 28 males members of a Dutch fasmily with history of rape and attempted murder - the men shared a mutation in the MAOA gene - leading to low levels of it

Issues = small specific fasmily = ungeneralisable

Question 7

Cadherin 13 - CDRH13

Answer 7

It is unclear how the dysfunction of this gene leads to violent behaviour
Also linked to
ADHD, depression,autism,substance misuse

Question 8

Tiihonen et al

Answer 8

Research with 900 Finnish offender - found low activity of both MAOA and CDH13 and estimated 5-10% of all violent crime in Finland isn’t due to abnormalities in these 2 genes

Question 9

Caspi et al

Answer 9

Longitudinal study of 1000 people born in the 70s - anti social behaviour was assessed at 26 and found that 12% of men who had the MAOA gene mutation had experiences childhood mistreatment and responsible for 44% of violent convictions

Question 10

Describe one biological explanation for criminal behaviour (10)

Answer 10

• inherited criminality
  =criminality can be explained by genetics

P1- family/twins
Osborn and west = fathers and sons research finding 13% of criminal sons had non criminal fathers whereas 40% of criminal sons had criminal fathers
Raine = twin study on delinquent behaviour = concordance = 52% for MZ twins and 21% for DZ twins

P2- candidate genes
=could play a role in the development of a disease/disorder
Brunner et al (MAOA)= 28 members of Dutch family who had history of rape and attempted murder all had mutation of MAOA
+ 900 Finnish offenders found 5-10% of violent crimes were as a result of low MAOA+CDH13

P3- diathesis stress model
Inherited predisposition + environment = criminality
Study on 1000 p’s showed 12% of MAOA mutation showed childhood mistreatment and was responsible for 44% of violent convictions
-needs to be triggered by environment for genes to cause criminality

Question 11

Diathesis stress model

Answer 11

Gene/inherited predisposition + environment = criminal behaviour

Question 12

Evaluation of inherited criminality - research to support

Answer 12

S- strength there is supporting research
E-Osborne and west = 13% of criminal sons and non criminal fathers whereas 40% of criminal sons had criminal fathers
C- however does not consider environmental factors e.g upbringing, role models, socialisation
W-therefore even though their is evidence that criminality is genetically predisposed we cannot say it is an inherited trait as figures are not 100% and ignores other factors

Question 13

Evaluation of inherited criminality- eugenics

Answer 13

S- weakness as it could encourages eugenic ideas
E-people worth ‘criminal genes’ e.g MAOA or CDH13 could be encourage to not reproduce to eradicate their genes from the population
E- this is ethically and morally wrong and fuels those who promote eugenic ideas
W- weakness as it is damaging both physically and emotionally to individuals who may carry this gene and encourages harmful ideas

Question 14

Evaluation of inherited criminality- non violent crimes?

Answer 14

S- weakness as the focus is only on violent crimes
E-MAOA and CDH13 are only explanations for violent crime
E- fraud, robbery, speeding etc cannot be explained by these gene mutations
W- weakness as it fails to explain crime in a wider sense - giving an incomplete explanation of criminal behaviour

Question 15

Role of the amygdala - amygdala and aggression

Answer 15

Coccora- studied people with intermittent explosive disorder (ied) - they viewed images of faces whilst having an fmri
P’s with ied showed high levels of amygdala activity when looking at angry faces in comparison to controls
This shows people with ied have an association between amygdala and the processing of aggressive emotions

Question 16

Amygdala and fear conditioning

Answer 16

Means the child cannot identify social cues that indicate threat e.g angry faces so does not link punishment to their aggressive behaviour
E.g gao study - longitudinal study at age 3 they did a physiological arousal exam (indicated by sweating) in response to a painful noise - 20 years later those who had criminal records showed no fear conditioning age 3 ‘fearless’
This suggests casual relationship between amygdala dysfunction and criminal behaviour

Question 17

Amaygdala - Raines findings

Answer 17

Raines research found hemispheric asymmetry with decreased left and increased right activity
These differences produce unusual emotional responses e.g lack of fear, empathy remorse or guilt
Lack of fear = no consequences and lack of guilt = more likely to commit crimes e.g murder

Question 18

Evaluate role of amygdala - supporting research

Answer 18

S- strength as supporting research agrees
E-e.g raine found hemispheric asymmetry with reduced left and increased right activity
E-this links to crime as it accounts for aggressive outbursts or crimes like murder due to lack of fear
W- strength as its scientific, objective, highly reliable therefore credible

Question 19

Evaluate role of amygdala - biological reductionism

Answer 19

S- weakness
E-to simple too explain crime as just a dysfunction in amygdala and ignores other brain areas/factors e.g pre frontal cortex
C-however it can be beneficial to help us understand this role in depth
W-weakness as it cannot be the only expiation to the cause of crime

Question 20

Evaluate role of amygdala - doesn’t explain non violent crimes

Answer 20

S-weakness
E-only explains violent and aggressive crimes e.g murder
E-struggles to explain other crimes e.g fraud or shoplifting where aggression/violence is not present
W-weakness as it cannot be generalised to all crimes