Development of Criminal Mind: Nature Vs. Nurture

Development of Criminal Mind : Nature Vs . Nurture Introduction

A number of studies conducted in many countries over the years have come to similar broad conclusion which clearly indicates that genes play a significant role in determining criminal behavior . There are of course no specific genes associated with criminal tendencies nor any specific set of genes that can directly code for criminal behavior is assumed to exist . Rather , a wide variety of genes acting in a deadly concert bring about various degrees and types of genetic predisposition to criminal behavior . The term

predispostion indicates a potential tendency that needs suitable environmental factors to trigger it

Criminal behavior is caused both by environmental and genetic influences , and most often it happens through a complex interaction between them . Crime is neither genetically nor environmentally determined , but there are often strong heritable influences in criminal behavior as well as noticeable environmental causes . For example adoption studies investigating the nature vs . nurture issue in criminal behavior have found a surprising degree of genetic influences in criminal behavior . Less surprisingly , but as certainly , they have been able to identify the role of numerous adverse psychological and social factors in actualizing criminal behavior

________________ The relative importance of heredity and environment in determining human behavior has long been a seriously debated issue . In the early decades of the twentieth century , for example , William James believed that our behavior is largely shaped by the power of instincts and inherited tendencies present at birth . Quite in contrast to James , John Watson the founder of Behaviorism , believed in the power of conditioning , and the infinitely plastic human capacity to be molded by the forces of environment (Butterfield 2004 . Although animal behavior can be easily conditioned too , it is heavily determined by the animal 's genetic programming . In the case of humans , the situation becomes complicated because of the presence of a superior intelligence . Humans are enormously impressed and influenced by their environment . They also can readily learn from their environment and adapt their behavior accordingly . Yet by no means can the hereditary factors be easily dismissed

It can be easily observed in day to day life that children with different genotypes react differently to the same environments and seek out different experiences . A child who is active and aggressive by innate temperament would obviously react in a different way , for example , to the parental commands such as "Do this " and "Stop doing that " than his sibling who may be more passive or docile . All of us have a general notion of right and wrong . But the criminal orientation of mind which tends to flout many of these accepted notions of right and wrong usually begins to form at a very early age in life . Heritability is an important determinant in a wide variety of personality factors Criminality , along with a wide variety of specific characteristic traits associated with it such as aggressiveness , impulsivity or novelty-seeking , is no exception (Ebstein Belmaker 2002

A few decades ago it was believed that that...