Discuss the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate of criminal offending behaviour. Which does the evidence support?

Nature vs . Nurture : Finding the Root Cause of Anti-Social Behavior

In the world of criminology the focus is on anti-social behavior - its cause and effect . And anti-social behavior covers the whole gamut from maladaptive behavior , petty crimes , and even to the more sensational ones like serial killers , mass murderers , and criminal masterminds . And in determining its root cause one is drawn to the age-old debate whether it is the biological make-up of the person that makes him commit criminal acts or is it his environment that shapes his worldview leading him to

become a law-breaker . For criminologists there are many implications for this idea starting from designing effective intervention strategies to the issue of who will take responsibility for the criminal offending behavior . It all boils down to a review of related literature and to find out where the evidence is pointing to is it nature or nurture that makes a person anti-social

Nature vs . Nurture

The argument can easily be described as two opposing explanations for anti-social behavior . Those who are advocating the idea that it is already inherent in the person to have anti-social tendencies then they are also asserting that criminal behavior is already wired into the person and this instinct to commit crimes is just waiting to be unleashed . And as mentioned earlier there are manifold implications for this assertion and these are listed as follows

Anti-social behavior can be inherited and consequently passed from one generation to the next

Anti-social behavior is influenced by genetics - it is in the person 's nature to deviate and commit criminal acts

Criminologists can predict criminal tendencies and that person can be labelled as having anti-social traits which can be used as grounds for discrimination and

The person who has inherited negative ' traits and then proceed to commit criminal acts can receive a more lenient sentence or at all because he was forced by biological forces beyond his control

Those who are on the other side of the fence would argue that the evidence points to the contrary , that social forces determine behavioral tendencies . For criminology this results in the following implications

A person can be trained or nurtured in a certain way to curb anti-social tendencies

Families and government can team up to build a society conducive to rearing up of children and

In an imperfect society families and governments can team up to create programs that will intervene and help maladjusted children to cope up and limit their frustrations so that it will not lead to criminal behavior

These implications make it extremely important to find out the underlying reason for anti-social behavior

Preliminary Investigation

Even without the aid of hard science one can easily make inferences from simply observing family members and other people that are part of one 's network of human relationships . For those with a keener sense of observation , anti-social behavior such as alcoholism , a problem shared by father and son becomes obvious . It is also not surprising to find out that...