Genetics in Criminal Law

Genetics has been an ongoing debate in the criminal justice system for forty years. There have been numerous types of studies to try and prove this theory. Three of these studies include twin studies, adoption studies and testorone studies. Each study however has had mixed results. Some believe that all the studies have proven is that there is something in particularly wrong with the individual or individuals. However, the early studies were the first to use the scientific method to prove genetic engineering to commit a crime. Many believe that if genetics is the cause for criminal behavior than punishment is important to protect society but will not have a deterrent effect. They believe this because of the fact that it’s genetic and not something caused by their bringing up. (Akers and Sellers, 2004).

Both identical and fraternal twins are used in twin studies. The study is based from the results of fraternal twins versus identical twins and their rates of criminal behavior. Studies have shown that identical twins who suffer from antisocial behavior as children will carry that habit on as adults and inherited it from their parents. But when it came to criminal behavior they discovered that genetics had little to no significance in twin studies. (Ascenicstateofmind, 2012)

Adoption studies were used to evaluate the links between children who were adopted and criminal behavior as a way to confirm that genetics is the cause of criminal behavior. These studies used both adoptive and biological parents to evaluate their environments. The original studies used the children of mothers who are incarcerated. The results showed that the children had higher criminal behavior than those who had not come from incarcerated females. The study also used children who had fathers that committed property and violent crimes. The results were that the adopted child committed property crime but not the violent crimes. (Ascenticstateofmind, 2012).

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