Judges to Use Dna in Criminal Cases

Can the genetics of an individual play a role in the decision to commit a crime? Some research suggests that genetics play a larger role in behavior than previously believed. Does genetics carry enough weight regarding someone’s actions to be considered in the decision for sentencing? Several different psychological views can be applied to this question: behavioral - upbringing and childhood memories cause them to behave this way, or one can say that violent criminals are the way they are due to conditioning. Both theories discount genetics all together. In reality there is more than just one factor that contributes to a criminal’s behavior. To obtain a clear idea, one needs to look further.

A look at criminal behavior from a psychodynamic view, one would say a person’s genetics does not affect their behavior, however their upbringing and repressed childhood memories would. From this point of view an argument can be made that a person’s criminal behavior is a result of how they were nurtured by their mother as a child and from past memories or desires that harbor in their unconscious mind. Psychodynamic psychologists also believe that a person is born with certain motivations that influence the way they behave. For example, a young man whose mother didn’t make appropriate choices to ensure he had a loving and stable upbringing. His mother was out all night at the bar and bringing home different men throughout his childhood. A person can assume this caused him to harbor anger and resentment towards his mother and perhaps women in general. When this individual acts on his anger and childhood memories he sexually assaults a woman. One can wonder if he carries the gene associated with violence and aggression. Assuming he does, it would be unlikely the gene would make any difference in choices this young man makes.

The behavioral approach says that a person is who they are due solely to how they were taught and genetics play no role in a person’s