Heredity and Crime

Psychology
Guadalupe V. Herry
 Heredity and Crime

In writing upon the subject of Heredity and Crime I found many theories, most of

which were based upon criminologist and some actual researchers in psychology. To

begin, I went back and looked at my Intro to criminal justice class and pulled notes and

then to my criminology class notes upon which I also found how it correlates all into this

subject. My attempt here is not to prove or disprove the theories of genetics but to

merely state what others say on this subject.

To begin I found that the search for answers as to why a person committed

crimes started out as Biological Theories. Which started with the Biological School of

crime and causation that based it’s theories on inherited or bodily Characteristics and

features. (Schmalleger 2011) It was said that the basis for criminal tendencies were

based strictly on genetics which was passed on from generation to generation. It was

also believed that certain human beings did not develop as quickly as others were

leaving the assumption that they would commit criminal acts.

Another criminal theorist Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) believed that the bodily

constitution might reflect personality.(Schmalleger 2011) By this he used the brain as

his study and the shape of the skull would determine the lack of development and thus

for the personality would then be revealed. This theory spread across Europe and

eventually here to the United States. This was his basis for criminal intent. This was

called Phrenology.

Cesare Lomroso an Italian Psychologist (1835-1909) created Atavism which was

based on a test subject by the name of Vilella whom he interviewed several times
before his death. Then was able to compare his interviews with that of his abnormalities

of which he had. (Schmalleger 2011) It was during the late 19 th Century when Darwin’s

evolutionary theory came into existence collaborating Atavism; this being that criminals

were not mentally capable of being successful to the modern world. He used physical

traits such as large amounts of body hair, large lips, two different colored eyes and

numerous other physical character traits. What kept his theory or Atavism going was

his continuous studies and redefining of his work. His final work concluded that certain

people were just born criminals.

Now I would like to take a look at the Chromosome Theory which is relatively

new due now to technical advances in medical research such as DNA. Researchers

have been able to show that women and men both have different and distinct

chromosomes which determine sex XX being female and XY being male. An article in

the English Journal Nature published the work of Patricia Jacobs who found that there

was what is called supermales; which were males who contained an extra Y

chromosome. She was able to determine that the supermales had more aggressive

behaviors along with stronger physical traits such as height and even a tendency

towards homosexuality. Her studies did find that these supermales were more common

in the prisons than in the regular population but later studies question the significance of

the supermale study. (Schmalleger 2011)

Rational Choice Theory has it’s basis from the classic criminology which was

developed by the Italian Scholar Cesare Beccaria.(1738-1794) he was able to begin

develop the idea of the punishment should fit the crime. He also developed the concept

of Utilitarianism which is that people want to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. Crimes
occur when the potential pleasure and reward from illegal acts outweigh the likely pains

of punishment. Updated in the 1960’s criminologist still believe that crime can be

controlled by the fear of punishment and deserve to be penalized for their misdeeds.

Contemporary Rational choice Theory states that law-violating behavior is the product

of careful thought and planning. (Siegel 2010)

Now, after re-reading my notes and going over the things which I have

mentioned in the theories, I believe that crime is first and foremost based on free will

and ones’ ability to determine whether the rewards of crime outweigh those of the

penalties of committing the crime. Of course this is coming from someone who is bias

when it comes to upholding the law since I am a veteran police officer of 15 years. I

have seen what happens to the victims and it is hard to believe at times that there are

people who can rationalize ones’ crime. So ultimately, I believe in the Rational Choice

Theory.
 Work Cited

Sigel, Larry J (2009) Criminology the Core 4 th edition (1-2)

Schmalleger, Frank (2011) Criminal Justice Today an Introductory text for the 21 st

Century