Were you born a criminal?

Adrian Raine says YES:   SUMMARY

·       Most of the other fields of science have identified certain biological factors as being predictors of crime but criminology seems to still ignore modern findings

·       Studies show that identical twins are more likely to commit crime than fraternal twins.

·       Some of the factors that may predict the likely hood of a person committing crime are a person’s lacking in psychophysiology, EEG underarousal, cardiovascular underarousal, brain damage, nutrition, hormones, and toxins in the environment.

·       Science has discovered risk factors that some individuals may have that make them more likely to commit crimes.

·       As a society we need to inform these people and those people must act accordingly knowing their biological risk factors. Furthermore, we must hold them accountable of their actions since they have free will. But is we do not inform them of their risk factors, can we hold them fully accountable since they may not truly have free will?

Jeffrey Rieman says NO:        SUMMARY

·       Poverty is a source of although we do not know how it causes crime.

·       Even though we realize poverty as being a source of crime we do very little to improve the conditions surrounding those people experiencing it.

·       Prison creates and releases more criminals than it rehabilitates.

·       Once prisoners are released from prison they still face a tough uphill battle to find jobs and gain public acceptance.

·       If they are unsuccessful they find easy ways to earn a living by committing crime again.

·       America has the highest rate of death by firearm in the world

·       Basically, it has been found that treatment programs and therapy early in a child’s life is most effective at reducing crime therefore people are not simply born criminal and will most likely violate laws.

Reflection:

I do not think that criminal behavior is determined biologically. After reading both sides of this debate I do believe that there are certain genes and traits that just happen to be found more in criminals than non-criminals but to say that those genes or traits are linked to criminality is misleading. It seems to me that for one to claim that some biological factors determines criminality that factor would have to only be present in criminals not just more so than not.

            In my opinion the best predictor of crime is the environment in which a child is born into and raised. More specifically the child’s relationship with their parents or those entrusted to care for them. The biological factors mostly come in to play when looking at how a child reacts to certain situations rather it is good or bad. There is no doubting that we inherent some personality characteristics similar to one or both of our parents, even those adopted inherit them from their biological parents. For example I get my argumentative side of my personality from my mother without a doubt. So basically what I am saying is that the environment in which we are brought up whether it be hostile and unloving or caring and loving plays a much larger role in determining potential criminality than does how we react to certain situations in life. I may have an argumentative personality naturally but if I was raised not to be like that (which I was not) then I most likely would not be so argumentative.