Nature Vs Nurture
Do individuals become criminals as a result of heredity or genetics or is it their environment that is in fact at play? This question has left Criminologists in debate for the better part of our modern era. In order to help answer this question we must first take a closer look at the concept of Nature vs. Nurture, a popular psychological term initially created by Darwin and other positivists. "Nature vs. Nurture" refers to internal and external factors that play a role in behaviour, in this case in reference to criminals. "Nature" is paired up with the biological explanation known as internal factors. "Supporters of the biological perspective argue that we must identify the role of heredity and the importance of biophysical, as well as biosocial
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These examples, to an extent prove that in some cases, people can not escape their biology. According to Scott, 2005, genetics is the most argued point of criminology today. Some believe that genetics cause people to commit crimes. Geneticists research to find out if a certain chromosome combination will automatically make you a criminal or not; if this is true you could see even before your child was born if it would be a criminal in society. These studies proved very successful. Here are some outcomes of the geneticist and their lab studies (Ritter, 2006):
One of the most used theories of why criminals commit crimes is the person 's ability to commit crime is pre-determined. If that is so, criminals have no choice of what they do. Some of the genetic abnormalities that would make someone pre-determined would be the XYY chromosomal structure (Not effective in women, just men). A chromosomal test in prisons had an outcome of 27Y, which means most of the prisoners had that many Y chromosomes. This is a chemical imbalance caused from …show more content…
Let 's now take a look at our "Nurture" perspective.
If genetic reasons don 't control crime what does? Most of the criminologist today, still believe the same thing that was thought when we first started to look into crime; it 's the environment and nothing else. Genetics has no play, because if one is never introduced to a life of crime one will not know what crime is, and will probably not attempt to break law, but if one grow up in a house of crime then one is much more likely to become a criminal; Proof of the environmental theory lies in the fact that most criminals do grow up in a broken or deviant household. But then again some don 't. Most criminals do start at an early age thus showing that they do have a desire to commit crime, which could be an indicator of the environment at play. Perhaps though, peer pressure is at play as well, could these young criminals be influenced by the children that they hang around? Do these children affect the way they think what they do, and how they do it? The answer that most studies conclude is that social circles play a huge role in developing behaviour. (Gado,
These examples, to an extent prove that in some cases, people can not escape their biology. According to Scott, 2005, genetics is the most argued point of criminology today. Some believe that genetics cause people to commit crimes. Geneticists research to find out if a certain chromosome combination will automatically make you a criminal or not; if this is true you could see even before your child was born if it would be a criminal in society. These studies proved very successful. Here are some outcomes of the geneticist and their lab studies (Ritter, 2006):
One of the most used theories of why criminals commit crimes is the person 's ability to commit crime is pre-determined. If that is so, criminals have no choice of what they do. Some of the genetic abnormalities that would make someone pre-determined would be the XYY chromosomal structure (Not effective in women, just men). A chromosomal test in prisons had an outcome of 27Y, which means most of the prisoners had that many Y chromosomes. This is a chemical imbalance caused from …show more content…
Let 's now take a look at our "Nurture" perspective.
If genetic reasons don 't control crime what does? Most of the criminologist today, still believe the same thing that was thought when we first started to look into crime; it 's the environment and nothing else. Genetics has no play, because if one is never introduced to a life of crime one will not know what crime is, and will probably not attempt to break law, but if one grow up in a house of crime then one is much more likely to become a criminal; Proof of the environmental theory lies in the fact that most criminals do grow up in a broken or deviant household. But then again some don 't. Most criminals do start at an early age thus showing that they do have a desire to commit crime, which could be an indicator of the environment at play. Perhaps though, peer pressure is at play as well, could these young criminals be influenced by the children that they hang around? Do these children affect the way they think what they do, and how they do it? The answer that most studies conclude is that social circles play a huge role in developing behaviour. (Gado,