According to data taken in a study from the American Journal of Criminal Justice this past year, many people misunderstand genetic concepts and have attributed the appearance of criminal behaviors to the work of genetic factors. However, this has been tested over and over again with the result always being that this is false. Flying in the face of this conclusion, analysis of a sample of white respondents found that this false concept was still prevalent in a small portion of the population. While this number was found to lie in the ~5% range, it is still a substantial amount of the respondent population. Thankfully, the overall population that was genetically literate was found to not believe in a 'crime gene'. This should hopefully ease tensions of racially-directed concepts of 'born criminals'.
While I don't have much particular interest in criminal justice, I find that fighting against prejudice and ignorance with science is quite exciting. Hopefully this is a sign that we are progressing rather than backsliding into the hideousness of the past.
Hello James,
ReplyDeleteI found your post very interesting. There are many different factors that can have an effect on whether someone has criminal behavior like one's environment and childhood. No one is born a criminal there are various components that can lead someone to live a life of crime. I do believe this concept of a "crime gene" was racially motivated and used in a derogatory manner. Many believe certain races have crime genes but that is not the case because no one is born a criminal there are many outside factors that can cause someone to do bad things. Being aware that people are not born with a crime gene can help stop the racial prejudices and discrimination.
- Comment Made By Aracely Morales
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