Genes in the dock
Scientists: the discovery of "criminal genes" will not affect the justice system
The discovery of new variations of genes that make a person more prone to committing crimes is unlikely to affect the work of the justice system due to the contradictory nature of their effect on human behavior, scientists say in an article published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
"Judges and juries may find defendants less guilty of committing a crime if they have similar variations in their genes. But on the other hand, their presence will indicate that these same people should become repeat offenders more often due to the fact that they cannot control their behavior. Both of these things add up to zero," says Paul Appelbaum from Psychiatric Institute of New York (in the press release 'My genes made me do it:' Behavioral genetic evidence in criminal court – VM).
In recent years, geneticists have uncovered several dozen mutations in various genes related to human behavior, the presence of which in the DNA of an individual makes him more impulsive, prone to physical abuse, inappropriate behavior in a drunken state and unjustified risk.
The presence of a large number of such "typos" in the genome, as some scientists believe today, makes a person more prone to committing crimes. For example, observations of residents of Dunedin in New Zealand show that carriers of the "bad" version of the MAOA gene associated with impulsive and antisocial behavior commit about 40% of crimes in the district, despite their small number.
Many other geneticists, legal experts and psychologists categorically disagree with such conclusions, since in the end, according to this group of experts, they can lead to the fact that humanity will be divided into two large groups – potential "criminals" whose freedom of action will be limited, and "normal people".. In addition, the presence of such DNA sections in the genome of suspects can force jurors or judges to consider them knowingly guilty and unjustifiably send them to jail.
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19.09.2017