Re: nbc Jeff Jacoby on the looters nbc

On 4 Sep 2005 16:15:50 -0700, "Joe" <obri6133@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>
>Ukes wrote:
>> Are you suggesting that genes are a cause of criminal behavior?
>>
>> Jerry
>
>Jer....
>
>I took a criminology course a few semesters back. First one I had taken
>in eons. It ain't my field, but I was really shocked at how many
>criminologists buy into certain gene-related theories today. That ***
>was way-taboo back in the 60's and 70's. I won't pretend to understand
>specifics, but yeah, at least with the current crop of criminologists,
>there's a belief that a certain percentage of criminal tendencies are
>inherited. I'm also not sure of how the psychologists and geneticists
>feel about that. It was surprising.

Joe - That seems to be consistent with studies that have found other
human personality traits to be largely, or even mostly, determined by
genes. The question of whether criminal behavior has a genetic
component to it is largely a taboo subject. There was a symposium
planned at the University of Maryland about 10 years ago that was
going to examine the role of genetics in criminality, but it was
cancelled because of the controversy it generated.

I'm more familiar with the connection between intelligence and
criminality. Since intelligence, as measured by IQ tests, is about 70%
to 80% determined by genes in adults, studies of the relationship
between intelligence and criminality may provide some indirect
indications concerning the relationship between genes and criminality.

There have been studies that show a -.19 correlation between IQ and
juvenile delinquency. (The correlation is negative because as IQ goes
down, juvenile delinquency goes up). This suggests that IQ accounts
for 4% to 5% of the total variance in juvenile delinquency. But the
relatively low correlation is somewhat misleading because the vast
majority of people with low IQs are law abiding. The relationship
between IQ and criminality is more persuasively demonstrated by
another study which showed that criminals had IQs about 10 points
lower than their full blooded siblings with whom they were reared.
That study may also provide some indirect evidence for a genetic role
in criminality.

Jerry

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