Genetic And Environmental Influences On Criminal Behavior

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Many people believed that criminal behavior of a person comes from the genes passed down. In recent years, tests have shown that genes and criminal behavior have little to or no correlation. Certain genetic factors may create a predisposition for a particular illness, but that probability depends on the environment a person was reared in. The social relationships that a person forms with the people in their environment and the external components of that environment is what can shape their criminal behavior. Criminal behavior can not be biologically determined because a person who carries a gene for a particular mental illness needs certain elements to develop that illness, like the type of social relationships a person develops with people …show more content…

Genes are units of heredity that are transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring. Caitlin M. Jones wrote a paper titled Genetic and Environmental Influences on criminal behavior . In her paper she stated,”having a genetic predisposition for criminal behavior does not determine the actions of an individual”(Jones 2005). The challenges a person faces determines their actions not their genes. Environmental factors vary over the country. Criminal behavior and environmental factors across the country does not have a consistent pattern. Everyone does not have the same genes and environmental factors including: poverty rates, the environment you live in ,economic opportunities,etc. In the article Nature vs. Nurture: Out Come Depends On Where You Live ,it stated,”But how strong environmental factors are in determining each characteristic,compared with the influence of DNA, differs significantly across the country,scientist have found”(Collins,2012). A person’s environmental factors has more of an effect on behavior than …show more content…

A social interaction is an exchange between two or more individuals. It is also a building block of society,by interacting with one another, people design rules, institutions and systems in which they seek to live by. On the website MentalHealth.gov, that posted an informational list named Mental Health Myths and Facts. In one of the bullet points, it stated,”studies show that social relationships have short and long term effects on health”(unknown). It's important to make those good healthy connections because it benefits that person in the short and long run. People with mental illnesses are normal people just like the rest of us.They work,have families,pay bills,etc. In the previous paragraph I mentioned an informational list named Mental Health Myths and Facts. That list also stated,”the vast majority of people with mental health problems are no more likely to be violent than anyone else”(unknown). People who have or deal mental illness aren't more likely to commit crimes than than the next person.Some people with mental illness are

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