OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Is criminal behavior inherited? What the identical twin study revealed

2024-03-14 17:17:06Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Is criminal behavior inherited? What the identical twin study revealed
The Kray twins, aka criminals and gangsters Ronald 'Ronnie' Kray and Reginald 'Reggie' Kray in boxing gear, London, UK, circa 1952.

On the morning of September 25, 2023, 35-year-old Samantha Jo Petersen was driving home from work when she hit a horse-drawn carriage, which is commonly used as a means of transportation by members of the Amish religious community in a road in southeastern Minnesota.

Among the remains of the cart scattered here and there, she saw the dead bodies of 2 children. When police arrived at the scene, they were greeted by Samantha Jo's identical twin sister, Sarah Beth Peterson. She quickly told them about the tragic accident. Samantha herself was gone.

So without the knowledge of the authorities, the sisters had switched positions, so that Samantha could avoid prison, as that day she had consumed drugs of the methamphetamine type. But the fraud was discovered thanks to some witnesses who were driving by at the time of the accident.

The sisters, who had numerous histories of breaking the law even before that incident, both face the possibility of many years in prison. But Samantha and Sara aren't the only identical twins who have collaborated on a crime spree.

English twins Albert and Ebenezer Fox planned and carried out all kinds of crimes in the late 1800s. In fact, it was this duo that prompted the police to start using fingerprints as a mechanism to identify criminals.

Because even identical twins have unique fingerprints. During the 1960s, twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray began to make waves with their criminal acts in London, committing murder, arson and robbery, etc. In July 2003, twins Daniel and David DeWild teamed up to kill Daniel's wife after she filed for divorce.

These identical twin criminals raise an intriguing question: If one twin becomes involved in criminal acts, is the other destined to do so as well? Scientists have 'distilled' this question into a similar question: Is criminal behavior linked to the person's genes?

The heritability of criminal behavior

Over the years, scientists have used identical and non-identical twins to try to find an answer. Using what is known as the "twin method" in criminological circles, scientists compared the crime matching rates of identical and same-sex twins.

If identical twins are more likely than non-identical twins to have a criminal or law-abiding past, this would suggest that genes play an important role in criminal behavior. After all, identical twins are 100 percent genetically similar, while non-identical twins are only 50 percent similar.

Studies dating back to the 1930s show that identical twins are more likely than non-identical twins to both be criminals or even law-abiding people, suggesting at least a genetic basis. The scientists of those early studies thought that criminal behavior was almost entirely heritable.

However, the findings of their studies should be taken with some caution. Many of these researchers were staunch eugenicists, believing that the human gene pool could be improved by controlling who could reproduce and who could not. They often advocated the sterilization of criminals, and even the children of lawbreakers, to reduce future crime rates.

Some of them were related to Nazism. Modern twin studies, conducted after interest in eugenics waned, have attempted to reveal that the tendency to break the law is about 50 percent heritable. While genes make a person more prone to criminality, environment and upbringing also play an important role.

Comparison of twins reared apart

However, independent researcher Jay Joseph does not even believe this thesis. In an extensive review of previous studies, he points out that using the "twin method" to examine genetic links to criminal behavior is of no value. His main argument? Often, identical twins grow up to be more alike than other twins.

Furthermore, identical twins have a closer social bond. "There is no reason to accept that the twin method records anything more than the greatest environmental similarity... Not to forget biases and methodological errors," he wrote. In Joseph's view, this leaves only one method to use in determining whether or not criminal behavior is linked to genes: Researchers should compare criminal concordance between non-identical twins raised apart, and identical twins raised apart.

Such a study has never been carried out, but with some effort it can be done. During 1979-1990, researchers at the University of Minnesota in the US tracked 100 sets of twins who were separated from infancy and grew up apart.

They found that in general with regard to personality, temperament, professional interests, leisure and social attitudes, monozygotic (identical) twins raised apart are almost as similar as monozygotic twins raised together.

The scientists did not specifically assess each twin's criminal behavior, but they could have. Given the subjects' striking similarities in personality, it is likely that some may have shared this dark bond. Of course, they didn't tell it themselves.

Source: Big Think


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×