Overview
An important point made in Chapter 3 is that the influence of rewards and costs depends upon person factors. Two sets of person factors are cognition and personality. Another set is biological. In general, biological factors have received little attention within criminology, but they have been very important in psychology. This chapter examines how what we are born with interacts with the environment to shape behavior. Interactions also explain why some person characteristics are risk/need factors and others may be strength factors. For example, opportunistic rewards for criminal behavior may be more appealing to the individual with low self-control (a risk/need factor) whereas high self-control serves as a strength or protective factor against the very same opportunistic rewards for crime.
A particular interest in this chapter is the life-course-persistent youths. They form a small subset of justice-involved youth (less than 10 per cent) but they overwhelmingly commit most of the crimes. Genetic and neurophysiological factors play an important role for those on the life-course-persistent trajectory but environmental influences cannot be underestimated as evidenced in the following chapters. Biological factors are the foundations for personality and cognitive formation.
Technical Notes
Videos
Biology of Crime
Kelly M. Babchishin is an Assistant Professor of forensic psychology within the Department of Psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Kelly is the director of the Sexually Harmful Behaviours Research Lab and the co-director of the Forensic Psychology Research Centre. In the lab, we use an epidemiological and socioecological framework to provide novel information on factors involved in the development and maintenance of sexually harmful behaviours with the ultimate goal of improving prevention efforts. Ongoing research projects involves: (1) incest and sexual behaviours between siblings, (2) online sexual offending, (3) causal candidates for sexual offending, (4) sexting and the non-consensual sharing of sexual materials, and (5) risk assessment. More information on Kelly’s research can be found on her lab’s website.
In this video, Dr. Babchishin explores the genetic component to antisocial behaviour. She categorizes biological perspectives on crime into five sections: behavioural genetics; neurochemical correlates; the automatic nervous system; the brain and neurocognitive basis; and other biological influences.
Worth Remembering
- The environment influences how biological predispositions are expressed in behavior. There are many aspects to individuals that are biologically based—age, gender, race, and temperament. However, just because certain factors have a biological basis does not mean that behavior is predetermined. The path to crime, or to good citizenship, depends more on what happens as the individual grows up than on what capabilities the individual was born with.
- A minority of youths account for most crimes. The majority of youthful males will engage in crime during adolescence but then stop in early adulthood. Developmental criminologists refer to this trajectory as adolescence-limited. However, a small minority of youths will continue their criminal activity into adulthood. This trajectory is called life-course-persistent.
- There is a hereditary component in criminal behavior that interacts with the social environment. The findings from family lineage, twin, and adoption studies point to a genetic component to criminal conduct. It is not criminal behavior per se that is inherited but temperamental characteristics such as low self-control, sensation-seeking, and a negative emotionality that are inherited. A “difficult” temperament may predispose some to an increase risk of crime, but the environment influences whether the predisposition translates into criminal behavior. Genes determine biochemical reactions; the environment determines what you think and how you behave.
- Other biological factors can play a role with some individuals, some of the time. A variety of biological factors (e.g., neurophysiological under arousal) have been documented as risk factors in some individuals. These neurophysiological factors may be especially important with life-course-persistent and violent offenders.
- Evolutionary explanations of criminal behavior have interesting implications, but the field remains highly controversial. The idea that criminal behavior has an adaptive function underlies evolutionary perspectives of crime. That is, the aggression and dishonesty of criminals have payoffs beyond immediate gratification. The early perspective that genes are all-important has diminished with a reminder of the tremendous importance of the environment.
Quiz
Further Reading
Botkins, J. R., McMahon, W. M., & Francis, L. P. (1999). Genetics and criminality: The potential misuse of scientific information in court. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
DeLisi, M., & Vaughn, M. G. (2014). Foundation for a temperament-based theory of antisocial behavior and criminal justice system involvement. Journal of Criminal Justice, 42, 10–25.
Eme, R. (2020). Life course persistent antisocial behavior silver anniversary. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 50, 101344.
Farrington, D. P., Jolliffe, D., & Coid, J. W. (2021). Cohort profile: The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD). Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 7, 278-291.
Farrington, D. P., Kazemian, L., & Piquero, A. R. (2019) (Eds.). The Oxford handbook of developmental and life-course criminology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., Knopik, V. S., & Neiderhiser, J. M. (2016). Top 10 replicated findings from behavioral genetics. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 3-23.
Raine, A. (2013). The anatomy of violence: The biological roots of crime. New York, NY: Pantheon.
Walsh, A., & Jorgensen, C. (2018). Evolutionary theory and criminology. In R. L. Hopcroft (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of evolution, biology, and society (pp. 517-542). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Walton, J. S. (2021). Fit in your genes: an introduction to genes and epigenetics for forensic practitioners. The Journal of Forensic Practice, 23, 189-200.
Zara, G., & Farrington, D. P. (2016). Criminal recidivism: Explanation, prediction, and prevention. New York, NY: Routledge.