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38 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 1565 (2001)
But Your Honor, It's in His Genes - The Case for Genetic Impairments as Grounds for a Downward Departure under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines

handle is hein.journals/amcrimlr38 and id is 1575 raw text is: BUT YOUR HONOR, IT'S IN HIS GENES THE CASE FOR GENETIC IMPAIRMENTS AS GROUNDS FOR A DOWNWARD DEPARTURE UNDER THE FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES Amanda R. Evansburg* I. INTRODUCTION Criminals are not born, but the odds at the moment of birth of becoming one are not even. -Steven Connor, Do Your Genes Make You a Criminal?1 Punishment in proportion to blame is a fundamental principle of the American criminal justice system. Because the law rarely assigns blame for involuntary acts, offenders are only punished for crimes of their own volition-crimes that reflect free will. With the exception of the criminally insane, criminal law assumes that individuals who commit violent crimes do so freely, and may therefore be held responsible for their actions and punished according to law. While free will is a reasonable assumption, the criminal law makes a further, more suspect, assump- tion about human nature. It assumes that violent offenders have equally free wills-that they have equal capacities for self-control. But all criminals may not be created equal.2 Recent studies in behavioral genetics indicate that some violent criminals are genetically predisposed to violent behavior. One study has found that a mutation in the structural gene for mono- amine oxidase A gives rise to an acute build-up of neurotransmitters associated with the body's fight or flight responses to stressful situations. As a result of this build-up, affected individuals are in a constant state of volatility and have trouble coping with stressors that would be easily dealt with by the average person.3 The capacity to control behavior is reduced, and affected individuals may experience extreme difficulty resisting violent impulses, despite cognitive awareness that acting on such impulses is wrong. Although research on this type of genetic disorder is preliminary, behavioral genetics evidence is poised to have a tremen- * J.D. candidate, 2002, Georgetown University Law Center; B.A., 1999, Brown University. Special thanks to Professor James G. Hodge for invaluable guidance during the formative stages of this note, and to my parents, whose love and encouragement have sustained me through the years. 1. Steve Connor, Do Your Genes Make You a Criminal?, INDEP., Feb. 12, 1995, at 19, quoted in Cecilee Price-Huish, Born to Kill? 'Aggression Genes 'and Their Potential Impact on Sentencing and the Criminal Justice System, 50 SMU L. REv. 603,612 (1997). 2. LAWRENCE TAYLOR, BORN TO CRIME 164 (1984). We are not all born equal. Insisting that we are-that we are clay at birth, waiting to be formed by the environment-accomplishes nothing but a postponement of the ability to deal effectively with the problem of crime in our society. Id. 3. See Virginia Morell, Evidence Found for a Possible 'Aggression Gene', 260 Sc. 1722, 1723 (1993). 1565

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