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2 Crim. Just. & Behavior 3 (1975)

handle is hein.journals/crmjusbhv2 and id is 1 raw text is: HEREDITY IN CRIMINALITY DAVID ROSENTHAL Laboratory of Psychology National Institute of Mental Health Evidence is brought together to indicate that much criminality can be traced to environmental factors, but findings from family studies, twin studies, and adoption studies indicate that hereditary factors are also implicated in criminality. It is not a single genotype that provides the thrust toward crime, but a variety of phenotypical characteristics that are heritable in more or lesser degree. Such findings shall lead us to rethink our legal responsibility regarding criminals, their proper classification and treatment, and their responsibility to their victims. What makes a person a criminal is not what the person does,- but what the law says he must not do. Of course, the law specifies many things that citizens must not do, and these things vary from state to state and from country to country. This is known to everyone, and the point is raised here only because the present concern is focused on genetic factors that may play a role in criminality. A person driving when drunk may unintentionally run over someone; a desperately hungry man may hold up a grocery to get food or money to feed himself and his family; a woman, in extreme exasperation regarding a Author's Note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily express the position of the National Institute of Mental Health.

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