Are Criminals Affected By Nature Or Nurture?

Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act. The past week has been spent investigating the case of the quadruple murders of the Clutter Family: Herbert and Bonnie Clutter, alongside their two youngest children, Nancy and Kenyon Clutter. The trial that has taken place this past week to find the defendants, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, guilty of first degree murder due to the premeditated nature of the crimes committed. Under the Class A felony both defendants are eligible for the death penalty by lethal injection. The Jury has concluded after reviewing the evidence provided and the psychological examinations that, the defendants, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith should be sentenced to life in

America’s first prominent serial killer of the 19th century, H. H. Holmes famously wrote amongst his series of murder confessions, "I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing." He reasons—in an increasingly morbid comparison—that the root of murder and evil is innate, for nature itself had instilled the tendency and drive into his very being. Nowhere more acutely is this theme simultaneously displayed and countered than in Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel In Cold Blood (1965). In its entirety, through a plethora of narrations spanning the event of the murders and the following investigation, Capote crafts his story of the Clutter family murders on November

abandoned him with his own psychopathic thoughts. Dahmer murdered his first victim during his childhood. Just after graduating Revere High School in June 1978, Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks and took him back to his parents’ house. Dahmer got the young man drunk and eventually murdered him.

When will the nearly 150 year old debate end? For years there has been an ongoing debate of if a child is impacted more by their genetics, or their environment. This idea of nature versus nurture has been argued immensely by scientists and psychologists over the years, and both parties have come up with convincing arguments for their position on the topic. Although still debated, it is becoming more apparent that maybe it is not nature versus nurture, but how nature and nurture work together in the development of a child. While it is true that both have an impact on the individual, it is clear that certain personality traits are influenced more by the child’s surroundings, and who the child grew up with. The childhood and environment of an

Both sides of the nature versus nurture debate hold merit and have compelling arguments to answer the psychological question of whether behavior stems from inborn characteristics or learned practices - whether genes or surroundings are the root of human action and integrity. For Werner Pfennig of Anthony Doerr’s 2014 novel, All The Light We Cannot See, it is clear that the environments he lives in throughout his life influence his mannerisms and comportment. Werner is an excellent example of how the characteristics of external situations can impact morality - how nurture prevails over nature. The culture of the environments people find themselves in often unconsciously impact their virtues, and not always for the better.

Chapter five talks about life course theory, latent trait theory and trajectory theory. These theories are the development of crime and delinquency. Life Course theory suggest that delinquent behavior is influenced by individual characteristics. Another influence is social experiences, and they can provoke antisocial behaviors in the future. Family, jobs, and peers can affect their behavior in a positive or negative way. The second theory is called latent trait theory which states that delinquent behavior is controlled by a master trait. This theory assumes that “master trait” remains stable and unchanging throughout a person’s lifetime. Trajectory theory thinks that there’s different types and classes of offenders. Early social control and

Some of the biggest supporting research for the idea of the “criminal gene” comes from the work of neurobiologist Dr. James Fallon. Dr. Fallon is the head of the anatomy and neurobiology school of medicine at UC Irvine. His research suggests that there is a group of genes common in some people that make them much more prone to violence. He calls these the “warrior genes.” To support this theory of a warrior gene, Dr. Fallon has researched cultures that have been plagued with famine, war, etc. He believed that there would be dramatic levels of the warrior gene found in these populations due to the fact that it’s survival of the fittest, and if you are going to survive in an environment like that then you need to be assertive and dominant.

Nature and Nurture could have many different affects on later development for children. Nature is the influence of the genes that people inherit. Nurture is the environmental influences, beginning with health and the diet of embryo’s mother and continuing lifelong, including school, society, school, and family. There are young people that are violent to others and themselves. Most young teens that are violent are because their past child abuse or their current circumstances. Most teens that are violent is because they were beaten during their childhood, bullied in school,

George Mead, the theorist who introduced symbolic interaction theory emphasizes on the symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social interaction. This is based on exchange and different symbols. The norms in society that are set determine the actions of each individual. For example, African Americans males are often criticized based on norms that society has set in place. Many people in society see them as criminals who habitually are aggressive and unable to control their emotions. These norms create a barrier between them and society. With the stereotypes amongst many individuals often endure deviant behavior to survive in the world.

Through the decades, crime and crime control have been analyzed in an attempt to find the causes of crime and decide how to combat them. The United States showed an increase in their prison population in the 1970s when the country turned towards a more punitive justice system. Referred to as just deserts theory of crime, the aim is to inflict as much pain on the offender through harsh prison sentences, in hopes to cause as much pain as the crime they committed. The worse the crime is, the worse the punishment the criminal will endure. The issue surrounding just deserts theory is the vast amount of offenders who return to prison after being released, also known as the recidivism rate. Although just deserts theory does not seek to lower the rate

The Myth of the Born Criminal: Psychopathy, Neurobiology, and the Creation of the Modern Degenerate by Jarkko Jalava, Stephanie Griffiths, and Michael Maraun, seeks to bust the myth that psychopathy is a biological based condition. This book offers a thorough study of the idea of psychopathy, from its eighteenth-century birthplaces to the most recent studies including neuroimaging, behavioral genetics, and statistical research. Jalava, Griffiths, and Maraun utilize their expert backgrounds in neuropsychology, psychometrics, and criminology to deconstruct the foundations with which both examination analysts and journalists describe the psychopaths among us, the fabricators clear up how the likelihood of psychopathy offers an empowering neurobiological

The belief that there is a criminal gene that may be passed down is a fallacy. Looking at genes specifically in order to classify a criminal and possibly justify that notion is not able to stand. One of the ways this is negated is with adoption. Your genes at this point are only the foundation of what kind of body shape you have, how your early temperaments start, and possibly what kind of life span you will have. The parents you may be adopted into are not your birth parents, and they would be totally different in the biological sense. So, people can still say that a gene will be prevalent through being raised by separate parents. Yet, we do not know how this child came to be adopted by their particular adoptive parents. They could have wandered

A common psychological debate is whether individuals are more controlled by nature or nurture. In this debate, some argue that nature, the inherited traits over which we have no control, impacts our lives more. Conversely, others argue that nurture, our upbringing by our family members and relatives, has a greater influence on our lives than nature. I prefer to argue that neither is more important than the other, but rather they simultaneously mold individuals into the people they become. The attributes of our environments and genetic traits we are born with are equally influential throughout a person’s lifetime.

In responses to the reading, the chapter was broken down into three part, in which the author Larry J. Siegel, discussed the foundations of development theory’s. The Development theory explained the different standards of the life course theory, which propose that the development of a criminal career is a self-motivated

nurture. Nature always takes over nurture, until he made new discoveries about his own brain. After continuing his research, he discovers that a person's childhood could make all the difference. He looked at his brain and his son’s brain, he discovers that he has low activity in his orbital cortex which is shared among psychopaths, but he had a good childhood. He concludes with his research three ideas to determine if someone will become a serial killer, genetically how the brain was made, brain patterns and abuse during childhood. Many researchers believe that it is the brain that makes a serial killer a killer but once they further their research they see that a bad childhood plays a big