Interesting read on yahoo about it here, with the full study from nature.com here.
It is well documented that ASPD (antisocial personality disorder) is wildly over represented in jails. About 1-3% of the general population has the disorder, while 40-70% of jail inmates have the disorder. Nothing about that is all that surprising -- duh, you're more likely to find people with "aggression, irritability, disregard for rules, disregard for other people, and dishonesty" in jail (or running for president!). What is new is that scientists have now been able to start mapping specific genes that appear to cause or are strongly related with ASPD.
Scientists are obviously concerned about this research being incorrectly used (for example in court or as a predictive tool), but If this research is accurate, it could have rather wide ranging implications. With breast cancer, some people with certain genetic markers know they are tremendously more likely to develop the disease, and some take rather drastic pre-emptive actions to reduce or eliminate the risk. What if we get to the point where you can determine based on genetic markers that someone is tremendously more likely to be or become a criminal? What if you do statistical analysis and can start making inferences for groups?
It is well documented that ASPD (antisocial personality disorder) is wildly over represented in jails. About 1-3% of the general population has the disorder, while 40-70% of jail inmates have the disorder. Nothing about that is all that surprising -- duh, you're more likely to find people with "aggression, irritability, disregard for rules, disregard for other people, and dishonesty" in jail (or running for president!). What is new is that scientists have now been able to start mapping specific genes that appear to cause or are strongly related with ASPD.
Scientists are obviously concerned about this research being incorrectly used (for example in court or as a predictive tool), but If this research is accurate, it could have rather wide ranging implications. With breast cancer, some people with certain genetic markers know they are tremendously more likely to develop the disease, and some take rather drastic pre-emptive actions to reduce or eliminate the risk. What if we get to the point where you can determine based on genetic markers that someone is tremendously more likely to be or become a criminal? What if you do statistical analysis and can start making inferences for groups?