The common theory states that a person "born into criminality" will have an extra "Y" chromosome. Males have XY and the predisposed criminal will have XYY. (Dorothy Nelkin, Elvis.) This leads us to two very important ethical concerns. The first of which is exemplified in the murder trial of Richard Speck in 1968. He was tried for murder of nine nurses in New York. His appeal fro his innocence was on the grounds that he had an extra Y chromosome. He stated that he could no the blamed fro his horrendous acts, because he was destined to do it, it is in his genes. Therefore he accepted no blame for his actions. His appeal was denied and he was convicted. (Nelkin,Elvis) If we discover that the extra Y chromosome is a true theory, does this lead to many more criminals using there genes as an excuse for there behavior?.
The second concern is that of children. What will we do with a child that has the extra Y chromosome . If the theory turns out to be a true one, we will be able to tell if the child will be a criminal at birth. Then, if we know our child will be a murderer someday, do we opt to abort it, or do we lock it up for life? This concerns is one of the main reasons that research in the area is being halted. .
Studies have led us to believe that there must be a genetic connection concerning criminality. The two most popular studies, are those of twins and those of adopted children. Sarnoff Mednick, a psychologist at the University of Southern California, studied thousands of adopted boys in Denmark between 1927-1947. Studies concluded that an adopted boy adopt by non-criminal parents from criminal parents is much more likely to lead a life of crime then vice versa. Therefore, according to Mednick's studies, the way we are raised and the social aspects of our life does not necessarily have as much correlation to a later criminal than that of the traits of the biological parents, though the child may have never even known his parents.
