In the 1990s, Anthony Walsh, an American criminologist emphasized the significance of the relationship between the environment and biology when it comes to creating behavioral responses in given circumstances. As stated by Walsh, people should stop formulating theories that mislead others because biological or environmental factors do not operate in the environmental bubble or biological vacuum. Biosocial criminology is not so much a crime theory but it is a perspective on criminality that notices the significance of the relationship between biology and the surrounding social and physical environments. Criminality is a property of people, a progressive trait that combines all traits and belongs to the inclusive type of criminology (Treiber, 2017). It also comprises of relative lack of empathy, self-control, fear, self-centeredness, risky behavior tendency as well as a conscience.
The main biological theories of crime causation have numerous assumptions. One of the assumptions of the crime causation is that the brain is an organ of the mind and a personality locus. Likewise, the fundamental human behavior determinant such as criminal tendencies is to a certain degree based on genetics and the constitution. Additionally, the rates in the racial differences and observed gender as well as types of criminality are the outcome of biological differences between the racially distinct groups and sexes. The basic human behavior determinants such as criminality may also be passed from one generation to the other. However, these human behaviors conduct are rooted in the biological organisms’ instinctive behavioral responses everywhere. The three notable examples of behavior that may be instinctual to human beings are adultery condemnation, acquisitiveness, and territoriality.
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Human conduct biological roots have become disguised currently because the current indirect expressive behavior forms are replacing more direct forms. Some of these human behaviors are caused by biological tendencies that are inherited from primitive stages in the process of evolution. This simply implies that some people may be far along with the table of evolution than others and their behavior may reflect that.
Human Genome project
The project started in 1990 in the US when the National Institutes of Health and the Energy Department decided to join. The main aim of this project was to complete the human DNA chemical sequence. The scientists that participated in the project localized about 100,000 genes within the human genome and further determined the sequences of 3 billion chemical bases that form the DNA. Notably, the human genome is a complete copy of the whole human gene instructions set. Genes comprise of DNA that has coded instructions for processing everything that the body requires. The project was completed in April 2003 and its completion resulted in the whole genome sequence. The project answers numerous questions raised by criminologists on the role of genetics in criminal behavior. In general, the project assisted the science filed and especially forensics by offering a complete DNA sequence.
Criticism about biosocial theories
The biosocial theories have been criticized in numerous ways. Some profound critics claim that biosocial studies have methodological issues because the research is based on small, non-representative samples. Additionally, they claim that most studies in biosocial theory were conducted on offenders placed in the clinical treatment settings. This makes it hard to tell if the findings are strictly for convicted criminals in prisons or if they apply to the entire criminal population. Other critics indicate that the biosocial theories do not explain the regional or temporal variations in crime rates. These theories do not explain the reasons why other regions or countries have higher violent crime rates as compared to others. According to Beaver (2017), biosocial theories do not also sufficiently account for changes in crime rates over time among different groups in the same population. As much as there are numerous criticisms about the biosocial theories of crime causation, it has been important in the criminal field because it has provided a complete DNA sequence.
References
Beaver, K. (2017). Biosocial theories of crime . Routledge.
Treiber, K. (2017). Biosocial criminology and models of criminal decision making.
