Since the early 1970s the proportion of Americans in prison has more than tripled. In Britain those behind bars is at record levels. Prisons are so overcrowded that inmates are kept in police cells. “The UK in 1991 had a higher proportion of its population in jail than every Council of Europe nation apart from Hungary,” comments the Financial Times (10 March 1994). Despite this violent crime remains high in both countries. This crisis has witnessed a flowering of reactionary ideas attempting to link criminal behaviour to biological factors. “For every 1 per cent that we reduce violence, we save the country $1.2 billion,” says American psychologist Adrian Raine. As a result, the US National Institute of Health has increased its budget for violence-related research to $58 million. And in December 1994 the National Science Foundation began promoting proposals for a $12 million, five-year research consortium. “With the expected advances, we’re going to be able to diagnose many people who are biologically brain-prone to violence,” claims Stuart Yudofsky, chair of the psychiatry department at Baylor College of Medicine in the Scientific American of March 1995.
It has become fashionable in certain circles to attribute all kinds of things to genetic or biological disorders, rather than recognising that social problems arise from social conditions. The school of genetic determinism has drawn all types of reactionary conclusions, reducing all social problems to the level of genetics. Not long ago, research apparently revealed that many violent criminals had an extra Y chromosome, but more recent studies show the connection to be irrelevant. Now evidence of less activity in the frontal cortex of the brain of murderers is attracting attention as the link between biology and violence. There is a proposal for a Federal Violence Initiative to identify at least 100,000 inner-city children “whose alleged biochemical and genetic defects will make them prone to violence in later life.”
The dangers of phoney research leading to genetic links to race and criminal or antisocial behaviour are ever present. False conclusions can be drawn from the statistic that in the US, where 12.4 per cent of the population are blacks, they account for 44.8 per cent of arrests for violent crime. In the same article in Scientific American we read:
“There is reason to be concerned that ostensibly objective biological studies, blindly ignoring social and cultural differences, could misguidedly reinforce racial stereotypes.” Due to this threat, boycotts have taken place over blood and urine samples being taken from racial minorities. So, according to Raine, “all the biological and genetic studies conducted to date have been done on whites.”
Raine continues: “Imagine you are the father of an eight-year old boy. The ethical dilemma is this: I could say to you, ‘Well, we have taken a wide variety of measurements, and we can predict with 80 per cent accuracy that your son is going to become seriously violent within 20 years. We can offer you a series of biological, social and cognitive intervention programmes that will greatly reduce the chance of his becoming a violent offender.’ What do you do? Do you place your boy in those programmes and risk stigmatising him as a violent criminal even though there is a real possibility that he is innocent? Or do you say no to the treatment and run an 80 per cent chance that your child will grow up to (a) destroy his life, (b) destroy your life, (c) destroy the lives of his brothers and sisters and, most important, (d) destroy the lives of the innocent victims who suffer at his hands?”
Firstly, it is not possible to predict a child’s future criminal behaviour at all – let alone with 80 per cent accuracy. And secondly, this puts the blame for crime on the individual. This reactionary argument fails to see crime, violence, and other social ills, as a product of the society we live under. It is a society based upon human exploitation and the maximisation of profit that results in mass unemployment, homelessness, poverty, and the denigration of life. These social conditions, in turn, produce crime, violence, and brutality. This is nothing to do with genes or biology, and everything to do with the barbarism of capitalist society.
The biological determinists are used to bolster up reactionary social ideas. It is not society that is to blame for crime, poverty, unemployment, etc., but the individual, through their genes or defective biology. The answer, therefore, is brain or genetic surgery. Others look for abnormal levels of testosterone, or slower heartbeats as the explanation of human violence. Some scientists have pointed to the low levels of serotonin, a chemical that in the body affects, amongst other things, the functioning of the brain. Thus, C.R. Jeffery wrote in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education: “By increasing the level of serotonin in the brain, we can reduce the level of violence.” So serotonin boosters, like the antidepressant Prozac, are administered to patients to cure their aggression. The falsehood of this view is explained by the fact that this chemical can rise or drop in different parts of the brain at different times, with different effects. Environment can also affect levels. However, these “facts” are not allowed to get in the way, or prevent these people from making outrageous claims to bolster their reactionary views.
Jeffery advocates that “Science must tell us what individuals will or will not become criminals, what individuals will or will not become victims, and what law enforcement strategies will or will not work.” Yudofsky reinforces Jeffery’s enthusiasm with his assertion: “We are now on the verge of a revolution in genetic medicine. The future will be to understand the genetics of aggressive disorders and to identify those who have greater tendencies to become violent.” He believes that hyperactive children should be tested, and, if necessary, given beta-blockers, anticonvulsants or lithium. Yudofsky says these drugs will be “cost effective” and a tremendous “opportunity for the pharmaceutical industry.” It is not difficult to see on which side his bread is buttered.
“There are areas where we can begin to incorporate biological approaches,” argues Diana Fishbein. “Delinquents need to be individually assessed.” She goes on to advocate compulsory treatment for criminals, but if this is unsuccessful, “they should be held indefinitely.” Masters believes that “we now know enough about the serotonergic system so that if we see a kid doing poorly in school, we ought to look at his serotonin levels.”