BIOSOCIAL FACTORS AND PRIMARY PREVENTION OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR (FROM NEW PATHS IN CRIMINOLOGY INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INTERCULTURAL EXPLORATIONS, 1979, BY SARNOFF A MEDNICK AND S GIORA SHOHAM - SEE NCJ-55340)

• NCJ Number: 55343
• Author(s): S A MEDNICK
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 9 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH24872
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Corporate Author: Lexington Books
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A THEORY REGARDING THE INTERACTION OF BIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS AS DETERMINANTS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IS DISCUSSED, WITH REFERENCE TO GENETIC AND SKIN CONDUCTANCE RESEARCH AND TO PRIMARY PREVENTION.

Abstract

PRIMARY PREVENTION OF CRIME, DESPITE ITS OBVIOUS POTENTIAL BENEFITS, IS NOT A POPULAR STUDY TOPIC. THOSE WHO HAVE CONSIDERED HOW BEST TO PREVENT CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR GENERALLY HAVE FOCUSED ON SOCIETAL MANIPULATION--CHANGING THE COMPONENTS OF SOCALIZATION THAT RENDER THE NORMAL INDIVIDUAL DEVIANT. BUT STUDIES ON TWINS, ADOPTION, AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM (ANS) DEVIANCE IN CRIMINALS, CHRONIC RECIDIVISM, AND INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PHYSIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL VARIABLES INFLUENCING CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR SUGGEST THAT SOCIETAL MANIPULATION ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH TO PREVENT ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR. SINCE INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS AS WELL AS SOCIOCULTURAL BEHAVIOR SEEM TO BE INVOLVED IN THE ETIOLOGY OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR, THE PRIMARY PREVENTION OF THIS BEHAVIOR MIGHT BE AIDED BY TAKING THESE INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS INTO ACCOUNT, PERHAPS BY INTENSIVELY ASSESSING A LARGE POPULATION SELECTED AT SOME POINT BEFORE THE ONSET OF SERIOUS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. ONE THEORY THAT HAS RELEVANCE FOR AN UNDERSTANDING OF BIOSOCIAL FACTORS IN THE ETIOLOGY OF CRIME HOLDS THAT A KEY ELEMENT IN THE SOCIAL LEARNING OF LAW-ABIDING BEHAVIOR IS THE RAPID REDUCTION OF FEAR IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING A CHILD'S INHIBITION OF AGGRESSIVE IMPULSE. THIS FEAR REDUCTION, WHICH REINFORCES THE CHILD'S INHIBITION OF AGGRESSIVE IMPULSES, IS DEPENDENT TO A LARGE EXTENT ON THE FUNCTIONING OF THE ANS. STUDIES OF ANS ACTIVITY, PRIMARILY INVOLVING MEASURES OF ELECTRODERMAL (SKIN CONDUCTANCE) RESPONSE TO STIMULI, HAVE PRODUCED RESULTS INDICATING A LINK BETWEEN ANS ACTIVITY AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND SUGGESTING THAT THE ANS FEAR RECOVERY RESPONSE MAY BE INHERITABLE. DATA FROM ONE SUCH STUDY, IN WHICH THE SKIN CONDUCTANCE BEHAVIORS OF CHILDREN WITH CRIMINAL AND NONCRIMINAL FATHERS WERE COMPARED, ARE INCLUDED. (LKM)