Dopamine Gene (DRD2) Distinguishes Between Offenders Who Have and Have Not Been Violently Victimized

• NCJ Number: 234946
• Journal: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 55 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2011 Pages: 251-267
• Author(s): Jamie Vaske; John Paul Wright; Kevin M. Beaver
• Date Published: April 2011
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study investigated whether the existence of the dopamine gene was a significant difference bewteen offenders who had been violently victimized and those who had not been violently victimized.

Abstract

Research has shown that offenders, on average, are more likely to be violently victimized than nonoffenders. However, a substantial percentage of offenders are not violently victimized. The current study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to investigate whether variants of a polymorphism in the dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2) distinguish between offenders who are violently victimized and offenders who are not violently victimized. The results show that offenders who are violently victimized are more likely to carry the DRD2 (A1) risk allele than offenders who have not been violently victimized. (Published Abstract)