Biology is definitely one of the most prominent disciplines that made an enormous progress in recent decades. Contemporary biology is eagerly used by behavioral geneticists and provides a basis for its various researches and projects. One of the major paradigms of the 21st century is probably biosocial criminology. It is an interdisciplinary field, the first and foremost purpose of which is to explain crime and antisocial behavior by exploring both biological and environmental factors (Buss, 2015). Though the study of crime was great while dominated by the governing paradigm of sociological criminology, biosocial criminology is nowadays considered to be a broader and more powerful paradigm.
The resurgence of the biosocial perspective should be analyzed by the eventual contributions of fields such as evolutionary psychology, neuroscience and genetics. Speaking about evolutionary psychology, it has been considerably dominated by a notion of “selfish gene” presented by Darwin in his Cheater Theory. According to this theory, some males had developed disjunctive reproductive strategies in order to reflexively guarantee that their genes were passed on to succeeding generations (Buss, 2015). In this sense, men technically could have many children without extensive effort, while women may have only several children and it requires both mental and physical resources.
There exists a suggestion that males are more indented to be aggressive than females, due to certain competition that they experience among other male representatives. Taking this into consideration, male representatives with a lower status comparing to an average one, for example, are inclined to use furious animosity in order to attempt to increase their status and reach for success in reproduction. As a result, crimes are mainly associated with males and low status along with being unmarried soon turned into first characteristics of criminality. This fact actually created a theory explaining the crime rates to be exceedingly high within the identified period..
The thing is that all evolutionary theories are, in fact, extremely hard to prove or disprove. Any evolutionary theories could not be purely biological ones as the media used to present them. These theories are rather biosocial that generally maintain the idea that antisocial behavior remains part of a total adaptive response to an unstable or hostile environment (Buss, 2015).
The resurgence of the biosocial perspective should also be discussed in terms of neuroscience, namely explain interrelations of neurophysiology and criminality. Modern biosocial approaches lay special emphasis on the extent to which the learning and conditioning of behavior appear in another way in different individuals, because of neurological or biochemical variants and the way in which the environment impacts these neurological and biochemical variations. The significant attention of most biosocial theories had been paid to family studies. They are basically striving at locating genetic factors with the help of minute examination of behavioral similarities among members of the same family, as well as accenting on behavioral characteristics.
Mednick’s biosocial theory, for example, argues that some high-risks individuals possess an autonomic nervous system (ANS) that is less sensitive to environmental influence (Lilly, Cullen& Ball, 2014). This system will further help them to evolve responses essential to prevent antisocial behavior. According to certain neuroimaging studies, criminal behaviors could also be explained by both brain structure and function. Different emotions such as jealousy or rage created by the limbic system could eventually produce criminal behavior. As a rule, the prefrontal cortex delays satisfaction and mollifies the impulses from the limbic system. The shift of this balance to the benefit of the limbic system though, may lead to antisocial behavior.
The genetic approach involves behavior genetics, molecular genetics, and epigenetics that are all focused on the relationships between genotypes and phenotypes. Behavior genetics aims at computing the heritability coefficient that shows the proportion of the variance (Lilly, Cullen& Ball, 2014). The analysis of the detailed processes by which genetics impacts on traits and behaviors with the extra emphasis on the deep molecular structure of substances such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the main specialization of molecular genetics. Epigenetics studies the way environmental factors are able to modify gene functioning not influencing the molecular structure of DNA but simply activating or deactivating specific aspects (Lilly, Cullen& Ball, 2014).
All the shortages that may increase the possibility of individuals’ entering the path of crime are called in biosocial criminology risk factors. On the contrary, conditions that prevent crime are known as protective factors. Most researchers came to conclusion that different protective factors such as supportive home or proper parenting would considerably diminish possibilities of law breaking. One of the biggest criminogenic problems nowadays is surely environmental toxins. Frontal lobe deficits usually associated with antisocial behavior are not just explained by prenatal drug use, head injury or childhood deprivation but also with various environmental neurotoxins like lead, manganese and mercury (Lilly, Cullen& Ball, 2014). A strong connection, for example, has recently been demonstrated between prenatal tobacco exposure and physical bellicosity, emotional anxiety and antisocial behavior.
Finally, the greatest policy applications of biosocial theories may be found in terms of incapacitation and treatment programs. The sentencing stage now widely utilizes data obtained from brain scans. Various mitigating circumstances, for instance, may help juries to reach proper conclusion, as well as determine just punishment. In recent years there increased a number of special drug courts, where treatments grounded on biological and biosocial approaches are especially welcomed. Similarly, cognitive behavior therapy referred to treatment interventions, gained support of most biosocial researches (Lilly, Cullen& Ball, 2014). Thus, there is hope that it will ultimately promote the development of more effective treatments.
In conclusion, biosocial criminology is definitely the new paradigm that is able to guide the study of crime in the 21st century.
References
Buss, David. (2015). The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Volume 1. John Wiley & Sons, pp. 18-27.
Lilly, Robert, Cullen, Francis & Ball, Richard (2014). Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences. SAGE Publications, pp. 405-416.
