September 2017
Pinning a crime on particular gene is a tricky and fraught business. Although certain genes have been linked to more antisocial or criminal behavior, many factors, such as their social environment, play a role in whether a person commits a crime.
But lawyers may still be inclined to claim their defendants had a genetic predisposition toward crime -- and should be held less responsible because of that.
"My sense is that geneticists are doing basic science to advance our understanding of human nature, and that attorneys who are aware of this stuff and who are very clever will come up with ways and try and morph that into a legal argument," Nicholas Scurich, associate professor of psychology and social behavior and of criminology, law and society, told Popular Science.