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Biology and Criminology Biology and Criminology Routledge Advances in Criminology 1. Family Life and Youth Offending Home Is Where the Hurt Is Raymond Arthur 2. China’s Death Penalty History, Law, and Contemporary Practices Hong Lu and Terance D. Miethe 3. The Politics of Antisocial Behaviour Amoral Panics Stuart Waiton 4. Hooked Drug War Films in Britain, Canada, and the United States Susan C. Boyd 5. The Violence of Incarceration Edited by Phil Scraton and Jude McCulloch 6. Violence, Prejudice and Sexuality Stephen Tomsen 7. Biology and Criminology The Biosocial Synthesis Anthony Walsh Biology and Criminology The Biosocial Synthesis Anthony Walsh New York London First published 2009 by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. © 2009 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereaf- ter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trade- marks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Walsh, Anthony, 1941- Biology and criminology : the biosocial synthesis / by Anthony Walsh.—1st ed. p. cm.—(Routledge advances in criminology ; 7) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Criminal behavior. 2. Criminal behavior—Genetic aspects. 3. Sociobiol- ogy. 4. Criminology. I. Title. HV6115.W34 2009 364.2'4—dc22 2008053719 ISBN 0-203-87584-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-80192-3 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-203-87584-2 (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-80192-8 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-87584-1 (ebk) This book is dedicated to my wife Grace, my parents Lawrence and Winifred, my sons Robert and Michael, my stepdaughters Heidi and Kasey, and my grandchildren Robbie, Ryan, Mikey, Randy, Christopher, Stevie, Ashlyn, and Morgan. Contents List of Boxes ix List of Figures xi List of Tables xiii Foreword xv Preface xix Acknowledgments xxv 1 Why Criminology Needs Biology 1 2 Genetics and Criminality 25 3 Evolutionary Psychology and Criminality 55 4 The Neurosciences and Criminality 86 5 The Anomie/Strain Tradition and Socioeconomic Status 114 6 The Social Learning Tradition and Adolescence 142 7 The Control Tradition and the Family 171 8 The Human Ecology/Social Disorganization Tradition and Race 200 9 The Critical Tradition and Confl ict 229 10 Feminist Criminology and Gender 257 11 Retrospect and Prospect 286 Bibliography 297 Index 343 Boxes 2.1 Computing Heritability 34 Figures P.1 The biosocial approach to behavior in a nutshell. xxiii 1.1 Person/environment interaction and criminal behavior threshold. 12 1.2 Examples of how not to conduct science. 22 2.1 The gene from cell to protein. 28 2.2 Illustrating passive, evocative, and active rGE and GxE interaction. 40 3.1 Schematic view of John Endler’s defi nition of natural selection. 59 4.1 Schematic image of the brain showing various parts of interest. 87 4.2 The process of synaptic transmission. 90 4.3 Brain areas relevant to reward and executive functions. 105 5.1 Pathway from parental to offspring SES in a meritocratic society. 133 5.2 Basic neurohormonal features of high- and low-status males. 140 6.1 Arrest rates per 100,000 in the U.S. by age in 1999. 151 6.2 Testosterone levels of human males and females from conception to old age. 155 6.3 Differential association theory and Moffi tt’s theory. 162 6.4 Three pathways to boys’ disruptive behavior and delinquency. 169 xii Figures 7.1 Violent crime arrest rates for youths under 18: 1965–1992. 189 7.2 Millions of never-married mothers 1960–1992. 190 8.1 Racial differences in arrests for the FBI’s Part I Index crimes: 2006. 207 8.2 From structural conditions to manifested behavior. 227 10.1 Arrests for index crimes in 2006: male/female percentages. 259 Tables 2.1 Average Weighted Correlations for Various Kinship Pairings on IQ and Predicted Correlations Based on Degree of Genetic and Environmental Relatedness 33 Foreword I’ve known the author of this book, Anthony Walsh, for many years. There- fore, I will dispense with the formality of calling him by anything other than his nickname. Tony and I fi rst came to know one another after I published an article many years ago entitled “The Decline and Fall of Sociology” (Ellis 1977). The theme of the article was that sociology was heading to scientifi c oblivion if sociologists continued to deny the importance of biological variables for comprehending human behavior. Sadly, this denial persists and readers can decide for themselves whether the fate that I envisioned has come to pass. Fortunately, unlike sociology, criminology has made signifi cant strides toward incorporating biological concepts into many of its recent theories and research agendas. Criminology’s shift away from pure environmental- ism is very evident in a forthcoming book that two coauthors and I have written to summarize what is currently known about variables that are and are not associated with criminality (Ellis, Beaver, and Wright 2009). Sur- prisingly, one of the longest of the book’s nine chapters is devoted to links between criminality and biological variables. While Tony and I are in total agreement about the importance of biology for understanding criminal behavior, the routes each of us took to arrive at this view were quite different. So, before I address the importance of Tony’s new book, let me sketch how each of us came to believe that the role of biology in crime causation is quite signifi cant. TONY’S DEVELOPMENT Tony began his career as a cop, only to begin college at the age of 30. His initial goal in college was to become a physical therapist, which led him to major in biology. However, an undergraduate sociology professor radical- ized Tony into a Marxist way of thinking and convinced Tony to pursue a master’s degree in sociology rather than working toward physical therapy certifi cation. He became a recovering Marxist after about two years, but xvi Foreword maintained his interest in sociology, especially along the lines of criminol- ogy. Consequently, Tony entered a PhD program and returned to the fi eld of criminal justice as a probation and parole offi cer. By the time Tony had fi nished his PhD, he had read my article, “Decline and Fall of Sociology.” This article almost instantly resonated with Tony’s biological background, and apparently helped him to complete his transi- tion from radical sociology to biosocial sociology. MY DEVELOPMENT In academic terms, my career followed a fairly straight sociological trajec- tory. This included having taken my fi rst criminology course using South- erland and Cressey’s very popular (but extremely antibiological) text of the 1960s. I understood and could parrot back the environmentalist mantra espoused in all of the sociology courses of the time, but I remember never being completely convinced that biology had no bearing on human behav- ior. Especially in criminology, I recall thinking that crime might result from more than just social experiences and learning. Also, I purposely took some biology and biologically oriented psychology courses that inspired me to think about how the brain controls all thought and behavior. By the time I graduated from college, I recall already thinking about human behavior outside of a purely environmentalist box. Looking back, I think there was another reason my sociological thinking becoming increasingly “biologized” as time went by. It came from having watched the behavior of horses and cattle while growing up on a Kansas farm. I recall being impressed by the behavioral differences between male and female farm animals despite their never having been acculturated into their proper sex roles. Especially regarding aggression, it seemed to me that if sex differences could be produced without culture or social training, then similar human differences might also be “hardwired”. I related this to the fact that most violent crimes are committed by men. Increasingly, I became interested in how sex hormones might alter the brains of males beginning around the time of puberty to cause aggression and violent crime. Despite the continued unpopularity of a biosocial perspective in sociol- ogy, I am sure that one day, this discipline will be transformed. And I now believe that criminology will help it to do so. ABOUT THIS BOOK For me, the main lesson to be learned from both Tony’s and my experiences is that for those who are serious about becoming a competent criminolo- gist, take some courses in biology. Do so even if your sociology or criminal Foreword xvii justice professors assure that these courses are a waste of time. They’re not. Basic biology is a must, but you should also take courses in neurology, endocrinology, and evolutionary theory, if possible. Tony’s book provides readers with the culmination of much of what he has learned and synthesized from the growing fi eld of biosocial criminol- ogy. Readers will see that, in two ways, the book cuts through the fuzzy reasoning of environmentalism and brings to the forefront the power that comes from meshing biological and social learning concepts.
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