Sunday, April 8, 2012

Nature and Violence

Annmarie Griffin
Pod 5
The Relationship between Nature and Violence

There are conflicting views about whether or not a person is born deviant or made deviant due to the outside influences in their lives.  There are studies that show that both hypotheses can be true in the given circumstances they were studied in.

Some people are born without any genetic disposition to become violent.  If they grow up in an environment which is chaotic with lots of physical and emotional abuse they may become aggressive and violent later on into adulthood.   There is an old saying that you can become a product of your environment.  If this type of lifestyle is all they know they will generally mimic what they see as a child into their adult life. 

The diathesis stress model is one that stresses that individuals do exist being born with a genetic predisposition to violence.  They may or may not act out on this violent nature due to the environment in which they were raised.  “Research studies (Raine, 1993) have provided evidence of brain abnormalities contributing to aggression and possibly psychopathy, while other studies (Meloy, 1988; Raine, 1993) have been demonstrating a link between serotonin levels and aggression (Nelson, 2011).”  These studies do not concretely explain why someone can become violent but they do allow researchers to understand that there are both genetic and environmental factors that can lead to someone becoming deviant and violent.

 I think that these theories can both be contributing factors to criminal behavior.  We see juveniles today who are actively involved in a lifestyle of crime.  The environmental factors may have to do with poor parenting, bad home environments, and the general totality of the environment with which they are growing up in.  The biological factors may be what see as ADHD and other clinical disorders which may make someone hyper, aggressive and uncontrollable.  I believe that it is a combination of both factors which would steer a child into the criminal behavior in which they engage in.  This behavior if not corrected or modified will continue to foster itself into adulthood.

Meloy, J.R. (1988).  The psychopathic mind: Origins, dynamics, and treatment. Northvale, NJ: Aronson Inc.
Nelson, B. (2011).  Nature vs.Nurture. Deviant Crimes It Begins in the Mind: Retrieved April 8, 2012 from http://www.deviantcrimes.com/nature_nurture.htm
Raine, A. (1993).  The psychopathology of crime: Criminal behavior as a clinical disorder.  San Diego, CA: Academic Press.