Is Crime in the Genes? A Critical Review of Twin and Adoption Studies of Criminality and Antisocial Behavior

Author(s): Jay Joseph

Source: The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 2001, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 2001), pp. 179-218

Published by: Institute of Mind and Behavior, Inc.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43853952

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms

is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Mind and Behavior

This content downloaded from ????????????198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Sep 2021 02:20:17 UTC?????????????

All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43853952
179

©2001 The Institute of Mind and Behavior, Inc. The Journal of Mind and Behavior Spring 2001, Volume 22, Number 2 Pages 179-218 ISSN 0271-0137

Is Crime in the Genes? A Critical Review of Twin and

Adoption Studies of Criminality and Antisocial Behavior

Jay Joseph

La Familia Counseling Service

This paper performs a critical review of twin and adoption studies looking at possible genetic factors in criminal and antisocial behavior. While most modern researchers acknowledge that family studies are unable to separate possible genetic and environ- mental influences, it is argued here that twin studies are similarly unable to disentan- gle these influences. The twin method of monozygotic- dizygotic comparison is predicated on the assumption that both types of twins share equal environments, and it is argued here that this assumption is false. Adoption studies have been promote