strengths and limitations of genetic theories

What is a strength of twin studies?

Later twin studies have found a correlation between genetics and crime. Ishikawa and Raines study found a correlation between MZ twins and crime meaning the genetic theory is reliable.

What is a weakness of twin studies?

The evidence from christiansens study is weak. CR between male MZ twins was 35% and female MZ twins was 21% which suggests the argument that crime is genetic is not true as a higher number of twins don’t share a concordance

What is a strength of adoption studies?

If you place a child in a different environment to their biological criminal parents and they still grow up criminals that proves the genetic theory.

What is a weakness of the adoption studies?

Adopted children are often placed in environments similar to their birth family in terms of class and ethnicity. This is an issue when trying to explain criminality using the nature argument because if they are in a similar environment to people who adopted them, it’s not a good environment so nature or nurture can’t be considered.

What is a strength of XYY study?

Evidence was found in people that were in prison for violence with XYY syndrome. This means that the argument that XYY cause criminality has validity

What is a weakness of XYY?

XYY males often have lower intelligence, hence be more likely to get caught. This suggests XYY doesn’t cause criminality but rather stops criminality as they are not very intelligent

Another weakness of XYY

It’s rare, occurring in 1 in 1000 males. This means that the argument is not representative of criminals and criminality may be explained by other factors like environment and upbringing