Born to crime : the genetic causes of criminal behavior / Lawrence Taylor.

  • Taylor, Lawrence, 1942-
Date:
1984
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Born to crime : the genetic causes of criminal behavior / Lawrence Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    6 Born to Crime with identifiable hard-core criminals. In fact, it appears that the vast majority of our crime today is committed by repeat of¬ fenders. A number of recent studies have provided some disturbing statistics. In a 1981 study of the incidence of crime in the United States, researchers concluded that the probability of re-arrest for [a serious] crime is estimated as 85 to 90 percent. . . . The of¬ fenders who commit the more serious crimes display [an even] higher recidivism probability.The chances then 'are ex¬ tremely high that an individual arrested for a felony will be ar¬ rested again and again. Those individuals committing the most serious felonies are almost certain to continue in their criminal careers. These statistics have been confirmed by other studies. In the well-known Belkin study, for example, a nationwide recidivism rate for all offenses was found to be 87.5 percent. A statistical survey of crime in New York City is of some in¬ terest. Researchers there initially observed that Twenty years ago the average city dweller had a rather small chance of being a victim of a violent crime; in contrast, at present crime rates, he has a very small chance to escape becoming such a victim. They concluded after reviewing all of the available data: The first and most important (conclusion) was that most crimes are committed by recidivists. The evidence is rather convincing that most crimes that are solved by either arrest or conviction are committed by recidivists. One can arrive at this conclusion at several different ways, and it is backed by massive research. . . . The data indicate that more than 80% of solved crimes are com¬ mitted by recidivists. The researchers concluded furthermore that the minimum av¬ erage number of crimes committed by each criminal is at least 25 and may be as high as 50. Hence, the vast majority of se¬ rious crimes is committed by a relatively small number of indi¬ viduals who repeatedly engage in criminal conduct. Yet another study was conducted by researchers at the Uni¬ versity of Pennsylvania.^^ The criminal records of ten thousand juveniles were carefully researched, and their criminal involve-