Number 96 : April 1999 |
If there was such a thing as a criminal gene then it is an attractive idea to eliminate it by prompt castration of criminals (and their offspring?) immediately on detection. However, in England it has been tried for some five centuries with no noticeable effect on the prevalence of crime. Up to late 17th century the sentence for all serious crimes was death by hanging. Hanging is as effective as castration in eliminating genes. Of course, many criminals were not detected, or not convicted, and a few rich ones paid a fine in lieu. Then a more lenient sentence was invented, transportation to the colonies. Early white settlers in Australia were predominately convicts. How far they passed on their genes is not clear because wives were few and most settlers had poor health and perished after a year or two. Australia’s crime rate is not noticeably worse than elsewhere.
Conclusion. Either there is no criminal gene (probable) or castration of convicted criminals is not sufficiently thorough to eliminate it.
Frank Walker
Frank : Excellent ! It’s amazing that such barking-mad ideas as the one you dispose of above are popular in, for instance, US communities that, theoretically at least, espouse the "Christian bad news" that we are all born sinners !
Theo