Robert Lee Hotz And John Johnson write in the Los Angeles
Times that it may be possible for evil to be passed down
genetically to family members. They examine families in which
several generations have committed the same types of
terrible crimes.
Scientists now know that genes influence our behavior. But
can our behavior change our genes and can we then pass on
our defective genes to our children? New research is
revealing that life experiences can alter the biochemistry of
many genes. "The new way of looking at this is that different
experiences turn different genes on and off," says
psychologist Seth Pollak. "Experience matters."
Take the Ward Weaver family?father and son. Police found
the corpses of two young teenaged girls in the son?s
backyard. He's awaiting trial for their murders. They then
discovered that the elder Ward Weaver is on death row in
San Quentin for the 1981 murder of a young woman and her
fiancé, and he also buried them in the backyard.
Both men were abused as children and were themselves
abusive. Both were accused of raping relatives and torturing
animals. They were both hunters who joined the military. Both
married and divorced twice, and they each have five children.
What's especially interesting is that the senior Weaver did
not play a major role in his son's upbringing, since he lived
apart from his family from the time his son was 4 years old.
However, his wife's second husband was also hot-tempered
and abusive.
Scientists have tracked thousands of families for years, trying
to figure out what influences behavior. They think that at
least half of our behavior is the result of genes. "There is no
doubt that much of personality is genetically influenced,"
says cognitive scientist Steven Pinker.
Psychologist Adrian Raine studied the brains of 41 convicted
murders in California prisons and says a distinctive signature
of neural activity can be seen in their brains. He wanted to
see if he could find a difference in the brain structures of
those who killed on impulse, compared to those convicted for
premeditated murderers.
Raine found metabolic patterns that suggest that the neural
networks of the killers are different from those of normal
people. The patterns also separated those who killed with
premeditation from those who murdered on the spur of the
moment, and those murderers who were abused as children
from those with more normal childhoods.
The brain is strongly affected by chemicals called
neurotransmitters. Love is influenced by the brain chemical
oxytocin, as well as levels of vasopressin. Aggression and
depression are partly caused by low serotonin levels. By
altering a single gene that affects vasopressin, scientists can
turn mice with multiple sex partners into monogamous mates.
If they eliminate four genes that affect levels of oxytocin and
estrogen, the mice can't recognize either their friends or their
enemies.
Molecular biologists have discovered a gene linked to
antisocial behavior, which affects serotonin, which seems to
be controlled by the combination of heredity and home life.
Psychiatrist Regina Palley says, "We have come to the
realization that there is no dichotomy between genes and
environment. They both interact at a biological level."
But a child's experiences can help mitigate the effects of
harmful genes. The way a mother holds and cuddles her child
can chemically change the expression of some of the child's
genes. Psychiatrist Glen Gabbard says, "The quality of
maternal interaction may override the genetic predisposition
to criminal behavior." The problem is that abused, angry,
dysfunctional parents aren't likely to treat their children well.
Once we identify evil genes, what do we do with the people
who carry them? "To what extent can we predict and punish
antisocial acts before they occur?" asks Lori Andrews, of the
Institute of Science, Law and Technology. "Should we
identify these people and keep them under surveillance?
Should we try to reprogram them or mandate medical
treatment??If we can say that my genes made me do it, we
may have to rethink the very foundation of criminal law."
Locking people up because genetic tests tell us they're likely
to be killers or pedophiles? We may be looking at the
final hour of our culture.
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