IQ and Criminality

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the factors that influence one's IQ and the direct link between IQ and criminality and how various environmental and social issues can also play a role. It also discusses the various methodologies used to conduct the study of the relationship between IQ and criminality.

From the Paper:

"Adoptee studies have provided the most striking evidence of gene-environment interaction with respect to antisocial behavior. Thus, in a Scandinavian adoptee study of petty criminality, found that just less than 3% of individuals without a criminal biological parent and without major risk experiences in the adoptive family showed petty criminality. The risk doubled when there was an environmental but not a genetic risk. It went up to 12% with genetic risk in the absence of environmental risk but soared to 40% when both types of risks were present. In other words, those individuals at genetic risk were most likely to be adversely affected by adversities in their adoptive family. It is important to note that, because the adoptee strategy is specifically designed to remove the overlap between genetic and environmental risk, the proportion of variation in the population accounted for by this interaction will necessarily be misleadingly low. That is because the proportion of variation in the population explained by the interaction reflects the proportion of individuals in the key cell (in this case, the subgroup with both genetic and environmental risks); for that reason, it provides a most unsatisfactory measure of the strength of the effects as they operate on individuals . (Rutter, 1997, p. 396)
One thing important to note is that above and throughout other studies done on the subject matter, there is not just a relationship made between IQ and criminality. There are other factors often indicated, i.e. environmental factors, societal factors, etc. So there is a necessity to understand that the lack of IQ often has its own determinants and factors, it just so happens that there is a correlation no matter how small between criminality and IQ. It is proven throughout that with lower IQ criminality does often more than less become a characteristic."

More papers on IQ and Criminality:

• Essay # 36863 : "IQ and Criminal Behavior"
• Research Paper # 28453 : "Crime and IQ"
• Book Review # 93644 : "Emotional Intelligence"

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