Devil's Lawyers
In the West, they found a way to mitigate the sentences of maniacs
Tatiana Pichugina, RIA Novosti
Scientists are trying to find factors contributing to antisocial behavior and violence. It is believed that carriers of a certain variant of the MAOA gene are at risk, especially if they had to deal with cruelty in childhood. On this basis, lawyers are trying to commute the sentences of the murderers. However, geneticists have objections.
At risk
In 1972, a long experiment was conceived in New Zealand. Scientists began to monitor the health and well-being of 1037 children of both sexes born during the year in one of the hospitals in Dunedin. The participants of the experiment were interviewed several times and examined from the age of three.
Using data from the Dunedin experiment, an international team of authors published a sensational work in Science in 2002. Scientists have tried to test the hypothesis that genes and the environment influence human behavior. For this purpose, the MAOA gene, responsible for the production of the type A monoamine oxidase enzyme, was specifically selected. This enzyme participates in chemical processes in the brain, destroys, in particular, the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, which regulate the level of aggression.
The researchers found that approximately eight percent of the participants in the experiment were abused by adults in childhood, 28 percent experienced moderate violence, the rest grew up in a prosperous atmosphere. It turned out that carriers of a low-active variant of the MAOA gene, who received psychotrauma in childhood, more often became criminals, committed antisocial acts, resorted to violence or were predisposed to it. The authors of the article warned: the results are tentative, require reproduction and refinement. Many facts have now been established to confirm these conclusions.
The genetics of violence
In 2014 and 2015, scientists at the Karolinska Institute (Sweden) published a series of papers showing the connection between genetics and predisposition to violence. In one article, after studying 895 convicted Finns, it was revealed that among rapists, especially repeat offenders, there is an increased number of carriers of a low-activity variant of the MAOA gene. They also pointed to a connection with a mutation in a certain region of the CDH13 gene, which is believed to contribute to mental disorders such as attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia.
Another study analyzed the families of 21,566 Swedes convicted of sexual crimes from 1973 to 2009. It turned out that 2.5 percent of criminals had fathers and brothers who committed similar acts, on average, this figure is 0.5 percent in the population. This indicates a greater importance of genetic predisposition compared to the negative influence of the environment, the authors believe.
It is widely believed in the scientific community that about half of the cases of antisocial behavior are related to heredity. Such conclusions are based on observations of adopted children whose biological parents committed crimes, including those related to violence.
The Warrior Gene
The MAOA gene, located on the X chromosome, contains a sequence of thirty nucleotides repeated several times. The fewer repetitions, the worse the gene works, the more a person is prone to aggression. Experiments have shown that transgenic mice with the MAOA gene disabled became very aggressive. Among humans, a variant of this gene with two repeats is very rare.
The association of a low-activity variant of the MAOA gene (MAOA-L) with aggression is more often observed among men. Scientists explain this by the fact that they have only one copy of the gene in the X chromosome, there is no such section in the Y chromosome. Women have two X chromosomes. If in one copy (from one of the parents) there is a low–active variant, then in the second (from the other parent) it will be of normal length.
MAOA-L is called the "warrior gene". It originated about 25 million years ago from our common ancestor with other primates. Probably, the mutation gave its carriers an advantage over their relatives: they were bolder, caught prey faster, and were the first to learn about the danger. This variant of the gene is present in modern gorillas, chimpanzees and other monkeys. In humans, it is more common in Chinese, Pacific Islanders, Africans, Maori.
Involuntary murderers?
In 2011, a Tennessee court heard the case of Bradley Waldrup, who wounded his wife and shot her friend. The killer was threatened with the death penalty, but the lawyers did a genetic examination, which showed that Waldrup is a carrier of a rare mutation MAOA-L. He was also abused as a child. These facts, stated by an expert scientist, probably influenced the verdict. The case was reclassified to second-degree murder, the death penalty was replaced by 32 years in prison.
Also, on the basis of genetic examination, it was possible to shorten the term of two murderers convicted in Italy in 2009 and 2011.
The logic of the lawyers is simple: if the criminal has the MAOA-L mutation and other factors contributing to aggression, then he does not control himself, in fact, he does not have free will.
Not everyone in the scientific community agrees that antisocial behavior, propensity to violence can be reduced solely to genetics. Considering this and other cases when lawyers in the courts appealed to the MAOA-L mutation or brain abnormalities in order to achieve a commutation of the sentence of brutal murderers and rapists, the American psychiatrist Applebaum is rather skeptical.
In his opinion, more and more research in this area gives contradictory results. In addition, people simply do not believe that genes control behavior. It is not for nothing that the affairs of recent years in the United States, where references to genetics appear, have failed: the judges did not consider the "bad genes" of the accused sufficient grounds for commuting the sentence.
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