Word: xyy
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Discussing a gene mutation that increases maleaggression, Wilson said, "It has been reportedthat there is a higher percentage of XYY males inprison--and at Dartmouth and at Yale...
...understandable, given the tawdry history of earlier efforts to link biology and crime. A century ago, Italian physician Cesare Lombroso claimed that sloping foreheads, jutting chins and long arms were signs of born criminals. In the 1960s, scientists advanced the now discounted notion that men who carry an XYY chromosome pattern, rather than the normal XY pattern, were predisposed to becoming violent criminals...
History shows that genetic misinformation can be severely damaging. Take, for example, the supposed link between the XYY chromosome pattern and criminal behavior. In 1965 a study of violent criminals in a Scottish high-security mental institution found that a surprisingly high percentage had a particular chromosomal abnormality: in addition to the X and Y chromosomes normally found in men, each carried an extra Y, or "male" chromosome. The press and public seized on the idea that these so-called supermales were genetically predestined to a life of crime. That interpretation proved false. Further investigations showed that the vast majority...
...major problem with recombinant DNA research does not consist of the health hazards but rather the uses to which future discoveries may be applied. Citing his distaste for explaining social problems with genetics, such as determining crime rates by finding the number of Y genes in males (an XYY male was once thought to be more likely to commit crimes) Beckwith believes it is more important to study the broader questions. "If scientists are given a free reign, they'll do whatever they want, and they will stop at nothing," he says. Beckwith's laboratory stopped performing recombinant DNA experiments...
...science teaching group sends representatives to the National Science Teachers Association's meetings and holds workshops on issues for high school instructors. In addition the group develops and distributes materials dealing with the non-neutrality of science in society. They have special materials on issues like the XYY-criminality theory, which they say is widely and inaccurately reported as scientific fact in many high school science tests...