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"Yet, despite the abundance of evidence showing the role of family in crime, criminologists and policymakers have largely neglected this factor—as the Universit
by cat199 8y ago
"Yet, despite the abundance of evidence showing the role of family in crime, criminologists and policymakers have largely neglected this factor—as the University of Maryland criminologist John Laub told me, it’s because any suggestion of a possible biological or genetic basis for crime could be misconstrued as racism."
How exactly does a family connection imply a biological basis? Did nature defeat nurture when I wasn't looking? or is this just a poorly written sentence implying that connecting the two could then result in ascribing the trait to biology, and so was avoided?
- macintux 8y ago> How exactly does a family connection imply a biological basis? ...because most families have a biological connection? I don't believe it's poorly written, but the truth is closer to your third question. Race is a very touchy subject, especially when it comes to crime, and making it known that you're looking into something that could lead to biological/genetic assertions about criminality is a good way to draw unpleasant attention.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- wahern 8y ago> Did nature defeat nurture when I wasn't looking? Yes, some people are convinced nature trumps nurture: https://quillette.com/2018/09/25/forget-nature-versus-nurture-nature-has-won/ Such people are why we can't have adult conversations without an exhaustive, preambulatory ritual re-establishing baseline assumptions. And even then people (of all stripes) will willfully misconstrue you, especially if you don't pepper your assertions with limiting and contextualizing language.