Genetics of a Murderer

[queerbychoice]

"Scott [Peterson] does not have the genetics of a coldblooded, premeditated murderer."
—Mark Geragos, defense attorney for Scott Peterson in the Laci Peterson murder case, as quoted in The New York Post

Genetics?

The genetics of a coldblooded, premeditated murderer??

What, do we have to prove that a murderer's parents have committed murder too, before we can convict him???

GENETICS????

Maybe what he means is, "He's white, therefore he's innocent"?????

This cultural fixation with trying to blame everything on DNA has gone way too far.

Comments

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

holy crap, that can't be serious. And look at me, wasting my time worrying about morality, when it was the genes all along. How can morality exist in a world with no free will? And how can free will co-exist with genes?

[kyra.livejournal.com]

Hold the phone, they've finally found the mythical "murder gene"? Shit, maybe next they'll find the gay gene, the slurp-your-soup gene, and the whiny-bitch gene!

I cry bullshit.

[zendifferential.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be lovely to think that predisposition determined all criminal action? And that those who do horrendous things aren't really responsible for their actions, they're just... you know. Genetically inclined.

What a bunch of fucking garbage. That guy should be disbarred for idiocy.

Of Apples, Trees and How They Fall

[epanastatis.livejournal.com]

Scott Peterson may not have the genetics of a cold-blooded, premeditated murderer, but George W. Bush certainly does.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

Gahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111$%(_@#%&(@$

That's absolute total fucking BULL SHIT. I can't believe people are being so stupid.

WE SHARE 50% OF OUR GENES WITH FUCKING BANANAS. And like 99.5% of our genes with CHIMPANZEES. Genes make our BODIES WORK, they do not make our decisions for us. Gah.

You know, I don't even think they've found any brain differences between criminals and non-criminals, at least once you exclude disorders that may predispose one to criminality (like antisocial personality disorder, which itself is not genetically based), and it's much much easier to find brain differences (which could be due to things other than genetics, like life experiences) than it is to prove any sort of heritability. Gahhhh.

[the-moonshiner.livejournal.com]

What the fuck?

Phrenology for the new millenium?

[spreadsothin.livejournal.com]

Gattica

[dancing-mage.livejournal.com]

Science is our new religion, and gene-theory is our Calvinist God.

[exterra.livejournal.com]

don't you know? at conception you either get the "cold blooded murderer gene" turned off or on. i hear its recessive.

"He's white, therefore he's innocent"
Probably more like, "he's white, middle-class and somewhat educated, isn't rabidly foaming at the mouth (no diagnosed mental health issues), therefore he's innocent." (well, i don't really know enough about him but i'm guessing he's all of the above)