Challenging Assumptions: A Genetically Sensitive Examination of the Criminogenic Effect of Contact with the Criminal Justice System

• In Event: Cutting-Edge Biosocial Criminological Research

Abstract

A key assumption underlying various components of criminological thought is the criminogenic effect of involvement with the criminal justice system. Although there is variance in the manner in which involvement with the criminal justice system is considered a causal mechanism in terms of offending, several theoretical perspectives call for assessment of the effect of such official intervention. Recent research has advanced this examination employing such techniques as propensity score matching. This procedure is used in order to account for preexisting differences between groups in an attempt to isolate contact with the criminal justice system as a causal factor in subsequent delinquency. While this approach represents an improvement upon prior research it still suffers from an inability to account for the confounding effects of genetic factors. In the current study we employ genetically sensitive modeling techniques to isolate the effect of involvement with the criminal justice system on criminal behaviors (i.e., net of the effect of genetic influence on both involvement with the criminal justice system and subsequent offending). In an examination of longitudinal data, the findings illustrate the effect of genetic confounding on the association between involvement with the criminal justice system and criminal offending. The study illustrates the continued ineffectiveness of the standard social science methodological approach to assessing criminology’s main assumptions.

Authors

• Joseph L. Nedelec, University of Cincinnati

• Joseph A. Schwartz, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Eric J. Connolly, Pennsylvania State University, Abington

• Kevin M. Beaver, Florida State University