Inherited Risk or Imposed Injustice? Race and Responsibility in Biosocial Criminology

• In Event: Lightning Talk: Race/Ethnicity, Crime, and Systemic Injustice

Abstract

This lightning talk explores the racial and ethical implications of integrating biosocial criminology into criminal justice policy. As genetic and neurobiological research gains traction in criminological theory, questions arise about how such data may be interpreted and misused within a justice system already marked by structural racial inequality. This presentation argues that while biosocial tools may offer insight into individual risk factors, their application risks reinforcing harmful racial narratives and shifting attention away from environmental and systemic causes of crime.

Drawing on key findings from interdisciplinary research and recent policy debates, the talk highlights how biosocial frameworks can be weaponized to justify surveillance, predictive profiling, or harsher sentencing, particularly for communities of color. It also addresses the ethical vacuum in current policymaking, where scientific enthusiasm often outpaces safeguards. Ultimately, the talk calls for ethical boundaries and community-informed oversight mechanisms before biosocial data are operationalized in policy. At its conclusion, I hope you will leave with a critical lens on the promises and perils of biosocial approaches, as well as concrete questions for advancing the field without reinforcing the disparities it seeks to address.

Author

• John Euburn Headley, Rutgers University