Race and Criminology in the Age of Genomic Science

Objective. To survey the contemporary literature in the social and biological sciences relevant to race that examines both the reality and the usefulness of the concept. Race is considered a major correlate of criminal behavior, and thus a fresh look at the concept is of obvious importance to crimin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Social science quarterly 2011-12, Vol.92 (5), p.1279-1296
Main Authors:	Walsh, Anthony, Yun, Ilhong
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Biological anthropology Biological Sciences Biology Criminology Data Banks Deviant Behavior Ethnic Groups Evolutionary genetics Genetic Research: Our Genes and Choices Genetic variation Genetics Genomics Human genetics Medical genetics Medicine Offenders Physical anthropology Polymorphism Population genetics Race Racism Reality Social sciences Sociologists
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Summary:	Objective. To survey the contemporary literature in the social and biological sciences relevant to race that examines both the reality and the usefulness of the concept. Race is considered a major correlate of criminal behavior, and thus a fresh look at the concept is of obvious importance to criminologists and sociologists. Method. Social, genetic, medical, and criminology databases were keyword searched for articles on race that either addressed its existence/nonexistence or usefulness as a concept. Results. We find that biologist and social constructionists talk past one another and never venture beyond the comfort of their own positions. Genetic studies using very few chromosomal loci find that genetic polymorphisms divide human populations into clusters with almost 100 percent accuracy and that they correspond to the traditional anthropological categories. Conclusion. There is much to gain by recognizing that these categories differ genetically, and that we can dispense with the term race in favor of some other term such as population or ethnic group and nothing would be lost except a word.
ISSN:	0038-4941 1540-6237