Experts have found the "gang gene"

Jun 22, 2009 08:58 GMT  ·  By
Low activity in the MAOA gene can predict if individuals will join a gang and wield a weapon sometime during their teen and young adult years
   Low activity in the MAOA gene can predict if individuals will join a gang and wield a weapon sometime during their teen and young adult years

According to a recent batch of scientific studies, it may be that being part of a gang is not just caused by growing up in a certain type of neighborhood, but also by a genetic predisposition to this. Researchers identified the MAOA gene as being responsible for this state of affairs, with statistics showing that those with a particular form of it were two times more likely to become part of a gang than control subjects. More than 2,000 teens from the United States took part in the new research, which was conducted by experts at the Florida State University, in Tallahassee, NewScientist reports.

“For the most part, people haven't really thought of the biological or genetic underpinnings to gang membership,” the leader of the new research, FSU Biosocial Criminologist Kevin Beaver, said. His study also determined that the people with the modified form of the MAOA gene were more likely to wield a weapon than others, be it a knife or a handgun. The mutated form of the gene means that the levels of the protein monoamine oxidase A decrease. This chemical plays an important role in recycling substances that foster neuron connections inside the human brain.

In his experiments, the researcher looked at data from over 1,155 females and 1,041 males, who were part of a long-term adolescent health study conducted back in 2002. He asked a number of participants whether they had been in a gang in the last year or not, and also if they used a weapon in a conflict situation or not. He noticed that 42 percent of the males had the low form of the MAOA gene, and that roughly five percent of all male participants had entered a gang in the previous year.

However, statistical correlations showed that those with the low-activity form of the gene were twice more likely to have entered a gang, as opposed to those with the high-activity form. “This gene is predicting gang membership, but it's really predicting it for the very violent gang members,” Beaver added, quoted by NewScientist. “We're not going to change someone's DNA, but we can alter the environment which would, in turn, blunt that genetic effect,” he explained, saying that genetic screenings for the troublesome genes could be performed since childhood, so as to identify kids at risk of becoming gang members later on in life.