Blacksheep Ancestors

The latest genealogical information on helping you find ancestors in your family tree that were criminals, murderers, outlaws, bandits or scoundrels and that may have spent time in a prison, jail, penitentiary, chain gang or convict camp.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

The Criminal Mind

I thought for a change of pace I would talk about something a little bit different today.

Instead of showing you where to find your blacksheep ancestors I thought I would show you why your blacksheep ancestors were the way they were.

The Evolutionary Psychology and The Male "Criminal" Mind by William A. Spriggs presents some compelling scientific data to demonstrate why criminals resort to a life of crime.

As the author puts it:

"What will be found, I believe, is that there is in fact more than one gene responsible for "criminal aggression," and that these genes act in concert according to the environment in which the "criminal" finds himself. In short, we will find that a stressful environment creates a responsive behavior adaptive to that environment. From the standpoint of evolutionary psychology, these behaviors, are innate, adaptive behaviors -- their motive is not the commission of crimes, but survival. We have a brain and genes that were suited for the savanna of 25,000 years ago, and we still carry them with us today. We must readjust our thinking to reflect that admission."


(Views presented are not necessarily my views)

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