garland

The story of John is heartbreaking. I wonder, too, rather than assuming genetics, if in utero exposure to drugs, alcohol, and/or nutritional deprivation might not be a likely cause. A lot of the behavior described sounds like fetal alcohol syndrome, or something similar.

timely

garland, yes, you are right that those things could be the cause. John doesn't have the physical features often associated with fetal alcohol syndrome, but I doubt all kids with FAS have that. And drugs certainly could be a possibility.

Interestingly, this birth mom claimed no substance abuse. However, the girl that this same couple adopted had a birthmom who said she had previously used cocaine but did not use it during pregnancy. So they knew there was the possibility that she had, in fact, used it and were prepared for that with their adopted D. But the little girl is now 16 and is perfectly fine (except that she thinks her mother is completely stupid and rolls her eyes all the time...in other words, a normal teenager).

barrons

"Largely" is a big word. But even if it's only 25% or 50% of the equation, that is pretty significant. The question becomes what do you do with the information. I don't think it would absolve anyone of criminal activity. I think the Ted Bundy type killers are cut from a different mold all together. But maybe they can do the testing on some of his remains or samples he had to give.

mini

" I wonder, too, rather than assuming genetics, if in utero exposure to drugs, alcohol, and/or nutritional deprivation might not be a likely cause."

One thing we have found out for certain is that the "crack baby" thing was a hoax. Researchers have followed children born to cocaine-using mothers and found, after correcting for income/family situation, no statistical differences between them (in school performance, ADHD, juvenile crime, etc.) and babies born to non-using mothers. HOWEVER, the same is not true for alcohol.

barrons

The results are not as sanguine as Mini reports.

Prenatal cocaine's lasting cellular effects ( Although the crack baby hysteria of t...)

Shrinkrap

Definately feel this subject has the potential to use cience in a BAD way, but my brother and I talk about this alot. He mentioned this book



Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Willie Bosket was charming, magnetic, and brilliant. He was also the most cold-blooded criminal the New York State penal system had ever seen. By the time he was in his teens, he had committed over two hundred armed robberies and twenty-five stabbings. Fox Butterfield examines the heritage of violence that followed Bosket's family from their days in slavery in South Carolina to the present. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
In his early 30s, Willie James Bosket Jr., viewed by many as New York's most violent criminal, is confined in tightly secured isolation in a Catskill prison. New York Times reporter Butterfield interviewed Willie and did extensive research on him, his forebears, and the historic use in this country of violence in defense of personal honor. A high I.Q. and often appealing demeanor have not mitigated Willie's unrepentant, violently aggressive behavior. "The boy no one could help," he has been mostly institutionalized since age nine. His family life was abysmal: he never met his criminal father, his mother was a negative influence, and he inherited a history of law-flouting male aggression. Butterfield delineates the complex elements of this young African American's life gone irretrievably awry. Highly recommended for college level and up.
-?Suzanne W. Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology, Alfred


Anybody read this?

razorsharp

If you ever have the opportunity to spend much time with male prisoners, you will notice one thing common among the majority of prisoners. They either have no father or have a bad father. I think fatherhood trumps DNA any day of the week.

2legit2quit

This reminds me of the movie "The Bad Seed"

excellent movie. Although if I told you why this post reminds me of it, it would ruin the movie. If anyone is interested in a good old-fasioned black and white movie related to criminal genetic behavior, check it out!

Shrinkrap

I loved that movie!( both times...right?)

zoosermom

The book is awesome too ^^. D2 did a paper this past year about the nature of evil in literature and touched on the genetics as destiny aspect.

2legit2quit

I've been meaning to read the book!

With a movie that good the book can only be better :]

mini

"In a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, Gregg Stanwood, Ph.D., and Pat Levitt, Ph.D., report that prenatal cocaine exposure in rabbits causes a long lasting displacement of dopamine receptors in certain brain cells, which alters their ability to function normally."

Rabbits? I would think public health epidemiology trumps rabbits. (Take it from me - NIDA has been spending tens of millions to try to show long-term cognitive and behavioral impacts. I get a report from them every month, complete with brain scans and etc. So far, they ain't there. And the crack babies from the 80s are all now in their 20s, so there's plenty of data to examine.)

barrons

"Incredibly high levels of cocaine -- usually coupled with the abuse of other drugs -- can lead to premature labor, preterm birth and low birth weight, Stanwood said.

"But in women who have abused relatively low recreational doses of cocaine, it is actually very hard to distinguish those children at birth from children born to anyone else," he said. "However, as those children age, they do develop deficits in their cognitive and emotional development."

These children often exhibit attention and arousal problems, similar to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the standard treatments for ADHD -- Ritalin and other stimulants -- are not always effective in these children.

Studying the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on the developing brain is difficult in human populations because cocaine abusers often abuse other drugs. Animal models can help determine how prenatal cocaine exp
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Gee, you mean we are wasting all the money doing research first with fruit flies, mice, rabbits, and other animals. Better let all the scientists to stop wasting their time and haul in the humans. Also we better junk all the cancer warning based on animal testing as most of them are.

And once again the apple does not fall far from the tree. In local news:

"She said Brown was the sweetest of her three sons and often shied away from fighting, even while squabbling with his siblings when he was a child. Battiste said Brown was born in California but moved to the Seattle area as a child to live with foster parents while she was in prison for bank robbery."

Local News | Mother: Brian Keith Brown was trying to help | Seattle Times Newspaper

mini

We have 20 years of data comparing the former crack babies and their non-crack-baby cohorts. After correcting for household abuse, family income, etc., etc., we just can't find any difference. No difference in academic performance, none in cognitive development, none in involvement in the juvenile justice system, none in involvement with the criminal justice system.

Having said that, it is also true that many of these "former" kids (remember, they are now in their 20s), don't do very well. Many DO come from abusive, drug-using, low-income households, many do end up in the foster care system (you wanna see some terrible stats, go there). But what can be said with some certainty, with more than 20 years of data behind it, is that their prenatal exposure to coke wasn't what put them at increased risk. (Alcohol is another matter.)

barrons

I suggest Mini get more current.

"
Policy Implications
These findings have policy implications. There were 4112052 births in the United States in 200455; 3.9% of pregnant mothers reported illicit drug use in 2004–2005 in the past month.56 Although estimates vary, even a conservative estimate of 45000 children born with PCE per year would suggest, on the basis of our study, that 12.7% will receive an IEP. Enrollment in special education in the United States costs an additional $8080 per year per student57 compared with nonenrolled students. The risk attributable to cocaine for an IEP is 1.79 – 1.00 = 0.79 (Table 3). Thus, additional cost per year for special education services as a result of PCE alone would total 45000 cocaine births per year x 12.7/100 (baseline IEP rate) x 0.79 (excess risk attributable to cocaine) x $5918 (additional cost per child) = $26718882. This yearly cost would then have to be multiplied by the number of years the child receives special education services in school. "Investing" in early intervention might not only relieve long-term suffering in these children but also be cost-effective.

Illicit drugs, such as cocaine, may not be the only prenatal exposures that lead to an increased use of special education resources. Legal substances such as tobacco and alcohol, which were controlled in our study, may have effects on these outcomes. Findings of special education use in children with prenatal alcohol exposure but not fetal alcohol syndrome (comparable to our study children) have varied.58–60 We found no studies that examined the effects of prenatal tobacco use on special education outcomes. These are important areas for future investigation.


Effects of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure on Special Education in School-Aged Children -- Levine et al. 122 (1): e83 -- Pediatrics