What is the controversy that the study of XYY syndrome brings along with it?

XYY syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality present at birth that affects only males. It is estimated to occur in between one out of every nine hundred to one out of every fifteen hundred live births and usually is not usually hereditary, although it is in a small percentage. Primary symptoms of XYY syndrome include unordinarily tall height that becomes noticeable at an early age, lower than average intelligence, delayed speech, learning problems, bad acne at puberty and an explosive temper. XYY syndrome boys usually appear very normal with exception to their unusually tall stature and acne, and XYY syndrome often goes undiagnosed by doctors. To understand XYY syndrome we must understand how and where it occurs. XYY syndrome is a common abnormality that occurs wh

There is also another chromosomal abnormality that is closely related to XXY syndrome, which is called XXX syndrome. This has also been studied and hypothesized to cause criminal activity. The difference between this and XYY, is that XXX only affects women.

4) Http://teen.rutgers.edu/genbio102/14chromo/sld023.html

5) Http://www.mhsource.com/expert/exp1030298d.html

2) http://www2.cybernex.net/~tokm/essay/xyy14.txt

6) NPR Radio, DNA Testing Provides Unprecedented Accuracy, 30 June 1994.

But why does any of this matter? Well, in 1965 British cyto-geneticist Patricia Jacobs found that a larger number of men in an Edinburgh correctional institution than expected were XYY males as opposed to normal XY males. She went on to hypothesize that the extra Y chromosome "predisposes its carriers to unusually aggressive behavior". Ms. Jacobs' "criminal chromosome" gained popular attention from press throughout the world. In April of 1968, a New York Times writer wrote that Richard Speck, a man who had been infamous at the time for his part in the murder of nine student nurses, planned to appeal his case on the grounds that he was an XYY male. Although the story was false, Mr. Speck was a normal XY male, a controversy broke out amongst the public. A Newsweek headline read "Can a man be born a criminal?" and Time printed an article that read "Chromosomes and crime." By the 1970's there had been two films featuring an XYY male as a criminal, and a series of novels featured a lead character that struggled to overcome his criminal compulsion due to XYY syndrome. Popular references to the "criminal chromosome" continued t

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