All human beings are built up of a genetic code which defines our characteristics. While it defines our physical characteristics, it is also defining to some extent our behavior. This defining of our behavior dictates our tendencies toward certain aspects of life, including the body's ability to express aggressive behavior. With all the attention current events have drawn on the topic of adolescent violence, it is time to answer the question, to what degree will our genes dictate our tendencies toward violent behavior?

While a wide range of social and psychological studies are needed, the best fir

st step toward solving the problem would be to investigate the genetic influences. Genes are passed on to all children through a combination of the genes of their mothers and fathers. Hence the childrens' genetic structure will be very similar to their parents. So if a genetic component toward crime exists in the parents, it would logically be transmitted to their child along with the rest of their genetic material. In order that we might eliminate troublesome outside variables, it would be useful to have two completely separate sets of parents, with one set of parents to represent heredity, and the other set to represent environment. Although an experiment such as this cannot be deliberately performed, a very similar situation already exists. It is referred to as adoption. A study done on the criminality of sons by Wilson and Herrenstein shows the results of this exact experiment. Close to four thousand adopted children were studied. The study showed that of the children whose biological and adoptive parents had never committed a criminal offense, only 13.5% of the children committed a crime in the future (Livingston 320). Now when the child's biological parents were criminals, it turned out that 20.0% of the children committed a crime (Livingston 320), whereas if only the adoptive parents were criminals, then the percentage decreased to 14.7% (Livingston 320). So we see that there is slightly more than a one percent change when a child with law abiding parents is compared to a child whose adoptive parents were criminals. Perhaps this shows that those who do not hold a certain genetic predisposition toward violence will hardly let their environment motivate them to a criminal life. Yet what would happen to a child who already has a predisposition toward violence and is placed in the care of parents who are criminals? The study found that when this occurred, the percentage of children who turned to crime jumped to 24.5% (Livingston 320). Hence, the study shows that the biological factor has a significant advantage over the environmental factor in determining criminality, while the two factors also work well together in fostering criminality.

Aggressive behavior is not often welcomed in our society, although the United States military felt and may still feel that they can use such people to their advantage. During the early years of the Vietnam War, prior to 1968, the army did extensive studies on the aggressive and violent tendencies of men (Booth & Gimbel). The army was looking for soldiers who would work well on a battlefield. They wanted men who would be able to handle stress, while at the same time remaining very aggressive. In seeking out these individuals, they looked at factors such as testosterone levels, cortisol levels, antisocial behavior in the school, and antisocial behavior in the military (Booth & Gimbel). Testosterone can be a very useful indicator of aggressive tendencies. It has been documented that "[a] number of studies have demonstrated a consistent and moderately strong relationship between testosterone and aggression in youth and adults, antisocial behavior such as fighting, drug use in adults, and sensation seeking" (Booth & Gimbel). One can see why the army would like to have control over these individuals. It's as if the army stopped seeing these people as human beings, and more as aggressive fighting tools. Now, fostering someone's existing predisposition toward violence is not something positive at all. Up until 1968, the army used this system of aggressive tendency testing, whereas after that point they just began sending men under the age of 19 to fight in Vietnam.

Another way in which humans may be physiologically predisposed to violence is through genetic abnormalities. Although they are not common, certain discrepancies in the genes have been linked directly to violent behavior. One such incident involves those people with an extra Y chromosome. Normally, peopl

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