Genetics has 40% role in people who commit sexual crimes.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: A group of researchers from Oxford University and Karolinska Institite (Sweden) have traced the origin of perversion in rapists to their genes.
According to the new study, the urge to commit sexual offence is hidden in the genetics of men whose brother or son has already committed a rape or similar sexual abuse.
The first of its kind of study was jointly conducted by Oxford University and Kaeolinsk Institute over a period of 37 years (1973- 2009) involving 21,566 men. According to Professor Seena Fazel, the lead author and an expert in forensic psychology at Oxford, genetics has 40% role in people who commit sexual crimes but still the other 60% of risk factor is due to person’s upbringing and environmental factors.
She was quoted by The Times of India, saying, “I am aware of the recent of rapes in India and I would love to carry out a similar study there over the relation between mental health and crime. Genetic factors have been found to be behind sexual crimes. It leads to increased impulses or a high sex drive among men in the same family. What needs to be seen is whether a similar pattern emerges in other countries like India.”
“Most times, those needing professional help from psychiatrists are women whose male relatives have been convicted of sexual crimes. Our study now tells these experts that maybe they need to take a look at the male relatives of such offenders and analyze if they are at increased risk of perpetrating a similar crime,” she added.
The study goes further detailing the genetics of rape: it says those with a brother convicted in a rape case have five times higher chances of committing similar sexual crime compared to the man whose brother lives a normal life without being involved in any kind of sexual assault.
On the other hand, the father of a man who is convicted in rape case has four time more chances of getting involved in a similar offence committed by his son.
The study says the risk difference in maternal and paternal half-brothers is an evidence of the direct link genetics has with high risks of committing sexual offence.
However, Fazel pointed out that only around 2.5% of brothers or fathers of convicted rapists or sexual assaulters are booked for similar offence. This makes the number of convicted sexual offenders about 0.5% of the general population.
Fazel said, “Experts offering families of sex offenders help should now also look at how to identify other male members of the same family with similar heightened impulses and teach them skills to cope with it.”
Besides the startling findings in the study, Niklas Langstorm, a professor of psychaiatric epidemiology at Karolinska Institute said the study essentially doesn’t mean that all male members in the family are potential sexual offenders. According to him the study is only showing a possibility, a potential risk.
Fazel said “We are definitely not saying that we have ‘found a gene for sexual offending’. What we have found is high quality evidence from a large population study that genetic factors have a substantial influence on an increased risk of being convicted of sexual offences.”
The study concludes that sexual perversion has become a bigger threat to the society with one out of four women and one out of 10 men reporting sexual abuse at least once in their life time.