Genetic background of extreme violent behavior.

Mol Psychiatry
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

In developed countries, the majority of all violent crime is committed by a small group of antisocial recidivistic offenders, but no genes have been shown to contribute to recidivistic violent offending or severe violent behavior, such as homicide. Our results, from two independent cohorts of Finnish prisoners, revealed that a monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) low-activity genotype (contributing to low dopamine turnover rate) as well as the CDH13 gene (coding for neuronal membrane adhesion protein) are associated with extremely violent behavior (at least 10 committed homicides, attempted homicides or batteries). No substantial signal was observed for either MAOA or CDH13 among non-violent offenders, indicating that findings were specific for violent offending, and not largely attributable to substance abuse or antisocial personality disorder. These results indicate both low monoamine metabolism and neuronal membrane dysfunction as plausible factors in the etiology of extreme criminal violent behavior, and imply that at least about 5-10% of all severe violent crime in Finland is attributable to the aforementioned MAOA and CDH13 genotypes.

Year of Publication
2015
Journal
Mol Psychiatry
Volume
20
Issue
6
Pages
786-92
Date Published
2015 Jun
ISSN
1476-5578
URL
DOI
10.1038/mp.2014.130
PubMed ID
25349169
PubMed Central ID
PMC4776744
Links
Grant list
Z01 AA000281-18 / Intramural NIH HHS / United States