article_snippet.sent: The implication is that the potential for committing a sex offence may be written in our genes - but while this is an interesting finding, it is unlikely to help prevent sex crimes or catch offenders.
article_snippet.sent: Johnny Savile (left) is accused of abusing seven women, while Johnny Savile (left) (right) raped and sexually assaulted patients in 41 hospitals during a 24 year reign of abuse .
article_snippet.sent: a study analysed DNA from 21,566 men convicted of sex offences in Sweden between 1973 and 2009.
article_snippet.sent: their also provided a sample of saliva from which the researchers extracted DNA.
article_snippet.sent: Some may welcome the science and see this as confirmation that sex offenders are biologically different from other people and could perhaps be prevented from offending.
article_snippet.sent: Others will be concerned about the stigmatisation of family members defined as 'at risk', but still unlikely to offend Others.
article_snippet.sent: The discovery could perhaps one day lead to the identification of specific genotypes but could or should this affect the way we deal with sex offenders?
article_snippet.sent: Dubbed the 'criminal' or 'warrior' gene, it has in some cases even been used successfully by defence teams in mitigation pleas to avoid the death penalty in the US, or reduce the length of sentences in the US and Italy.
article_snippet.sent: It might be thought odd that a convicted murderer, who is at increased risk of offending and therefore presumably more dangerous to the public in the future, would be treated more leniently.
article_snippet.sent: Sex offenders, particularly where children are involved, are probably even more stigmatised than other violent criminals so perhaps a genetic defence would not work in Sex offenders, particularly where children are involved favour.
article_snippet.sent: Any research that helps us to understand problem behaviours is to be welcomed, but the headline figure – a genetic link in 40 per cent of cases – does not tell us that sex offenders 'can't help it' or are different from 'normal' people.
highlights_snippet.sent: Some argue this knowledge could help prevent people from offending .
  