Epigenetics and Hot Spots of Crime: Rethinking the Relationship Between Genetics and Criminal Behavior

• Published date: 01 May 2019
• Author: David Weisburd,Rotem Leshem
• Date: 01 May 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/1043986219828924
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986219828924

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2019, Vol. 35(2) 186 –204

© The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/1043986219828924

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Article

Epigenetics and Hot Spots

of Crime: Rethinking the

Relationship Between

Genetics and Criminal

Behavior

Rotem Leshem1 and David Weisburd2,3

Abstract

There is a growing recognition of the importance of micro-geographic areas in

the generation of crime problems. While many studies show that crime is heavily

concentrated at crime hot spots, scholars have only begun to examine how living

in such places affects human development. We point to an unexplored component

of the relationship between living in a hot spot, and crime and violence. We argue

that crime hot spots function as violent and stressful environments and thus have

long-term, possibly intergenerational, impacts on brain development. It is proposed

that living in such places may be associated with DNA methylation profiles related to

aggressive behavior. In this context, the study of the epigenetic influences of crime

hot spots has tremendous potential for advancing our understanding of crime and

violence, as well as generating new approaches for crime prevention.

Keywords

hot spots, aggression, DNA methylation, crime area, Epigenetics

Introduction

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of

micro-geographic areas in the generation of crime problems (Braga & Clarke, 2014;

Weisburd et al., 2016). A series of studies have found that crime is highly concentrated

1Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

2George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

3Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Corresponding Author:

Rotem Leshem, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel.

Email: rotem.leshem@biu.ac.il

828924CCJXXX10.1177/1043986219828924Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeLeshem and Weisburd

research-article2019

Leshem and Weisburd 187

in cities in small geographies such as addresses, street segments, or clusters of street

segments (Andresen & Malleson, 2011; Braga, Papachristos, & Hureau, 2010;

Brantingham & Brantingham, 1999; Crow & Bull, 1975; Curman, Andresen, &

Brantingham, 2015; Pierce, Spaar, & Briggs, 1988; Roncek, 2000; Sherman, Gartin, &

Buerger, 1989; Weisburd, 2015; Weisburd & Amram, 2014; Weisburd, Bushway, Lum,

& Yang, 2004; Weisburd & Green, 1994; Weisburd, Groff, & Yang, 2012; Weisburd

et al., 1992; Weisburd, Morris, & Groff, 2009). In a recent study, Weisburd (2015)

examined five large cities and, using a similar measure of crime and geography (street

segments), found that about 5% of streets in larger cities produce 50% of recorded

crime and about 1% of streets produce 25% of recorded crime, suggesting a “law of

crime concentration” at micro-geographic units. Note that concentration of crime

more generally, and violent crime specifically, at crime hot spots is not simply a rarefi-

cation of meso- or macro-area trends. A number of studies now show that crime hot

spots are spread throughout the city (Andresen & Malleson, 2011; Braga, Hureau, &

Papachristos, 2011; Groff, Weisburd, & Yang, 2010; Oberwittler & Wikström, 2009;

Weisburd et al., 2012).

While crime hot spots have become the focus of significant study over recent years

(see Weisburd et al., 2016, for a review) and have generated strong policy impact in

the area of policing (e.g., see Skogan and Frydyl [National Research Council], 2004;

Weisburd and Majmundar [National Research Council], 2018), scholars have only

begun to examine how living in crime hot spots affects human development. This

focus is very much in line with a broader interest in the relationship between violence

and crime and public health outcomes (e.g., see Curry, Latkin, Davey-Rothwell, 2008;

Diez-Roux & Mair, 2010; Franco, Diez-Roux, Glass, Caballero, & Brancati, 2008;

LaVeist & Wallace, 2000; O’Campo, Xue, Wang, & Caughy, 1997). An ongoing

National Institute of Drug Abuse study of people who live in crime hot spots suggests

that public health outcomes are very different for residents of hot spots than people

who live on streets with little crime (Weisburd, 2018; Weisburd & White, 2019).

Residents of chronic crime hot spots were twice as likely to have drug problems and

much more likely to smoke cigarettes. And they evidenced significantly higher levels

of physical health problems such as arthritis, asthma, high blood pressure, and diabe-

tes. A recent paper shows, moreover, that living on a violent crime street leads to

higher rates of posttraumatic stress syndrome, and that residents on such streets were

more likely to evidence symptoms of depression (Weisburd et al., 2018).

In this article, we want to point to an unexplored component of the relationship

between living in a hot spot and the development of aggression. In recent years, devel-

opmental psychologists and geneticists have become increasingly interested in how

environments impact the expression of genes during childhood (Weaver et al., 2004)

and to what extent this impact is related to the use of physical aggression (Provençal,

Booij, & Tremblay, 2015; Tremblay, 2015). They argue that specific types of experi-

ences may impact whether and to what extent specific genes are “methylated,” or in

lay terms “turned on and off,” so that they influence behavior. The importance of this

approach, termed “epigenetics” (Tremblay & Szyf, 2010), is that it raises the question

of the extent to which the environment modifies genetic predispositions to impact