"Polizeiruf 110: Born Evil": The Legend of the "Killer Gene"

In "Polizeiruf 110: Böse geboren," the taciturn loner Milan Greuner (Eloi Christ) almost inevitably becomes a murder suspect after the death of an environmental activist. He's not only suspected of being driven by a strange passion for poaching in the neighboring forest and then burying the carcasses in a sprawling cemetery behind his cabin. Milan is also known to be the son of a serial killer and the product of a rape. As more and more evidence seems to point to his involvement, even his distraught mother occasionally comes to the conclusion: "Killing is just in him. Like his father."

The finale of this dark Rostock psychodrama, however, clearly contradicts the simplistic assumption of a genuine "killer gene" – it wasn't the serial killer's son who was the murderer, but the initially unsuspecting neighbor boy. Scientific research also largely agrees that there is no such thing as a "criminal gene" in the sense of a single gene that automatically leads to criminal behavior.

Genetic factors play only a minor role

Rather, a variety of different studies conclude that genetic factors can play a certain role in a criminal or violent career, but only in complex conjunction with environmental factors and personal development.

As reported by the journal "Bild der Wissenschaft" and others, in 2014 an international team of researchers conducted a large-scale study of approximately 800 Finnish prison inmates to investigate a possible link between criminality and genetic factors. Using DNA samples from the participants, both notorious violent offenders and extreme repeat offenders, the researchers conducted various analyses to determine whether certain genetic variants were more common in this group of offenders than in the general population.

According to the report, the researchers did discover a signal at two gene loci that occurs disproportionately in violent criminals. One of them was a gene variant in the so-called MOA-A gene (monoamine oxidase A), which can lead to an imbalance of neurotransmitters such as serotonin – which in turn can result in increased irritability and aggressiveness. However, this has been proven to be a prerequisite for the simultaneous presence of traumatic childhood experiences, such as sexual abuse.

Another gene variant that is strikingly common among chronic offenders concerns the CDH13 gene, which also plays a role in the behavioral disorder ADHD. Previous studies have already confirmed that this variant can lead to problems with impulse control.

In the scientific conclusion to their study, however, the researchers emphatically emphasized that these problematic genetic variants alone cannot turn someone into a murderer. "Criminal behavior is a complex phenomenon shaped by both genetic and environmental factors," they conclude. Whether someone carries these "potential risk factors" does not necessarily determine whether they will ever actually commit a violent act in their life. The "natural born killer" is thus nothing more than a popular cliché.

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