UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail
Sex crimes may run in a family’s male genes: Brothers of men convicted of offences five times more likely to commit similar crimes
By Jenny Hope Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail
The brothers of men convicted of sex offences are five times more likely than average to commit similar crimes, according to researchers.
They also found the sons of fathers with a criminal record for sex offending were nearly four times more likely to be convicted of such crimes.
The biggest study of its kind suggests sex offending could run in the family along the male genetic line.
The findings show that 40 to 50 per cent of the differences in risk between close relatives of offenders and men from the general population were genetically driven.
But the researchers stressed that this did not mean a man with a brother or father convicted of rape would inevitably follow in their footsteps.
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