Communication between Nature and Nurture: a sociological perspective

New developments in biotechnology and their implications for criminal justice have brought the nature vs. nurture debate into poignant relief in recent years. Poorly articulated and for many years biased towards the knowledge traditions of the hard sciences, however, the debate yearns for a basic dualistic reformulation to come up to speed with the contemporary needs of society. Four levels of contention – epistemology, mankind’s place in the scale of life, singularity and the naturalistic fallacy - are traced through a review of the literature and theoretical thinking on this issue as it has developed over time. An unitary science that embraces both the biological and the social is required to match the pressing demands of biotechnological advances and handle their direct impact on the interpretation of deviant behavior in the courtroom.