SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Genet.
Sec. ELSI in Science and Genetics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1599750
This article is part of the Research TopicErrors and Biases in Modern Healthcare: Public Health, Medico-legal and Risk Management AspectsView all 8 articles
Ethical issues in the use of genetic predictions of aggressive behavior in the criminal justice system: a systematic review
Provisionally accepted
Pietro Refolo1,2*
Stefano Ferracuti3
Simone Grassi4
Costanza Raimondi1Giulia Mercuri5
Massimo Zedda5,6
Giovanni Aulino5,6
Antonio G. Spagnolo1,2
Antonio Oliva5,6- 1Department of Health Care Surveillance and Bioethics, Section of Bioethics and Medical Humanities, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- 2Research Centre for Clinical Bioethics & Medical Humanities, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- 3Department of Human Neurosciences, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- 4Department of Health Science, Section of Forensic Medical Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
- 5Department of Health Care Surveillance and Bioethics, Section of Legal Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- 6Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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Background: The use of genetic predictions of aggressive behavior in the criminal justice system remains a subject of ongoing debate. Since behavioral genetic evidence is often used in criminal defense arguments, it is crucial to critically examine the ethical challenges associated with its application.Objective: This article seeks to identify and analyze these ethical concerns to ensure the responsible and equitable integration of genetic testing, when deemed necessary, into the judiciary system. Methods: A systematic review was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus, supplemented by manual searches of reference lists to identify additional relevant studies.The search yielded 1,023 publications, 12 of which met the inclusion criteria. Seven key ethical concerns were identified: the risks of discrimination, stigmatization, eugenic reasoning, deterministic interpretations, overestimation of dangerousness, privacy violations, and medicalization, along with the risks posed by limited scientific literacy among legal professionals.The ethical challenges associated with genetic predictions of aggressive behavior underscore the need for a critical and multidisciplinary approach to their use in the criminal justice system. Collaboration among bioethicists, legal scholars, scientists, and communication experts is crucial to prevent misuse and reduce potential biases. Such an approach will help ensure that genetic insights are ethically applied, accurately interpreted, and used to promote justice rather than exacerbate systemic inequalities.
Keywords: Genetic Testing, Behavioral genetics, Ethics, criminal justice, MAOA gene
Received: 25 Mar 2025; Accepted: 28 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Refolo, Ferracuti, Grassi, Raimondi, Mercuri, Zedda, Aulino, Spagnolo and Oliva. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Pietro Refolo, Department of Health Care Surveillance and Bioethics, Section of Bioethics and Medical Humanities, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.