Criminal Law: Question of Y

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Geneticists have yet to prove that men who carry an extra male or Y chromosome in their body cells tend to be criminally violent. Yet, increasing evidence supports the theory that such men are overaggressive "supermales" inclined toward mayhem (TIME, May 3). This month attorneys in two widely separated cases made courtroom history by introducing the disputed concept in defense of two accused killers.

In Paris, Daniel Hugon was being tried for strangling to death a 61-year-old prostitute. His lawyers cited medical evidence that the 32-year-old drifter had required psychiatric care at 17, attempted suicide five times, and suffered from chromosome abnormality as well. His genetic allotment was XYY rather than XY, and the defense sought acquittal. The prosecution asked for five to ten years. Despite Hugon's genetic imbalance, the jury decided to give him seven.

In Melbourne, Australia, Lawrence Edward Hannell, a 21-year-old laborer on trial for the fatal stabbing of a 77-year-old widow, faced a maximum sentence of death. Hannell had earlier pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Dr. Allen A. Bartholomew, Psychiatric Superintendent of Melbourne's Pentridge Prison, testified that he had examined Hannell, found him to be an XYY. The imbalance, coupled with mental retardation, an aberrant brainwave pattern and evidence of neurological disorder, led Bartholomew to conclude that when Hannell killed the widow, "he did not know that what he was doing was wrong." After deliberating only eleven minutes, a Melbourne criminal-court jury found Hannell not guilty on the ground that he was insane at the time of the crime.

Genetic Tests. Some researchers have found that the XYY syndrome is 50 to 60 times more prevalent among convicts than in the general population. Others, among them Anthropologist Ashley Montagu, suggest that environmental factors are at least as important as chromosomal abnormality in causing criminal behavior. French Geneticist Jerome Lejeune, who in 1961 discovered the chromosomal abnormality that leads to Mongolism, agreed with Montagu during testimony at the Hugon trial—with an important qualification. "There are no born criminals," said Lejeune, "but persons with the XYY defect have considerably higher chances."

Criminal lawyers in the U.S. have already begun to request genetic studies of their clients by such specialists as Dr. Digamber S. Borgaonkar, head of the chromosome laboratory at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Just last week, a lawyer for Sean Farley, a 26-year-old "XYY" New Yorker charged with a rape-slaying, maneuvered to raise the issue of his client's genetic defect in court.