![]() Neither Finkelstein nor other members of Cruz's defense team would discuss Cruz's birth family.Īny mitigating arguments made by the defense will only need to convince a single person. "There will be enormous pressure to hang this kid as high as he can - which is very understandable," Brummer said.īroward State Attorney Michael Satz, who is expected to try the case himself, has already rebuffed Public Defender Howard Finkelstein's offer for Cruz to plead guilty immediately in exchange for prosecutors seeking life in prison rather than the death penalty. ![]() Some of the research on genetics has found its way into criminal courtrooms, with mixed results. "Genes in and of themselves do not determine criminality. A 1984 study, for example, looked at 14,427 adoptees, and concluded that an adopted child was more likely to be convicted of non-violent property crimes if his or her biological parents had been convicted of a similar crime.īeaver also cautioned, however, that "genes and genetics are not destiny.Environment can amplify genetic effects, and also blunt genetic effects," Beaver said. ![]() "Genes can have a really strong influence," he said. One aim: to tease out the effects of genetics, as opposed to the socio-economic conditions in which children were raised, Beaver said. While there's no such thing as a "crime gene" - as some early researchers posited - an abundance of research shows that the aggregation of certain genetic markers, together with environmental triggers, significantly increases the likelihood that a person will react violently or aggressively.Ī good bit of scholarly research has studied adopted children and twins who were separated at birth. Beaver, a professor of criminology at Florida State University, says he, and others who have studied the issue, do have scientific proof. "I don't have any scientific proof, but there certainly is a significant genetic component." His apparent familial inclinations toward addiction and violence may be other themes the defense could pursue.Īfter decades of seeing the same surnames appear in intake logs, Brummer said, he concluded that environment alone failed to explain the inclination toward violence that appeared to be inherited among certain families like eye color and hairlines : "Families just kept coming back bad," he said. ![]() Though Nikolas was raised in comfort - Lynda Cruz apparently believed that indulging her son with video games and weapons would soften his moods - the shadow of his genetic heritage seemed to loom over his life.Ĭruz's public defenders are expected to argue that his youth, history of emotional illness and lack of support from school and social service agencies contributed to the tragedy. But where Cruz came from, genetically, has remained a missing piece of the puzzle. 14 attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 students and staff members dead: He was a poor student prone to sometimes violent outbursts. Many of the details of Cruz's difficult childhood and stormy adolescence emerged in the months following his deadly Feb. Now the history of his birth family - sealed by statute and never before reported - could become a factor in his desperate attempt to stay off Florida's Death Row. While, by most accounts, Lynda Cruz was thoughtful and disciplined, her adoptive son was violent and impulsive - characteristics he seems to share with the birth mother he never knew. But little of Cruz's story is conventional. Lynda Cruz was known to drink wine, though not excessively.Ĭonventional wisdom suggests that Nikolas Cruz should have taken after the woman who raised him from birth, rather than the one who shared only his DNA. Woodard was so gripped by addiction she was arrested buying crack cocaine while pregnant with Nikolas.
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