Gary Marchant

Questions about whether genetic screening can predict violent behavior in children were answered by ASU Regents’ Professor Gary Marchant during an interview on Thursday, Dec. 6, on CBS 5 News.

Marchant, Faculty Director of the Center for Law, Science & Innovation, said screening children for predisposed criminal tendencies may be the wave of the future. New scanning techniques have produced clearer images of the brain, which then could be compared to the brain activity in violent criminals, he said.

“It’s possible maybe 10 or 15 years in the future that every kid will be screened,” Marchant said. “We can now identify children at age 3 or 5, and in some cases even younger, who are at a risk of 70 to 80 percent of committing a violent crime in the future.”

Despite the technology, Marchant is hesitant to use the screening process on children, saying it should only be used if parents see no other option.

To watch the interview, click here.

Marchant’s research interests include the use of genetic information in environmental regulation, risk and the precautionary principle, legal aspects of personalized medicine, and regulation of emerging technologies such as nanotechnology, neuroscience and biotechnology. He frequently lectures about the intersection of law and science at national and international conferences.