Government Handling of Genetic Information: Developing a Policy for Antisocial Behaviour - Essay Sample

Introduction

Different governments around the world have used genetic information differently, especially genetic information that is believed to increase the risk of individuals having antisocial behavior and, in turn, commit felony crimes. There is a need to develop a policy to guide the government in handling genetic information and using the information to handle challenges faced by the society that can be predicted and handled using genetic information such as felony (Wertz et al., 2018). The paper discusses the new policy that needs to be created to guide the government and other stakeholders on handling genetic information. Privacy is not obsolete, and the new policy will ensure that the privacy of the people is respected.

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A gene test developed has issues related to public health, medicine as well as social policy. If people are to be tested for a gene disorder, there should be an intervention for the disorder. This means that after testing for the disorder, the results should be used. Even so, I think the government should not mandate testing for the antisocial, but instead, it should be voluntary. This promotes patient autonomy, and in the case of ASF testing, it means that people are left to decide whether they want to be tested or not and whether they are willing to receive the results. This autonomy is however, not absolute, especially when it poses serious harm and promotes the violation of the law (Waldman et al., 2018). With mandatory government, there is a concern about privacy and how the data will be used.

The government should develop a policy that will help the people who test positive for the ASF through programs such as psychotherapy. After individuals are tested, the results should be first shared with them, and they should be informed on how the government intends to intervene. Talk therapy is a treatment plan that is effective in treating antisocial personality disorder (Waldman et al., 2018). This treatment plan involves approaches to managing anger, violence, alcohol, substance abuse, and other mental conditions. People who have the antisocial factor gene are highly to deny that they require help even after testing positive. Therefore, the government should develop a policy that ensures that all the people who have the gene are helped.

People who test positive for the antisocial factor may deny that they need help; it is critical to developing a trusting relationship (Waldman et al., 2018). For any personality disorder, positive and rewarding interventions are more successful than punitive approaches. To ensure that the people agree to engage in the interventions, the professionals should be open-minded and non-judgmental. They should encourage the patients that the condition can successfully be managed if they consistently attend the programs.

For sensitive jobs, one can be denied a security clearance because their symptoms may hinder their effectiveness is undertaking their tasks. The condition may have a negative impact not only on them but also on the organizations they work for. Before imposing the restrictions to people who test positive for the gene, it is important to analyze the signs and symptoms they exhibit to establish whether the condition impairs their working abilities as well as the way they relate with others in the workplace (Waldman et al., 2018). This is because some people who have antisocial factors may be controlling, thus impacting their fellow workmates. Before hiring a person with this gene, factor organizations should understand what to expect from these workers and understand the impact that hiring their services will have on the organization's overall performance.

There is enough justification that privacy is not obsolete based on past experiences where the government has misused citizen's information through exploitations instead of using the information to help the victims (Appelbaum & Scurich, 2014). The new policy will fill the gap where state officials neglect people with antisocial factor increases the chances of them committing a felony. The policy will give the people the opportunity to be tested for ASF, and if they test positive, they get help from the government to manage the condition.

If a person with the ASF gene is convicted of a crime, the new policy will give guidelines on how the case will be handled depending on the type of crime and the criminal history of the person. There is no law that guides the criminal justice system on how to deal with ASF related crimes (Wertz et al., 2018). People with ASL genes have higher chances of committing crimes because of their characteristics. ASL genes should be considered as part of the sentencing of crimes committed. The ASL gene status, if known, need to be considered as a mental disorder that influences the actions of the person.

People with antisocial behavior have challenges interacting with other people in society, and most instances, antisocial behavior causes conflicts. Society is unable to detect the disorder affecting the person leading to conflicts (Appelbaum & Scurich, 2014). The antisocial behavior is associated with the genetics of the person, and they cannot be altered to change the behavior and character of the person. Privacy is not obsolete; therefore, the government and the judiciary need to respect the rights of an individual to privacy to protect the person from the intimidation by the public.

References

Appelbaum, P. S., & Scurich, N. (2014). Impact of behavioral genetic evidence on the adjudication of criminal behavior. The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 42(1), 91. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3955018/

Waldman, I. D., Rhee, S. H., LoParo, D., & Park, Y. (2018). Genetic and environmental influences on psychopathy and antisocial behavior. In Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, 1996; earlier versions of this chapter were presented at the aforementioned conference and at the meeting of the Behavior Genetics Association in 1997. The Guilford Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-14405-014

Wertz, J., Caspi, A., Belsky, D. W., Beckley, A. L., Arseneault, L., Barnes, J. C., ... & Odgers, C. L. (2018). Genetics and Crime: Integrating new genomic discoveries into psychological research about antisocial behavior. Psychological Science, 29(5), 791-803. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797617744542