Eugenics Revisited; June 1993; Scientific American Magazine; by John Horgan; 9 Page(s)

How to Tell If Your Child's a Serial Killer!" That was the sound bite with which the television show Donahue sought to entice listeners February 25. On the program, a psychiatrist from the Rochester, N.Y., area noted that some men are born with not one Y chromosome but two. Double-Y men, the psychiatrist said, are "at special risk for antisocial, violent behavior." In fact, the psychiatrist had recently studied such a man. Although he had grown up in a "Norman Rockwell" setting, as an adult he had strangled at least 11 women and two children.

It is not hysterical or overstating it, Phil Donahue told his horrified audience, "to say that we are moving toward the time when, quite literally, just as we can anticipate. . .genetic predispositions toward various physical diseases, we will also be able to pinpoint mental disorders which include aggression, antisocial behavior and the possibility of very serious criminal activity later on."