A clinical psychology specialist warned of “oversimplification” as he offered additional context to a claim that gang involvement is linked to epigenetic markers.

Quinton Sherlock Jr said that several factors played a role in community violence and emphasised the importance of not viewing young people as “pre-compromised” over trauma.

His comments came after Leroy Bean, the head of the Gang Violence Reduction Team, said that many young Bermudians had developed or inherited “epigenetic markers” caused by stressful environments.

Mr Sherlock noted that, while it was commendable to bring scientific context to a social problem, “the application of epigenetic theory in this instance reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of both the science and its implications for practice”.

He added: “To foreground inherited trauma without equal emphasis on buffering mechanisms misrepresents the science and inadvertently removes agency from the very young people the strategy claims to support.”

Dr Bean suggested earlier that the markers made some people more likely to develop stress-related disorders, which he said was a contributing factor in them becoming susceptible to joining gangs.

Mr Sherlock, the deputy leader of the Free Democratic Movement, said that epigenesis was not a diagnostic label and instead referred to the way an environment influenced gene expression — the directions genes give to the body.

He said that this expression was often “subtle, probabilistic and context-driven”.

Mr Sherlock added: “To suggest that large segments of the population are functionally driven towards gang involvement due to inherited ‘epigenetic markers’ risks oversimplification and, more concerningly, biological determinism.”

He said that trauma was not “destiny” and that epigenetic markers were responsive to a healthy and stable environment.

Mr Sherlock said that, to properly drive this, engagement would rely on shifting from surveillance and monitoring children to “attachment-focused, relationship-centred early intervention”.

He added that investment in families, interventions in line with developmental milestones, and “a clear distinction between risk exposure and outcome inevitability” would be needed.

Mr Sherlock criticised Dr Bean for suggesting there were about 800 people involved in gangs without evidence and “dismissing quantification in favour of ‘stories’”.

He explained: “Expanding estimates of gang involvement from 200 to 800 based on hypothetical associations, without empirical validation, undermines the credibility of the intervention framework.”

Mr Sherlock added: “Science-based policy requires both qualitative insight and methodological rigour.

“One cannot selectively invoke neuroscience when it supports a claim and retreat from evidence standards when outcomes are scrutinised.”

Dr Bean told The Royal Gazette last week that he based his estimation on counselling among the public through the GVRT.

Mr Sherlock said: “Bermuda does not suffer from a lack of concern or commitment. It suffers from a gap between theory and application.

“Epigenetics, properly understood, should lead us towards humility, precision and deeper investment in developmental pathways, not broad generalisations that risk pathologising an entire generation.

“If we are serious about violence reduction, we must move beyond the performance of science and towards its disciplined, ethical and evidence-based application.”

When contacted yesterday, Dr Bean clarified that he did not believe that behavioural epigenesis was the only contributing factor in gang involvement — simply “an overlooked one”.

He explained: “What I am suggesting is that many of the behaviours that even the parents have in trying to parent have been shaped by traumatic events in their lives.

“They [epigenetics] play more of an important role than people think they do.”

Dr Bean said the effects of stress on behavioural epigenetics could negatively distort thinking and learning, while also playing “a major factor in how we raise our children”.

He added: “It could play a major factor in how we shape the psyches of the next generation.

“To say that that’s the only thing? No, I’m not even suggesting that.”

Mr Sherlock, who holds a Masters of Science in clinical psychology, said that he worked in prisons in Alabama and Bermuda for about ten years.

He added that he had worked with “at risk populations” through volunteer programmes.