2.1 Biological Theories Flashcards
What assumptions are there of biological theories?
1) physical characteristics make some people more likely to commit crime than others
2) criminal tendencies can be inherited (genetics)
3) investigation of the persons genetic material, brain or body will reveal criminal tendencies (physiological)
What did Cesare Lombroso believe?
That criminals were individuals that failed to evolve at the same pace as the remainder of the human race and that criminals could be identified by there physical characteristics (blemishes- stigmata) which indicated their biological inferiority
What did Lombroso base his data on?
Autopsies on convicted criminals
What did Lombroso suggest criminals were?
That they were throwbacks and has atavistic features that were from an earlier stage of human development
Who did Lombroso compare to find the distinguishing features of criminality?
Italian prisoners
What are examples of distinguishing features of criminality?
Some examples are: Large Jaw High cheekbones Fattened upturned nose Handle- shaped ears Long arms Fleshy lips Shifty eyes Scanty beard or baldness
What are the distinguishing features of criminality for sex offenders?
Thick lips and protruding ears.
What are the distinguishing features of criminality for murderers?
Bloodshot eyes and curly hair.
What did Sheldon believe?
That people could be classified into 3 body shapes which correspond to different body types. Therefore he believes there was a correlation between somatotypes and behavioural patterns and temperament
What is an endomorph?
They are ‘fat and soft’, sociable and relaxed, they love comfort, food, affection and are even tempered
What is an ectomorph?
They are ‘thin and fragile’, introverted, restrained, self-conscious and afraid of people.
What is a mesomorph?
They are ‘muscular and hard’, tend to be aggressive, adventurous, seek physical activity, callous and ruthless in relationships.
What did Sheldon study? What did he find?
Sheldon studied the relationship with somatotypes and delinquency by comparing 400 boys in a residential rehabilitation home and gathered extensive family backgrounds and monitored their growth over 8 years. He found that mesomorphs were the most likely to become criminal and but there was some relationship with Endomorphy too.
What did the Gluecks find when he used Sheldon’s typology?
They found that 60% of the delinquent population to be mesomorphs and 30% to be endomorphs.
What did Sheldon find when he used a correlational study?
Many convicts were mesomorphic and they were least likely to be ectomorphic (Sheldon et al 1949)
What are the 4 main ways to look for links between crime and family?
1) family studies- patterns in criminality
2) adoption studies- looking at children that share the same parents but have been raised in separate houses
3) twin studies- looking at twins raised together and apart
4) genes- looking at blood samples to detect chromosome abnormalities
What did Osborne and West (1982) study?
They compared the sons of criminal and non criminal fathers. They found that 13% of the sons of non-criminal fathers had a criminal conviction whist 40% of those with criminal fathers had a conviction.
Who did Christianesen (1977) Study? What did he find?
He studied 3586 danish twins and he found that DZ twins the concordance rate for crime was 13% whereas for MZ it was 35%
What did Crowe (1972) study? And what did he find?
He studied adoption studies and found that if an adoptees biological mother had a conviction they had 50% chance of having had a conviction. If the adoptees biological mother did not have a conviction they only had 5% chance of having had a conviction.
What’s the female sex chromosome?
XX
What’s the male sex chromosome?
XY
What is does having an extra Y chromosome result in?
As it is an abnormality in the male chromosome, it is related to increased aggression & slower than average learning.
What did Jacobs study and what did he find?
He studied chromosome abnormalities, female XXX and male XYY. He found that the XYY was 20x higher among inmates in a Scottish prison than in the Scottish general population. The extra Y chromosome caused males to be unusually tall, aggressive and violent.
What did Raine (1997) investigate?
P.E.T. scans of violent offenders, he used 41 American prisoners and matched them with 41 ‘normal people’. 6 of the prisoners were schizophrenics and 23 suffered head injuries. The 6 schizophrenics were matched with schizophrenic people from the general population.
What were the results of Raine’s (1997) study?
Violent offenders had less activity in their frontal and parietal lobes. The frontal lobe is responsible for self control, whilst the parietal lobe is responsible for verbal ability and leaning. Violent offenders has more activity in the occipital lobe, which is responsible for visual info. They also had a less balanced brain compared to the ‘normal’ people, there was more activity on the right side of the amygdala and hippocampus.
HE CONCLUDED THAT BRAIN STRUCTURE INFLUENCES BEHAVIOUR AND THE EXPERIMENT SUPPORTS A NEUROLOGICAL ELEMENT TO CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR
