2.1 Biological Theories Of Criminality-physiological Flashcards
Name two biological theories of criminality which come under physiological
Sheldon
Lombroso
Who was Caesare lombroso and what did he believe about criminals
Ceasare lombrosso was an Italian criminologist in the 19th century he believed criminal behaviour was inherited and could be identified by certain physical characteristics criminals were born rather then made
What feature made someone criminal
Large prominent law-indicated aggression
Sloping forehead
Protruding ears-lower intelligence
Hairy body excessive facial hair
Uneven face
Small or uneven face
Longer arms which didn’t match heights
What side was he on nature or nurture
Nature
Study he conducted (lombroso)
Conducted detailed physical examinations of prisoners in Italy he studied the facial features of 383 dead criminals and 3839 living ones he focused on the faces and bodies of those jailed for serious crimes such as murder he aimed to find physical traits that might indicate an atavistic or primitive nature according to lombroso he observed that many prisoners exhibited the same physical characteristics
Strengths of lombroso study
His work made way for offender profiling
His work was the first to give criminology scientific credibility
Other research supports the theory that less attractive indictable are likely to be considered guilty
Lombroso challenged the idea criminals are evil
First person to study crime
scientifically.
Shows imoportance of clinical and
historical records of criminals.
Helps to focus on how prevention
not punishment.
Limitation of lombroso
No control group no comparison can be made
Study lacked accuracy due to possible disfigurements
Not all criminals have atavistic feature and not everyone with atavistic feature is criminal
Charles goring study 1913 had a non criminal control group and found no difference in behaviour
No further evidence to link facial
features and criminality.
Who was William Sheldon and what did he suggest
An American physiologist believed that body shape can be linked to personality traits
What is the first somatype(fat)
Personality
Endomorphy- rounded soft body,gain weight easily,wide hips,higher percent of body fat
Personality-relaxed
Somatype(likely to commit crime)
Personality trait
Mesmorphy
Lean and slim
Athletic build
Defined body
Easily gain muscle
Personality
Energetic
Aggressive
Adventurous
Somatype skinny
Personally
Ectomorphy
Lean and slim
Lees muscular mass and body fat
Fast metabolism
Personality
More introverted personality
What somatotpyes did Sheldon link with criminal behaviour
The mesmorphy as he suggested they are more aggressive adventurerous and energetic
Sheldon’s study
Sheldon studied photographs as a key part of his research into the connection between body type and personality Sheldon gathered photographs of people in there late teens and early twenties with a variety of backgrounds then classify the body type he will will look at muscularity fat percentage and overall size also interview some students for personality
How did sheldon categorises this
From a scale of 1-7
1 being not resembling that somatotype
Strengths of Sheldon’s
A study by putwain and Sommons in 2002 also found a small relationship between bodybuild and criminailty
A large sample of 200 were used and A control example was used to compare them with no offenders
Glueck also found 60 percent of their criminal sample were mesmorph compared to only 31 percent of non offenders
Most serious delinquents had most
mesomorphic bodies
Weakness of Sheldon’s theory
One limitation is that the theory doesn’t take into account that people’s bodies change throughout their lives.
Another disadvantage is that if a mesomorph’s shape is considered criminal do the courts think this too? If so they could be treated more harshly, increasing the likelihood that they will be officially labelled as a criminal.
Court system may be biased due to this theory
