atavistic form EVALUATION

Question 1

it had a large contribution to criminology

Answer 1

• Lombroso = ‘the father of criminology’
• He was credited as shifting emphasis away from moralistic discourse to scientific discourse (e.g. evolution and genetics)
• Lombroso’s theory was the beginning of criminal profiling as it describes how particular types of people are more likely to commit crimes

Question 2

gender bias

Answer 2

• most of the observations were on male criminals

Question 3

lombros had poor control in his research

Answer 3

• He did not use a control group i.e. non-criminal population
• less control over confounding variables
• Also, he failed to account for other important variables
• many of the people he studied had a history of psychological disorders which may have acted as confounding variables

Question 4

goring 1913

Answer 4

• Goring (1913) compared 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals and concluded there was no evidence that offenders are a distinct group with unusual characteristics
• But he did suggest many people who commit crimes have a lower-than-average IQ

Question 5

may be racist

Answer 5

• Many of the features Lombroso identifies as criminal and atavistic, such as curly hair and dark skin, are most likely to be found among people of African descent
• the eugenic movement of the time (i.e. that certain groups should not be allowed to breed)
• This is problematic - if you establish a criminal has certain genetic features, you could stop them from breeding and over time remove the criminal element from society → this is against human rights

Question 6

the causation problem

Answer 6

• Cranial and facial differences may be influenced by other factors such as poverty or poor diet, rather than being an indication of delayed evolutionary development