bio explan - historical approach Flashcards
what are the 2 historical approaches to explaining offender behaviour
- atavistic form
- somatotypes
define atavistic form
- explanation for criminal behaviour suggesting certain individuals are born with criminal personality - innate personality is throwback to earlier primate forms
who proposed atavistic form
Lombroso
what was Lombroso’s view on atavistic form
Lombroso created theory based on Darwin’s theory of evolution
- suggested criminals are ‘genetic throwbacks’ to earlier species and can be identified by their atavistic traits
what did Turvey identify which supports atavistic form
- Turvey identified 18 different characteristics that made atavistic type (assumption that innate physiological makeup of person causes them to become criminal)
empirical evidence for atavistic form
- Lombroso based theory ff own research using post mortem examinations of criminals + studying faces of living criminals
- made measurements of skill + other characteristics
- over career - examined 50k bodies
particular study Lombroso did supporting empirical evidence (italian criminals)
- he studied 383 convicted italian criminals
- found 21% had 1 atavistic trait + 43% had at least 5 traits
environmental evidence for atavistic form as bio explan
- Lombroso recognised its unlikely only 1 factor would cause criminality - proposed inherited atavistic form interacted with persons physical and social environment (deterministic view)
- distinguished 3 types of criminals
what were the 3 types of criminals Lombroso discovered
- born criminals (atavistic type - throwbacks)
- insane criminals (suffer from mental illness)
- criminaloids (mental characteristics predispose them to being criminals under certain circumstances)
how are somatotypes and explanation of offending behaviour
somatotypes are a way of categorising human physique which is then linked to different types of crimes
research supporting somatotypes
- Kretschmer suggested 4 body types based on 400 studies of criminals
what were the 4 body types Kretschmer suggested regarding somatotypes
- leptosome/asthenin - tall and thin (petty thieves)
- athletic - tall + muscular (crimes of violence)
- pyknic - short +fat (crimes of deception)
- dysplastic/mixed (more than 1 type) - crimes against morality
evaluation points for historical approach of offending behaviour
(-) gender bias
(-) lacks temporal validity
(+) contributions to criminology
(-) criticisms of Lombroso’s method
expand on gender bias being eval point for historical approach of offending behaviour
- Lombroso’s theory is gender biased
- he didnt directly study females yet claims women are less evolved than men (androcentrism)
- Lombroso believed women were naturally jealous + insensitive to pain but were passive + had low intelligence
- his assumptions towards females meant they were less likely to be criminals - those who were criminals were then seen as having masculine characteristics
- limiting the explanation as it cannot be generalised to females without sufficient evidence on women being conducted
expand on eval point lacks temporal validity for historical approach of offending behaviour
- Lombroso’s explanations were based off 19th century views which hasnt been changed so is outdated
- studies today cannot use his methodology due to lacking validity
- limiting his explanation
expand on eval point ‘contributions to criminology’ as strength for historical approach of offending behaviour
- writers praise Lombroso’s research as he brought science to crime
- regarded as founder of modern criminology
- Lombroso based his ideas off approach on empirical observations and detailed measurement - strengthening explanation
- his methods and conclusions may now be criticised but he raised possibility of scientific studies of criminal mind
expand on eval point ‘criticisms of lombroso’s method’ as limitation to historical approach of offending behaviour
- Lombroso’s research lacked adequate control for future comparison
- when studying in prison he didnt pay same attention to non prisoners in which if he had paid equal attention to both groups he would have most likely found same characteristics of prisoners and non prisoners.
- Goring compared 3000 convicts with group of non convicts and found only 1 difference
- method lacks control - research can be seen to undermind Lombroso’s overall conclusion
