biological explanations: a historical approach

Question 1

what is atavistic form?

Answer 1

biological approach to offending that attributes criminal activity to the fact that offenders are genetic throwbacks or a primitive subspecies ill-suited to conforming to the rules of modern society

Question 2

biological approach: lombroso’s ideas

Answer 2

• offenders were lacking evoluntionary development
• their savage and untamed nature meant they would find it impossible to adjust to the demands of civilised society so would inevitably turn to crime
• he saw offending behaviour as a natural tendency, rooted in the genes of those who engage in it

Question 3

how were lombroso’s views a new perspective?

Answer 3

offending behaviour was innate so an offender was not to blame for his actions

Question 4

biologically determined ‘atavistic’ characteristics

Answer 4

• offender subtype could be identified as having particular physiological markers that were linked to particular types of offence
• mainly features of face and head
• make offenders physically different from the rest of us

Question 5

atavistic form of cranial characteristics

Answer 5

• narrow, sloping brow
• strong prominent jaw
• high cheekbones
• facial asymmetry

Question 6

other atavistic physical markers

Answer 6

• dark skin
• extra toes, nipples or fingers

Question 7

non-physical atavistic characteristics

Answer 7

• insensitvity to pain
• use of slang
• tattoos
• unemplyment

Question 8

physical and facial characteristics of murderers

Answer 8

• bloodshot eyes
• curly hair
• long ears

Question 9

physical and facial characteristics of sexual deviants

Answer 9

• glinting eyes
• swollen, fleshy lips
• projecting ears

Question 10

facial characteristics of fraudsters

Answer 10

thin and reedy lips

Question 11

lombroso’s research

Answer 11

• examined facial and cranial features of hundred of italian convicts, living and dead
• concluded there was an ‘atavistic form’
• these features were key indicators of criminality

Question 12

how many skulls did lombroso study and what did he conclude?

Answer 12

• 383 dead convicts
• 3839 living ones
• 40% of criminal acts are comitted by people with atavistic characteristics

Question 13

evaluation: lombroso’s work changed the face of the study of crime

Answer 13

• coined term ‘criminology’
• shifted emphasis in crime research away from moralistic discourse (offenders judged as wicked and weak-minded) towards a more scientific position (evolutionary influence, genetics not individuals to blame)
• beginning of offender profiling as trying to describe how particular types of people are more likely to commit particular types of crime

Question 14

evaluation: lombroso’s legacy is not entirely positive (delisi 2012)

Answer 14

• racist undertones
• many features lombroso identified as atavistic (curly hair, dark skin) are more likely to be found among people of african descent
• suggesting that africans were more likely to be offenders, fitting 19th centry eugenic attitudes
• suggests that some aspects of his theory were highly subjective rather than objective, influenced by racial prejudices of the time

Question 15

evaluation: evidence that contracts link between atavism and crime

Answer 15

• goring (1913), like lombroso, wanted to establish whether offenders had physical atypicalities
• compared 3000 offenders and 3000 non-offenders
• concluded there was no evidence that offenders are a distinct group of people with unusual facial and cranial characteristics
• did suggest that many people who commit crime have a lower-than-average intelligence
• challenges the idea that offenders can be physically distinguished from the rest of the population so are unlikely to be a subspecies

Question 16

evaluation: lombroso’s methods of investigation were poorly controlled

Answer 16

• lombroso didn’t control important variables in his research
• unlike goring, he did not compare his offender sample with a non-offender control group
• this could have controlled for confounding variables that might have explained higher crime rates in certain groups of people
• hay and forrest (2009) demonstrated links between crime and social conditions such as poverty and poor educational outcomes which could explain why offenders were more likely to be unemployed
• therefore, lombroso’s research does not meet modern scientific standards

Question 17

evaluation: nature vs. nurture

Answer 17

• lombroso’s work raises question of whether criminals are born or made
• atavistic form suggests that crime has a biological cause ie. genetically determined
• however, even if there are criminals who have some atavistic features lombroso sugested, this does not mean this is the cause of their offending
• facial and cranial differences may be influenced by other factors, such as poverty or poor diet, rather than inherited