biological explanations: a historical approach Flashcards
what is atavistic form?
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
biological approach: lombroso’s ideas
- 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
how were lombroso’s views a new perspective?
offending behaviour was innate so an offender was not to blame for his actions
biologically determined ‘atavistic’ characteristics
- 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
atavistic form of cranial characteristics
- narrow, sloping brow
- strong prominent jaw
- high cheekbones
- facial asymmetry
other atavistic physical markers
- dark skin
- extra toes, nipples or fingers
non-physical atavistic characteristics
- insensitvity to pain
- use of slang
- tattoos
- unemplyment
physical and facial characteristics of murderers
- bloodshot eyes
- curly hair
- long ears
physical and facial characteristics of sexual deviants
- glinting eyes
- swollen, fleshy lips
- projecting ears
facial characteristics of fraudsters
thin and reedy lips
lombroso’s research
- examined facial and cranial features of hundreds of italian convicts, living and dead
- concluded there was an ‘atavistic form’
- these features were key indicators of criminality
how many skulls did lombroso study and what did he conclude?
- 383 dead convicts
- 3839 living ones
- 40% of criminal acts are comitted by people with atavistic characteristics
evaluation: lombroso’s work changed the face of the study of crime
- 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
evaluation: lombroso’s legacy is not entirely positive (delisi 2012)
- 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
evaluation: evidence that refutes link between atavism and crime (goring 1913)
- 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
evaluation: lombroso’s methods of investigation were poorly controlled
- 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
- therefore, lombroso’s research does not meet modern scientific standards
evaluation: explanation for unemployment (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
evaluation: nature vs. nurture
- 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
