biological explanations - a historical approach Flashcards
Atavisitc form - historical approach
1876 - Lombroso
suggested that cirminals wete gentics throwbacks
primitive subspeicies who were biologially different from non criminals
a biological approach
offenders were seen by lombroso as lacking evolutionay developmeny
their savage and untamed nature meant that they would fidn it impossible to adjust to the demanfs of civilised society and would inveitbaly turn to crime
saw offending behaviour as a natural thendecy rooted in the gens of those who enegage in it
propsoed a perspecitve that offendng behaviour was innate and therefore offender was not to blame for his actions
atavistic form
argued the offender subtype could be idnetified as being in possession of particular psychological markers that were linked ot particular types of offence
biologically determined atavistic characteristics
mainly features of the face and head that make offenders physiclaly different form the rest of us
in terms of cranial charatcerisitics the atavstic form included narrow sloping brow a strogn prominent jaw high cheekbones and facial asymmetry
other physical markers included dark skin and the existence of extra toes nipples or fingers
insesitivuty to pain use of slang tattoos and unemployemnt
offender types
Categorise particular types of offenders in terms of their physical and facial characteristicers
murders were described as having bloodshot eyes curly hait and long ears
sexual deviants had glinting eyes swollen felshy lips and projecting ears
fraudsters had thin and reedy lips
lombrosos research
examined the facial and cranial features of hundreds of italian convicts
both living and dead
concluded there was an atavistic form
concluded that these features were key indicators of cirminality
exmained skulls of 383 dead convicts and 3839 living ones and conclued that 40% of criminal acts were committed by people with atavisitc charactersitics
strength
lombrosos legacy
chnaged the face of the study of crime
hailed as the father of modern criminology
he coined the term criminology
also is credited as shifting the emphasis in cirme research away from a morlaistic discoirce in which offenders were judged as being wicked and weak minded
towards a more scinefitic prosito that of evolutionary influcences and egntics where indicuals are not to blame
also in trying to describe how particuar types of people are liekly to commit particualr types of cirme
made the beginning of offender profiling
suggest that lombroso made a major contribution to the science of cirminology
limitation
contradictory evidnece
evidnce contradtics the link between atavism and crime
Goring like lombroso set out to estavlish whether there was anything physically atypical about offenders
after condctng a compariosn between 3000 pffenders and 3000 non offenfers he concluded thar there was no evidnece that offenders are a disticxnt group with unusual facial and crnaial characteristics
he did suggest however that many people who commit crime have a lower thna abergae intellignece
this challanges the idea thta offenders cna be phsycoally distingusied from the rest of the population and asre therefore unlikely to be a subspecieis
limitation
poor control
lombrosos methods of ivestigation were poorly controlled
failed to cotnrol importasnt variables within his research
unlike goring he did not compare his offender sample with a non offender control group
this could have controlled for an assortment of confoundign vairbales that might have equally explained higher cirme rates in certain groups of people
exaple researhc has demonstrated limks between crime and social conditons such as poverty and poor educational outcomes
links that would explain why offenders were more liekly for exmaple to be uneployed
suggest that lombrosos research does not meet odern scinentifix stanrads
