Biological explanations : Atavistic form Flashcards
What essays can this theory be talked about in?
Biological explanations
Early biological explanations
Historical approach
Who came up with the atavistic form?
Lombroso in the 1870’s
What did Lombroso suggest was different about criminals?
They were a more primitive version of humans and are biologically different from non-criminals. He said that they lacked evolutionary development and their untamed nature meant that it was impossible for them to adjust to a civilised society so ultimately turns to crime. He said that offending was innate and was in the genes of those who offended.
Criminals were seen as a SEPARATE SPECIES with a primitive genetic form – known as ATAVISTIC. Their features would enable them to survive in
the wild but made it difficult for them to adjust to civilised society
How did Lombroso suggest that we could identify a criminal?
As they’re lacking evolutionary development, Lombroso said we can identify criminals by their physical Characteristics as they act as markers known as having the atavistic form
What are some physical and non physical characteristics believed to indicate a criminal ?
Physical :
Asymmetry of the face
Upturned, twisted or beaked nose
narrow sloping brows
strong, prominent jaw line
Non-physical :
Insensitivity to pain
use of slang
Tattoos
TRUE OR FALSE
Offenders of different types of crimes have different physical features?
TRUE
What are some physical characteristics of a murderer ?
Curly hair
Bloodshot eyes
Long ears
What are some physical characteristics of sexual deviants?
Glinting eyes
swollen fleshy lips
Projecting ears
What are some physical characteristics of fraudsters
Thin, reedy lips
What contributions has the atavistic form made to our modern understanding of crime ?
- Helped us to develop techniques like profiling which is based on ideas on the specific characteristics of the offenders
- It involved biology and the scientific method in criminality for the first time such as looking at evolution and genetics
What did Lombroso do in his study and what were his findings ?
He examined the physical and cranial measurements of 400 dead criminals and 4000 living criminals
He concluded that there was an atavistic form and 40% of criminal acts were committed by people with atavistic characteristics
Strengths of Lonbroso’s atavistic form theory
P - Practical application
E - Helped to develop offender profiling as we look at typical characteristics of offender so identify the criminal
E - This is extremely effective and is used all over the world and favoured by the police. For example, Copson said that bottom-up profiling was useful in 83% of cases its used in.
L - Therefore, this suggests that this theory has practical applications as it has led to offender profiling which is an effective way to identify criminals
P - He shifted away from theories based on feeble-mindedness and wickedness to a more scientific explanation
E - This is because he’s looking at a criminals biology and their evolutionary development
E - This suggests that it is in their biology to offend due to them being more primitive rather than just assuming all criminals were evil people
L - Therefore, this is a strength as it has more scientific credibility than previous explanations of offending behaviour
Weaknesses of Lombroso’s atavistic form theory
P - May have scientific racism
E - DeLisi said that his theory has racial undertones as many of the atavistic characteristics that he identified such as curly hair and dark skin are prevalent in those from African descent
E - This mean he is basically suggesting that those of African descent were more likely to be criminals and they had undergone less evolutionary development
L- Therefore, this is a weakness as his theory may have aspects of scientific racism, making his theory potentially socially sensitive
P - Conflicts with the criminal justice system
E - This is because he says that people offend as they cannot adjust to civilised society due to their lack of evolutionary development.
E - This leads us to question whether an individual can really be ‘blamed’ for their criminal acts and be made to be seen as a bad person when it wasn’t their choice to be more primitive than others
L - Therefore, this is a weakness because it makes it harder to punish individuals for their acts as it is suggesting that it isn’t their fault and they cannot be held responsible.
