biological explanations of offending

Question 1

what type of approach is this?

Answer 1

a historical or ancient one

Question 2

who created this approach and when

Answer 2

Lombroso- 1876

Question 3

what is the basis of this approach

Answer 3

criminals are identified by certain features, if you had certain ‘criminal’ features you were a natural born criminal

Question 4

name some of the atatvistic features of a criminal

Answer 4

• narrow sloping brow
• prominant jaw
• high cheekbones
• unsymmetrical face
• twisted nose
• dark skin
• wrinkles
• tatoos
• unemployed
• left handed

Question 5

how many features do men need to be classified as a criminal?

Answer 5

men need 5 features

Question 6

hw many features do women need to be classed as a criminal?

Answer 6

Women only need 3 features to be a criminal making the approach gender bias

Question 7

what were the three types of categorised criminals?

Answer 7

• murderers
• sexual deviants
• fraudsters

Question 8

what are traits of a murderer

Answer 8

• bloodhsot eyes
• curly hair
• long ears

Question 9

whart are traits of a sexual deviant

Answer 9

• glinting eyes
• swollen lips
• projecting ears

Question 10

what are traits of a fraudster

Answer 10

• thin lips

Question 11

what research did lombroso do?

Answer 11

• he studied the facial and cranial features of the living and dead
• he identified features of criminality within them

Question 12

how many bodies did he examine?

Answer 12

4000 living bodies
400 dead ones

Question 13

what did lombroso conduct after his research?

Answer 13

that 40% of criminal acts could be explained by atavistic characteristics

Question 14

whats a strength of lombrosos work?

Answer 14

that he is a major contribution to criminology

Question 15

how is lombroso a major contribution to criminology

Answer 15

he shifted emphasis of criminology from a morlistic course to more of a scientific approach

Question 16

whats a weakness of the approach

racial

Answer 16

it has scientific racism
De Lisi- 2012 said there was a clear implication that certain racial groups are more likely to be criminals than others

Question 17

whats another weakness of the approach

iq

Answer 17

• Goring compred 3000 non criminals with 3000 criminals and concluded that there was no evidence that atavistic features influenced criminal behaviour

Question 18

what did Goring believed influenced criminal behaviour instead of atavis

Answer 18

IQ, those with lower iq were more liklely to be criminals

Question 19

whats another weakness within lombrosos research

control grp

Answer 19

• when conducting research, lombroso didn’t inlcude a control group
• this means he couldnt control confounding varibles that would explain higher crime activity
• he also failed to account external factors that could influence criminal behaviour

Question 20

why is causation a weakness when coming to the approach

Answer 20

lombroso stated that having the atavistic featues caused the criminal behaviour when there is no evidence to prove this