Biological explanations of offending: Atavistic form Flashcards
Basic idea
Criminals offend because they are ‘genetic throwbacks’ and are incapable of conforming to the norms and rules of modern society. We can distinguish potential criminals by their ‘atavistic’ features and characteristics
Lombroso (1876)
Based his theory on a study of the features of 383 dead criminals and 3839 living ones. In which he concluded 40% of criminal acts could be accounted for by atavistic features.
Offenders
lack evolutionary development, and their ‘savage & untamed’ nature means they find it impossible to adjust to the demands of civilised society.
Physical features used as ‘markers’:
- narrow, sloping brow
- strong, prominent jaw
- high cheekbones
- facial asymmetry
- curly hair & long earls linked to murderers
- sexual deviants have glinting eyes & projecting ears
- Fraudsters have thin lips
- unemployment, insensitivity to pain & criminal slang
Evaluation weakness: methodological issues
Lombroso didn’t compare with a control group, so its impossible to know the extent of the differences in criminality. Also, many of his sample suffered from psychological conditions that could also have affected their behaviour.
Evaluation weakness: Goring (1913)
compared 3000 criminals to 300 non-criminals and concluded there was no evidence that offenders are a distinct evolutionary group.
Evaluation weakness: issues with causation
Physical features may be the result of poverty, poor diet, injury some of which link to criminality. Therefore Lombroso ignores external and environmental factors.
Evaluation weakness: scientific racism
Many of the features such as curly hair & dark skin are common in African descent. They are described as ‘uncivilised’ which is unethical and used to support the eugenics movement.
Evaluation strength: highly influential
He shifted emphasis of crime research towards a more scientific model and has contributed to the scientific process of criminology.
