biological explanations of offending behaviour: historical approach

Question 1

what is the atavistic form

Answer 1

• comes from Lombroso’s view that offenders had similar characteristics to lower primates and this could explain their criminality.

Question 2

what are the facial characteristics of criminals according to the atavistic form

Answer 2

curly hair, high cheekbones, ears of unusual size

Question 3

what does Turkey’s study in 2011 identify

Answer 3

identified 18 different characteristic that make up the atavistic type. assumes the innate psychological makeup of a person causes them to become a criminal.

Question 4

what empirical evidence did lombroso use

Answer 4

based his theory of his research using post mortem examinations of criminals and studying the faces of living criminals. he made precise measurements of skulls and other psychological characteristics.
lombroso and his coworkers stupid over 50,000 bodies

Question 5

how did environmental influences affect the atavistic form and what did lombroso propose

Answer 5

he recognised it was unlikely that only one factor would be the cause of criminality. he suggested their inherited atavistic form interacted with a persons physical and social environment - deterministic view

Question 6

what are the three types of criminals as the explanation for criminality

Answer 6

born criminals - the atavistic type, identifiable from physical characteristics
insane criminals - suffering from mental illness
criminaloids - mental characteristics predisposed them to become criminals, under the right circumstances (bad social environment)

Question 7

what are the 4 somatotypes of a criminal according to kretschmer (1921)

Answer 7

• asthenic - tall+thin, pretty thieves
• athletic - tall+muscular; crimes of violence
• pyknic - short+fat; crimes of deception, sometimes violence
• dysplastic - more than one type; crimes against morality eg prostitution