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, petty 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

Question 8

How does lombroso’s study contribute to the science of criminology

Answer 8

• regarded modern founder of criminology
• lombroso felt an evidence-based approach was required, basing his ideas of empirical observation and measurement
• whilst he may now be criticised, he still raised the possibility of scientific studies of the criminal mind

Question 9

What are the criticisms of lombroso’s studies

Answer 9

• he didn’t pay same attention to non-prisoners
• Charles goring (1913) compared 3000 convicts to a group of non-convicts finding no difference except convicts were smaller
• shows that the lack of controls in the study undermines his conclusions

Question 10

How does lombroso’s study show a gender bias

Answer 10

-based on the notion women are less evolved then men
- had androcentric ideas, assuming about women, despite not studying them.
- believed women were jealous, insensitive to pain, low IQ, maternally focused so they were less likely to be criminals
- suggests his explanations are based on typical 19th century views, rather then empirical evidence

Question 11

What study supports the idea of somatotypes

Answer 11

• Glueck and gleuck (1970) found 60% of delinquents were mesmorphs - athletic type.
• Sheldon (1949) created similar set of somatotypes. Based on his study of 200 young adults he found there was a difference between delinquents and non-delinquents, with delinquents tending to be mesomorphs

Question 12

How has lombroso’s study led to a link between personality type and criminality

Answer 12

• eysencks theory is based on large data sets using rigorous research methods.
• research into genetics is that some are born to be criminals, which lombroso did but used naive language
• in subsequent editions of lombroso’s book, he suggests the atavistic form wasn’t the only basis of criminality - in line with modern conceptions