Biological Theories of Crime

Question 1

What is biological postivism?

Answer 1

Biological positivism is the term for theories that claim that criminal behaviour is caused by biological factors. Most current criminologists regard it as either false or simplistic.

Question 2

Describe Lombroso’s theory of criminality.

Answer 2

Lombroso (1876) used Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection to argue that criminals were biological throwbacks (i.e. Their looks, morality and behaviour were atavistic - or like their primitive ancestors). Criminals were physically and morally degenerate.

Question 3

Describe Lombroso’s study.

Answer 3

He studied 383 criminals
looking for a set of signs that he argued showed atavism. These included such things as excess digits and an asymmetrical face. He found that 1/5 had one sign and over 2/5 had at least five. On this evidence, he argued that five or more signs indicated that someone was born biologically destined to be a criminal.

Question 4

Why was Lombroso’s theory rejected initially?

Answer 4

Lombroso did compare his criminals to a control group of soldiers but he
did not control for variables such as mental illness or ethnicity. The criminal groups showed more mental illness
and more Sicilian people, both of which cast doubt over the comparison. As the methods were not adequate, his data cannot be relied upon.

Question 5

The idea that looks and crime are connected via biology continued to develop and after WWII, Sheldon (1949) argued what?

Answer 5

He proposed a theory that body type was linked to personality. Sheldon used scientific methods to support his hypotheses.
There were three extremes: the round, chubby endomorph who is tolerant and likes food and people; the ectomorph who is slender, sensitive and introverted; and the
mesomorph who is muscular, aggressive and fearless. Few people are ‘pure’ mesomorphs, ectomorphs or endomorphs
but the more a person approached the mesomorophic point, then the more likely Sheldon thought they were to be
criminal.

Question 6

The idea of mesomorph and this being an indicator of crime was supported by who?

Answer 6

Glueck and Glueck (1950), 60% of delinquents compared to 30% of non-delinquents had
mesomorphic characteristics. However, the Gluecks’ theory is vulnerable to the criticism that muscular people are more likely to commit crimes involving aggression and violence. Nevertheless, there is some biological support linking testosterone levels with both mesomorphic bodies and
criminal aggressive acts.

Question 7

What is an unethical study that has happened arguing that physical attributes and crime is intrinsically linked.

Answer 7

Kurtzberg et al (1978) took 100 ‘ugly’ convicts from a tough USA prison at their release and gave them plastic surgery. They were compared against a control group of equally ugly convicts who did not receive surgery. After 12 months those who had had surgery were significantly less likely to
have been re-arrested. Various studies of attractiveness and crime have since been carried out and should remind us of the historical belief that physical beauty reflects goodness

Question 8

About 20% of prisoners are diagnosed as what?

Answer 8

Psychopaths

Question 9

Psychopaths make up 1% of the population but 20% of the prison population?

Answer 9

True

Question 10

What is the evolutionary view of psychopaths?

Answer 10

one view of psychopaths is that they are a relatively small group within the population who carry genes selected by evolution that suit them for preying on the rest of us (Mealey 1995). Psychopaths are seen to be impulsive and egocentric, not to feel guilt or
remorse and not to be deterred by negative consequences. It is thought that their clever use of emotions can help them to manipulate others (Hare 1996).

Question 11

What is an example of a young person being labelled a psychopath?

Answer 11

In the sentencing of Will Cornick who murdered his teacher, Ann Maguire, in 2014, Prosecutor Paul Greaney QC told the court the boy had “psychopathic tendencies” and had derived pleasure from the public nature of the killing, something the judge referred to as “truly grotesque”. Aaron Campbell, murderer and rapist of 6 year old Alesha Campbell was also tarnished with the same characteristics and label.

Question 12

What is MACC?

Answer 12

The Male Age-Crime Curve (MACC). The curve shows how the number of
male offenders change as their age increases. There are very few offenders up until the age of 11 before increasing steeply until
reaching a peak at 18. From there it
drops, steeply at first before reducing
more gently after 25. The MACC is
widely accepted, however there is
disagreement as to how universal it
actually is.

Question 13

What is link between MACC and biology?

Answer 13

Kanazawa argues that the
initial rise in the MACC is set off by
puberty and that the increase in
criminal behaviour reflects young
males’ increased drive to behave
aggressively and/or impulsively whilst trying to find a mate

Question 14

No serious biologist thinks that there is a “criminal gene”; they are looking for genes that make criminal behaviour more probable. If genes can influence our impulsivity, a key measure in likelihood of offending, then those genes increase the probability that a person will perform criminal acts. True or False?

Answer 14

True

Question 15

What are two studies that suggest criminality is due to behavioural genetics?

Answer 15

Taylor et al (2000) tested about 140 male twins and found evidence
that genes are involved in early-onset delinquency. This is known to be a good predictor of a persistent criminal lifestyle lasting through adulthood. The genes you inherit do put you at more or less risk of anti-social and criminal behaviour but their impact depends on the environment you grow up in. One other study illustrates the dominance of this - Cloninger et al (1982) carried out an
adoption study and found that the risk of becoming a criminal if the adoptee had criminal biological parents was 12%, if they had criminal adoptive parents their risk was 7%, but if they had both then the risk shot up to 40%. This shows that we must consider both biology and other factors together if
we want to understand crime.

Question 16

How is the hormone testosterone a biological cause of crime?

Answer 16

Testosterone shapes the brain before we are even born and sets it up to respond in a
particular way when puberty sets off the massive increase in testosterone levels many years later. There is also evidence that testosterone is especially important in violent offences including domestic violence and other aggressive crimes. This theory might help to explain why females are
so much less likely to be involved in such crimes.

Question 17

How is low resting heart rate linked to criminality?

Answer 17

Males as a group have lower heart rates
than females, but among females those with low rates are at greater risk of criminal behaviour. This indicator is particularly
good at predicting the small group of anti-social young people who go on to become lifelong offenders. In addition to this
reason to take it seriously, heart is also known to be heritable. For those with low resting heart rates, committing “thrill
seeking” crimes such as joy riding or burglary may be a way to gain biological arousal whereas people with high resting heart
rates but refrain from such behaviour due to their optimum biological arousal point being met.

Question 18

Raine’s biological argument or criminality is more feasible than Lombroso’s. What is it?

Answer 18

Adrian Raine in his book ‘The Anatomy of Violence’ discovered that murderers had
significant differences in the prefrontal cortex of the brain and that this would lead to a reduction in self-control, a greater addiction to risk and an
increase in emotions such as anger and rage.

Question 19

What is the 2014 Finnish biological study?

Answer 19

A 2014 Finnish study of almost 900 offenders showed that genes could play
a role in criminality. Finnish scientists identified that there were two
genes, one of which has been labelled the ‘warrior gene’, that had an
impact. Those with the genes were 13 times more likely to have a history
of repeated violent behaviour

Question 20

What is the warrior gene?

Answer 20

The warrior gene is a variant of the MAOA-L gene that causes its carriers to be more willing to take risks while simultaneously enabling them to better assess their chances of success in critical situations. The MAOA gene encodes Monoamine Oxidase A enzyme and is involved in the neurotransmitter breakdown. The warrior gene is on the X-chromosome, hence, men inherit it from their mother.

Question 21

What word might the SQA use that means biological?

Answer 21

Physiological

Question 22

What evidence is there from Finland that the warrior gene causes crime?

Answer 22

Studies
found that the so-called ‘warrior gene’ which is associated with an
inclination to violence was linked to 5-10% of all violent crime in Finland.

Question 23

Does the Warrior Gene have contemporary relevance? Why?

Answer 23

A number of research studies claim that a simple gene mutation affecting only
men plays a crucial role in violent aggression. Furthermore, this is a gene variant
that may be present in 30-40% of the male population. Labelled the warrior gene,
a low activity version of this single MAOA gene suggests that nature and genetics
may be much more important in why some individuals are violent than we previously
thought. For example, in the USA men accounted for 80.4% of persons arrested
for violent crime. This is a similar story in the UK where almost all violent crime
is committed by m

Question 24

Why might we reject a single gene being responsible for criminality?

Answer 24

Despite a potentially significant proportion of the male population estimated to
have the Warrior Gene, most men don’t commit violent crime. Therefore, the
existence of the gene alone is not enough to explain criminal behaviour. However,
some studies have examined the impact of a person’s environment and how that
might “activate” the Warrior Gene in some men.