biological theories: physiological

Question 1

what are the 3 physiological theories

Answer 1

lombroso
Sheldon
raine

Question 2

what are the three genetic biological theories of crime?

Answer 2

jacobs XYY
adoption studies
twin studies

Question 3

claims of lombrosos theory

Answer 3

the criminal is a separate species a species that is between modern and primitive humans.

argued that the physical shape of the head and face determined the “born criminal”.

claimed that you can tell what kind of crime someone will commit by the way they look.

Question 4

components of lombrosos theory

Answer 4

examined facial features and skulls of 383 dead criminals, 3839 living criminals and concluded 40% of the criminal acts could be accounted for due go those with atavistic characteristics.

Question 5

what is Atavistic characteristics

Answer 5

large jaw and high cheekbones, flattened or upturned nose, handle shaped ears, large chin hawk like nose or fleshy lips, hard shifty eyes, scanty beard or baldness, insensitive to pain, long arms.

Question 6

Features of a thief

Answer 6

expressive face, manual dexterity, and small wanderings eyes

Question 7

features of murderer

Answer 7

cold glassy stare bloodshot eyes and big hawk like nose

Question 8

features of a sex offender

Answer 8

thick lips big ears

Question 9

Features of women offenders

Answer 9

shorter and more wrinkled darker hair and smaller skull than normal women

Question 10

credibility of lombrosos theory

Answer 10

the first person to give criminology a scientific credibility (1835-1909) were religious or moralistic before this.

The theory had a scientific test and there was a large sample size.

However, the theory had no control group of non-criminals there was no comparison.

Question 11

applications of lombrosos theory

Answer 11

he labelled prisons “criminal universities” he said people will leave the prison much more violent/ criminal than when they entered, given today recidivism rates this was very perceptive.

Question 12

refuting evidence of lombrosos theory

Answer 12

no control group (no study of non-criminals)

possible disfigurement

not everyone with atavistic features is criminal and not all criminals have atavistic features

scientific racism- some features are those linked to race/ ethnic groups.

Question 13

supporting evidence of lombrosos theory

Answer 13

a Chinese university study showed that ai can identify criminals using facial recognition software. 83% of criminals were identified and only 6% of the innocent people were wrongly identified.

Question 14

claims of Sheldons theory

Answer 14

Sheldon advanced Lombroso’s theory an also claimed that criminal behaviour is linked to a person’s physical form.

By looking at 4000 barely clothes men Sheldon claimed that people could be classified into 3 different body types or somatotypes

Question 15

what is ectomorphic

Answer 15

thin and fragile are introverted and restrained

Question 16

what is Endomorphic

Answer 16

fat and soft tend to be sociable and relaxed

Question 17

what is mesomorphic

Answer 17

muscular and hard tend to be aggressive and adventurous. mesomorphic people are more likely to be criminal

Question 18

components of Sheldons theory

Answer 18

Sheldon used a correlation study where he asked people to rate 200 photos on a scale 1-7 according to how close to mesomorphic type each was

Half the photos were of college students and half were of juvenile delinquents the delinquents had a higher average rating as mesomorphic

From his studies Sheldon found that many convicts were mesomorphic and they were least likely to be Ectomorphic. He argued that Ectomorphs were more likely to commit suicide, mesomorphs were more likely to engage in crime, endomorphs were more likely to be mentally ill

Question 19

credibility of Sheldons theory

Answer 19

Sheldon used a large sample of 200 in his study and had a control group of students to link his theory to.

It is an androcentric study (focuses on men)

there are scientific links between testosterone and muscle mass

Question 20

applications of Sheldons theory

Answer 20

Applied to Kray twins, ted Bundy, however, didn’t fit for Dennis Neilson and al Capone

Question 21

refuting evidence of Sheldons theory

Answer 21

One person could be all 3 types as body’s change.

This theory suggests that we are born. To be bad and cannot escape that fate.

Question 22

claims of raines study

Answer 22

damage to the prefrontal cortex of the brain may cause individuals to have an altered behaviour pattern.

Damage to the prefrontal cortex can impair impulse control this means that if this part of the brain is damaged we may become more aggressive or violent because we can no longer control our impulse behaviours.

Question 23

components of Raines study

Answer 23

used a pet scanner to study the living brain of 41 impulsive killers who had pleaded reasons of insanity as their defence, all 41 had damage to their prefrontal cortex

Used different stimuli and recorded how the brain reacted comparing normal brains to that of the impulsive killers

Murderers pleading insanity had significant differences in brain function in a number of brain areas compared to non-murderers

Question 24

what is a PET scan

Answer 24

positron emission tomography
a functional scan, it can show how the brain is working during different tasks by measuring blood flow, it can also show the size of the brain areas so that they can be measured and compared between people

Question 25

credibility of Raines theory

Answer 25

scientific and objective pet scanners are technical specialist equipment.

Generalisation are possible with a large enough size.

Doesn’t establish when the murderers suffered prefrontal cortex damage this may have happened after the crime within the sample.

Deterministic- implies that PFC damage inevitably leads to violent offending

Question 26

applications to Raines study

Answer 26

Donna Page, raped a woman in Denver ,1999

Raine said “I was an expert witness in this case. Compared to normal controls brain scans revealed he had a distinct lack of activation in the central prefrontal cortex the region that helps regulate our emotions and control our impulses”

He was also brought up in a horrible environment neglected and physically & sexually abused, thrown out a car window when he was just 9 months old and suffered multiple head injuries as a child.

Question 27

refuting evidence of Raines theory

Answer 27

It can only be generalised to murders pleading guilty due to reasons of insanity

Raine stated that the pet scans used where not clear and that there was a limit to how accurately they could be measured causing the study to lack internal validity

Question 28

supporting evidence of Raines theory

Answer 28

Bandura claimed that if people learn aggressive behaviours their brain might change because of it, means that physical aggression may be wired into the brain after it Is learnt through childhood.