Biological Theories - Physiological Evaluation

Question 1

Lombroso
- Weaknesses

Answer 1

1. theory does not account for any outside causes of atavistic features
2. goring used non - criminals in his study and found no differences in behaviour.

Question 1

Lombroso
- Strengths

Answer 1

1. accepted the fact that some criminality is learnt and that some prisoners come out worse than they did when they went in
2. first person to give any credibility to criminology and he challenged the ideas that criminals are born evil and choose to be criminal

Question 2

Sheldon
- Strengths

Answer 2

1. his study had a control group and so comparisons could be made
2. putwain and sammons confirmed a correlation between build and criminality
3. glueck and glueck supported the theory - 60% of delinquents are mesomorphs.

Question 3

Sheldon
- Weaknesses

Answer 3

1. peoples bodies change overtime and they can go from one to another
2. doesnt explain how ectomorphs and endomorphs are also criminal - found 30% endo and 10% ecto and criminals
3. could be repeating cycle - criminal justice system already believes most criminals are mesomorphs and so treat them harsher.