criminology Flashcards
psychological assumption
criminality is a result of biology
lombroso atavism thoery
lombroso suggested that criminals were a separate species and where determined by their physical characteristics eg blood shot eyes and excessively long arms etc.
weakness and strength of lombroso theory
strength:
it is deterministic which means and could be used to predict who’s a criminal in society.
weakness:
ignores nurture as it only focuses of nature.
little evidence supporting it.
Sheldon’s theory somatotypes
Sheldon assumed their 3 body types called mesomorph, endomorph and ectomorph
which somatotype was more likely to be criminal
mesomorph due to its thrill seeking characteristics it is deemed to be more likely to be criminal
who is Phineas gage
Phineas gage is a railroad worker who had his prefrontal cortex destroyed and lost empathy
what was Raines study
Raines study found abnormalities in criminals brains focusing on the prefrontal cortex
raines findings
41 of the murders had less activity in their prefrontal cortex. this helped find why criminals have violent and impulsive behaviour
gentic theory assumption
criminality is inherited due to genetic abnormalities
crows theory
Crowe observed adopted children with/without biological criminal mothers
crowe findings
50% of kids with biologically criminal mothers had a criminal record by 18 while 5% without.
this proves criminality is due to nature.
Brunner warrior gene study
Brunner investigated a family in Netherlands whose males had be in crime. the males had mutations in their X chromosome resulting in deficiency in enzymes (MAOA) which became named the warrior gene.
Jacob XYY study
Jacob studied a Scottish maximum security hospital. Jacob found 1/28 male Ps with XYY were describe as dangerous/violent criminals .
(1in1000 in general population).
what do enzymes help breakdown
enzymes help breakdown serotonin
Christiansen twin studies
studied 3500 twins in Denmark. identical (monozygotic) non identical (dizygotic) to find criminal concordance rates