Forensic Psychology - Biological Approach Flashcards
What are the 2 biological explanations of offending?
Atavistic form
Neural and Genetic explanations of offending
Define atavistic form
Atavistic form: a biological approach to offending that attributes criminal activity to the fact that offenders are genetic throwbacks or a primitive subspecies ill suited to conforming to the rules of modern society. Such individuals are distinguishable by particular facial and cranial characteristics
Describe L’Huomo Delinquente
Lombroso believed that offenders were lacking evolutionary development (in their appearance) and that their savage and unusually appearance meant that it would be impossible for them to adjust to the demands of normal civilisation and therefore they would inevitable turn to crime
What factors may effect L’Huomo Delinquente
Cranial characteristics could be:
Narrow, sloping brow
A strong prominent jaw
High cheekbones
Facial asymmetry
Other physical markers may include: dark skin, extra toes nipples or fingers
He also said that other factors may include insensitivity to pain, tattoos, unemployment, use of Slang
When and by who was L’Huomo Delinquente by and when?
Lombroso
1876
What research did Lombroso do?
He examined cranial and facial features of living and dead criminals: This was due to a rape of a 3 year old girl, who remembered a obscure tattoo.
383 dead and 3839 living criminal skulls (but when you die you skull shape changes
He concluded that 40% of all criminal acts could be accounted for by people with atavistic characteristics
What specifically did Lombroso say about Murderers
Murderers were thought to have bloodshot eyes , strong jaws, long ears and curly hair
What specifically did Lombroso say about sexual deviants
Sexual deviants were said to have glinting eyes, swollen, fleshy lips and projecting ears
What specifically did Lombroso say about fraudsters
Fraudsters were thought to have lips that were thin and reedy
What are the positive evaluations for the Atavistic form?
General for Lombroso’s approach
What are the negative evaluations for the Atavistic form?
General against Lombroso’s approach
Contradictory evidence
Methodological issues
Incomplete theory
Explain the positive evaluation of the Atavistic form: General for Lombroso’s approach
■ Shifted the emphasis in crime research away from moralistic discourse towards a scientific and credible realm.
■ The atavistic characteristics was the foundation of criminal profiling
Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: General against Lombroso’s approach
- Many of the features that Lombroso identifies are more likely to be found among people of African descent.
- Lends support to the Eugenics movement – ‘uncivilised, primitive and savage’
Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: Contradictory Evidence
■ There is limited support to the argument of ‘sub-species’ in terms of lower intelligence
■ Sharma et al. (2015) – 202 participants (101 convicted offenders and 101 ’normal’ controls)
- Emotional intelligence and criminal behaviour
- Criminals did score lower on EI domains including management of own emotions, and others emotions
Goring (1913) - 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals – physical or mental abnormalities (using a control group)
- No evidence that offenders are a distinctive group with unusual facial or cranial features/ characteristics.
Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: Methodological issues
Lombroso did not compare his sample to a non-criminal
control group
- Significant difference may have disappeared
- Failed to account for other variables: people he studied had a history of psychological disorders or chromosomal abnormalities- confounding variable
(Cause and effect)
Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: Incomplete theory
■ Facial and cranial differences may be influenced by other factors such as poverty or poor diet rather than being an indication of delayed evolutionary development
■ In later work, the view was less extreme: criminals could be made as well as born due to a range of environmental factors
What is the Neural Explanation of Offending?
any explanation of behaviour (and its disorders) in terms of dsy(functions) of the brain and nervous systems. This includes the activity of brain structures such as the hypothalamus and neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine
What study did Crowe do?
Adoption studies
What was the method and results of adoption studies
Crowe (1972) compared a group of adopted children whose biological other had a criminal method to a control group who mothers didn’t have a criminal method
It was found that if a biological mother had a criminal record 50% of the adopted children also had one by the time that they were 18
Whilst in the control group, only 5% of the adopted children had a criminal record by the time that they were 18
What does Crowe (1972) suggest
This suggests that regardless of the changed environment
This suggests that adopted children with mothers with criminal records seemed biologically predisposed to criminality
Describe a study on danish adoptees?
Around 14,500 Danish Adoptees
The concordance rates for criminality between the adoptees and their adopted and biological parents were compared
Describe the results of the danish adoptee study?
13.5% of adoptees with parents (A or B) without criminal convections had one themselves
14.7% of adoptees with one criminally convicted adopted parent A
20% had one criminally convicted biological parent B
24.5% had 1 criminally convicted biological and adoptive parent AnB
