Positivism Flashcards
What is positivism?
- A scientific approach to understanding crime and criminality
- Behaviour is determined; crime is explained by forces outside the decision making ability of the individual e.g. biological, psychological
- Focus is on the nature and characteristics of the offender rather than the criminal act
Why are positivist models described as predestined models?
- Total freewill is rejected (replaced by limited free will)
- Determinism is accepted (human behaviour is caused by biological and psychological factors specific to individuals)
What is the positivist response to crime?
Treatment - depending on individual circumstances
Define physiognomy?
The study of facial features
Define phrenology?
The assumption that the external shape and size of the skull corresponded to the functions and ability of the brain
What was Lombroso’s main assumptions?
- Criminals were born not made
- Viewed criminals as throwbacks to a more primitive stage of human development
- The criminal was almost a separate specifies exhibiting a variety of mental and physical characteristics setting them apart
What is soma-typing?
The attempt to explain and predict personalities and behaviour such as crime based on a person’s body type
What were Sheldon’s three basic body/soma types?
- Endomorph (viscerotonic)
- Mesomorph (somotonic)
- Ectomorph (cerebrotonic)
What were some characteristics of endomorph’s?
- Soft and round, short tapering limbs, wide hips and narrow shoulders, extra body fat spread across body, velvety skin
- Viscerotonic: extroverted, relaxed, sociable
- Likely to commit delinquency and fraud
What were some characteristics of mesomorph’s?
- Muscular, large trunk, heavy chest, large wrists and hands, little body fat
- Somotonic: active, aggressive, assertive
- Likely to be violent and commit robbery
What were some characteristics of ectomorph’s?
- Lean, fragile, delicate body, little body fat, droopy & narrow shoulders
- Cerebrotonic: quiet, introverted, sensitive, thoughtful
- Likely to be occasional thieves
What is biological positivism?
- Early theories focused on physical attributes and appearance
- Criminality was associated with abnormality or defectiveness, those that were somehow biologically inferior were most likely to become involved in deviant activities
What are some strengths to the positivist approach?
- Reduction in capital punishment/death sentences
- Awareness to pathologies - more understanding towards mental illness’
- Acknowledged that other factors may mitigate responsibility for criminal behaviour
- Attempts to establish cause and effect relations scientifically -> increasing ability to predict criminality
What are some criticisms to the positivism?
- Fails to take into account human decision making, rationality and choice
- Emphasis on treatment & avoids individual responsibility
- Assumption that offenders can be separated from non offenders (phrenology, soma typing)
- Assumption that the difference between offenders and non offenders is the result of something having gone wrong in the lives or circumstances of the former
Define Atavism?
- An evolutionary throwback or reversion to more primitive time
- A modification of a biology structure whereby an ancestral trait reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change
