Positivist/Biological Theories Flashcards
What does the positivist school believe causes crime, in general?
Crime is caused by internal factors of an individual
With the positivist school, the perspective of crime shifted from what to what?
From philosophical to scientific
T or F: biological theories believe that criminals are made after they are born
False
What is the study of the shape of the skull in relation to crime?
Phrenology
What study says that criminals are physically different than the rest of us?
Criminal anthropology
Who focused crime on atavism?
Cesare Lombroso
What are Lombroso’s three criminal types?
Born criminal; insane criminal; criminaloids
What did Charles Goring find?
Criminals are intellectually and physically inferior
William Sheldon participated in somatotyping and made three categories:
Endomorphic (short round); mesomorphic (large muscular); ectomorphic (lean delicate)
Which theory was derived from the fact that a high correlation is between frequency of incarceration between parents and children?
Heredity theory
What types of people did heredity theory study?
Twins and adoption
What are the two chemicals in the brain that were though to affect behavior?
Serotonin and dopamine
Which theory focuses on testosterone and women’s PMS cycles?
Hormones theory
Which two parts of the brain are thought to affect criminality?
Frontal lobe; temporal lobe
What are 4 factors that biology + environment theories focus on?
- neo-natal development
- pollution
- nutrition
- drug use
