Unit 2 - AC2.1 - Describe BIOLOGICAL theories of criminality Flashcards

1
Q

What is a biological theory of criminality

A

how something within the biological structure of a person leads to criminal behaviour

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2
Q

what are the 3 biological theories

A

genetic explanations / physical theories / brain abnormalities

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3
Q

what are the 4 genetic explanation studies

A

osborn and west 1979 / christianson / mednick et al / jacob at al

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4
Q

(o&w)how many sons of non criminal fathers had convictions

A

13%

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5
Q

(o&w) how many sons of criminal fathers had convictions

A

40%

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6
Q

what is the name of the study into delinquent development

A

a Cambridge Longitudinal study

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7
Q

how many families were followed in the cam long study

A

397

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8
Q

what were the findings of the cam long study

A

half of the convictions from the 397 families were from just 23 families - the convictions were very concentrated of those families

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9
Q

what is the problem with the cam long study

A

its hard to separate the effect of genes and surroundings when families share the same environment

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10
Q

what study focused on chromosomes

A

JACOB ET AL

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11
Q

What is the name called when a male has an extra male chromosome (xyy instead of xy

A

super male syndrome

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12
Q

how many patients were studied in jacob et al

A

315

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13
Q

where was the study held

A

a special security hospital for developmentally disabled people in scotland

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14
Q

how many of the 315 males studied were taller and were WRONGLY characterised as being aggressive and violent and had an extra y chromosome

A

9

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15
Q

what is the weakness of jacob et al

A

a study Theilgarrd 1984 found no link between the extra chromosome and aggression , basically it’s WRONG

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16
Q

What is a physiological theory

A

these focus on an individuals physical form as an indicator of criminal behaviour

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17
Q

what are the 2 studies for physiological theories

A

Lombroso and sheldon (1942)

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18
Q

what did lombroso suggest in his study

A

criminals have similar features like prominent jaws, flattened or upturned nose, prominent brow ridges and large ears

19
Q

what did Lombroso argue that humans were?

A

a separate species falling somewhere between modern and primitive humans

20
Q

what did Lombroso propose from this observational evidence

A

violent criminals were throwbacks to less evolved human types, like PRIMITIVE SAVAGES

21
Q

Did Lombroso say that criminals were born or made

22
Q

what did Lombroso find from his post mortum on the serial murderer / rapist

A

a hollow part of the brain where the cerebellum should be

23
Q

what sis Sheldon 1942 suggest in their study

A

mesomorph ( 8 ) body types are more likely to be criminal than ectomorphs ( I ) and endomorphs ( O ) body types

24
Q

how many images of men did sheldon study

25
what is ectomorphs
thin + fragile, introverted + restrained
26
what is mesomorphs
muscular + hard, more aggressive + adventurous
27
what is endomorphs
fat + soft, more sociable + relaxed
28
what was the scale that Sheldon rated the images on
7 point scale with resemblance to their mesomorph type
29
what were Sheldon's findings
delinquents had a higher average mesomorph rating of 4.6 where normal students had 3.8
30
strengths of Lombroso's study
first to make criminology a scientific study // challenged the idea that criminals have a choice // helped prevent future crime instead of just punishing it.
31
weaknesses of Lombroso's study
methodology issues, as no non-criminal group was used // his work could be considered racist as he says that the criminals are primitive savages which could imply that non-western cultures are inferior and dangerous.
32
strengths of Sheldon's study
his theory was supported by further research by Glueck and Glueck who found that 60 % of offenders in their study had a mesomorph body type
33
weaknesses of Sheldon's study
its hard to establish cause and effect as those who commit crime may give themselves a meso body type as the work out because they want to look tough // conveyed offenders are mainly working-class males who typically are in manual jobs where a meso body type is often developed // many people with these features aren't criminal and many criminals don't have this body type
34
what are brain abnormality theories
theories that effect criminality which involve the brain structure
35
what are the two brain abnormality theories
Raine at al + McIsaac et al
36
what did raine et al suggest
Murderers had significantly less activity in certain brain areas.
37
how many murderers brains did raine et al scan
41
38
who did R et al compare the murderers brains with
a control group of non-murderers
39
which areas of the brain has less activity
lateral, medial and pre-frontal cortical areas which are associated with aggressive behaviour and poor impulse control
40
what did mcisaac et al suggest
female canadian prisoners who endured serious head injuries were more likely to end up in prison than those who had not
41
how many more times likely does mcisaac state that the one group are to commit crimes that the other
2.76
42
strengths of Raine et al theory
scientific equipment and methods // other studies have found a correlation between abnormal EEG readings which measure brain activity and psychopathic criminal behaviour
43
weakness of Raine et al
the generalisability of the results is limited bc the range of criminals used was so small // those committing other crimes may have different patterns of abnormal brain activity
44
weakness of McIsaac et al
different to establish cause and effect as the brain injury may have been as a cause of criminality through fights eg rather than the cause