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

Question 1

What is a biological theory of criminality

Answer 1

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

Question 2

what are the 3 biological theories

Answer 2

genetic explanations / physical theories / brain abnormalities

Question 3

what are the 4 genetic explanation studies

Answer 3

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

Question 4

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

Answer 4

13%

Question 5

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

Answer 5

40%

Question 6

what is the name of the study into delinquent development

Answer 6

a Cambridge Longitudinal study

Question 7

how many families were followed in the cam long study

Answer 7

397

Question 8

what were the findings of the cam long study

Answer 8

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

Question 9

what is the problem with the cam long study

Answer 9

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

Question 10

what study focused on chromosomes

Answer 10

JACOB ET AL

Question 11

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

Answer 11

super male syndrome

Question 12

how many patients were studied in jacob et al

Answer 12

315

Question 13

where was the study held

Answer 13

a special security hospital for developmentally disabled people in scotland

Question 14

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

Answer 14

9

Question 15

what is the weakness of jacob et al

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What is a physiological theory

Answer 16

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

Question 17

what are the 2 studies for physiological theories

Answer 17

Lombroso and sheldon (1942)

Question 18

what did lombroso suggest in his study

Answer 18

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

Question 19

what did Lombroso argue that humans were?

Answer 19

a separate species falling somewhere between modern and primitive humans

Question 20

what did Lombroso propose from this observational evidence

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Did Lombroso say that criminals were born or made

Answer 21

born

Question 22

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

Answer 22

a hollow part of the brain where the cerebellum should be

Question 23

what sis Sheldon 1942 suggest in their study

Answer 23

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

Question 24

how many images of men did sheldon study

Answer 24

4000

Question 25

what is ectomorphs

Answer 25

thin + fragile, introverted + restrained

Question 26

what is mesomorphs

Answer 26

muscular + hard, more aggressive + adventurous

Question 27

what is endomorphs

Answer 27

fat + soft, more sociable + relaxed

Question 28

what was the scale that Sheldon rated the images on

Answer 28

7 point scale with resemblance to their mesomorph type

Question 29

what were Sheldon’s findings

Answer 29

delinquents had a higher average mesomorph rating of 4.6 where normal students had 3.8

Question 30

strengths of Lombroso’s study

Answer 30

first to make criminology a scientific study // challenged the idea that criminals have a choice // helped prevent future crime instead of just punishing it.

Question 31

weaknesses of Lombroso’s study

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

strengths of Sheldon’s study

Answer 32

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

Question 33

weaknesses of Sheldon’s study

Answer 33

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

Question 34

what are brain abnormality theories

Answer 34

theories that effect criminality which involve the brain structure

Question 35

what are the two brain abnormality theories

Answer 35

Raine at al + McIsaac et al

Question 36

what did raine et al suggest

Answer 36

Murderers had significantly less activity in certain brain areas.

Question 37

how many murderers brains did raine et al scan

Answer 37

41

Question 38

who did R et al compare the murderers brains with

Answer 38

a control group of non-murderers

Question 39

which areas of the brain has less activity

Answer 39

lateral, medial and pre-frontal cortical areas which are associated with aggressive behaviour and poor impulse control

Question 40

what did mcisaac et al suggest

Answer 40

female canadian prisoners who endured serious head injuries were more likely to end up in prison than those who had not

Question 41

how many more times likely does mcisaac state that the one group are to commit crimes that the other

Answer 41

2.76

Question 42

strengths of Raine et al theory

Answer 42

scientific equipment and methods // other studies have found a correlation between abnormal EEG readings which measure brain activity and psychopathic criminal behaviour

Question 43

weakness of Raine et al

Answer 43

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

Question 44

weakness of McIsaac et al

Answer 44

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