Unit 2 - Biological theories 2.1 Flashcards
What are the two physiological biological theories of criminality?
Lombroso and Sheldon
What are the three genetic biological theories of criminality?
Jacob’s XYY theory, Twin studies, Adoption studies
Lombroso
Atavistic features
Very primitive features, like the looks or behavioural of our earliest ancestors from early history.
Summarise Lombroso’s theory
He believed that criminals were individuals who had failed to evolve at the same pace as the remainder of the human race. He thought that criminals could be identified by their atavistic characteristics.
What did Lombroso identify as the 6 atavistic features?
High cheekbones
Flat, upturned nose
Low, sloped forehead
Large ears
Large jaw
Long arms when compared to the rest of the body
According to Lombroso, what features did murderers have?
Bloodshot eyes and curly hair
According to Lombroso, what features did sex offenders have?
Thick lips and protruding ears
What other aspects did Lombroso suggest were those of a ‘born criminal’?
Insensitive to pain
Uses criminal slang
Having tattoos
Being unemployed
Summarise Sheldon’s theory.
Sheldon used body measurement techniques to connect body type with personality. He outlined three basic body types and associated them with temperaments and personalities known as somatotypes.
What were Sheldon’s three somatotypes?
Endomorph
Mesomorph
Ectomorph
How did Sheldon support his theory?
He used a sample of photographs of college students and delinquents and rated them on a 1-7 scale on their resemblance to mesomorphy. The results showed that delinquents had a higher average rating compared to students - 4.6 v 3.8.
Sheldon
Provide a description and the personality of an endomorph
Rounded, soft and fat.
Sociable, relaxed and outgoing.
Sheldon
Provide a description and the personality of a mesomorph
Muscular and hard-bodied.
Aggressive, adventurous, assertive and attention-seeking.
Sheldon
Provide a description and the personality of an ectomorph.
Thin and fragile.
Introverted, restrained and self-conscious.
Sheldon
Which somatotype is most likely to commit crimes?
Mesomorph
Sheldon
Which somatotype is least likely to commit crimes?
Ectomorph
Why is Lombroso’s theory deterministic?
It assumes that you are born criminal and unable to escape your destiny which is very pessimistic, ignores the influence of free will and does not align with the criminal justice system.
Why is Lombroso’s theory reductionist?
Because it reduces the complex phenomena of criminal behaviour down to the shape of your facial features which is too simplistic and very unrealistic.
What alternative factors is Lombroso’s theory lacking?
It does not take into account social or economic factors even though there is a large number of evidence that demonstrates how our upbringing and income can influence our behaviour and the likelihood of becoming a criminal which means the theory is a limited explanation.
Why is Sheldon’s theory deterministic?
Because it states that we are controlled by our body type and does not take into account that people’s somatotypes are not fixed. This is because people’s body type changes throughout their lives and an individual has the potential to be all three in their lifetime. His theory ignores free will and does not detail as to whether changes in body type would lead to changes in personality.
Why is Sheldon’s theory reductionist?
Because it reduces the complex phenomena of criminal behaviour down to someones body shape which is too simplistic and unrealistic.
What alternative factors is Sheldon’s theory lacking?
Body type is not necessarily biological and could link to someone’s profession, experience of poverty or lack of education so shows that sociological factors also need to be considered.
Summarise Jacob’s XYY theory
Some males have an extra male chromosome, which may cause violent behaviour. This extra Y chromosome in men may lead to higher levels of testosterone being produced, which leads to aggression and criminality. XYY men are known as ‘super-males’ who are more violent than males with a single Y chromosome. Jacob found XYY men are over-represented in prison. 15 in 1000 men have the condition - compared to 1 in 1000 in the general population.
XYY Theory
What are the symptoms of a super-male?
Tall
Have acne
Unintelligent
Twin studies
Define dizygotic twins.
Twins born at the same time but come from 2 eggs and share 50% of the DNA.
Twin studies
Define monozygotic twins.
Twins born at the same time but come from 1 egg and share 100% of the DNA.
Twin studies
Define concordance rates.
The probability, as a percentage, that if one twin has a characteristic, so will the other one - similarities.
Twin studies
What statistics did Lange find?
Found that 10 out of 13 of the MZ twins he investigated had both served time in prison.
Found that only 2 out of 17 DZ twins had both served time in prison.
MZ - higher concordance rate than DZ - partly genetic.
Twin studies
What did Christiansen find?
Investigated 3586 pairs of twins.
Found that 35% of male MZ twins both served time and 21% of females served time.
Found that 13% of male DZ twins served time compared to 8% of females.
Partly genetic.
What are adoption studies?
Studies in which adopted children are compared to their biological (genetic) and adopted (environment) parents to see which has more influence.
If a child is more similar to their biological parents than their adoptive parents, a genetic basis of criminality may be suggested.
Adoption studies
What did Hutchings and Mednick find?
That after looking at the court convictions of 14000 adoptees, many of them had criminal biological parents - especially amongst sons and fathers - which suggests criminality is genetic.
Why is the XYY theory deterministic?
Because it assumes that you are born a criminal and therefore unable to escape your destiny which is very pessimistic and ignores free will and our criminal justice system.
What alternative explanation does the XYY theory not consider?
It does not take into account social or economic factors which ignores the large number of evidence that shows how our upbringing and income can influence our behaviour and the likelihood of becoming a criminal which makes it a limited explanation.
Why is the XYY theory reductionist?
Because it reduces the complex phenomena of criminal behaviour down to the influence of chromosomes which is therefore too simplistic.
