unit 3: biological and psychological positivism

Question 1

3 major approaches of positivism

Answer 1

biological
psychological
sociological

Question 2

positivism

,19th centry

Answer 2

a shift from philosophizing to more rigorous, scientific enterprise

• beliefs society is always processing, and scientists can understand how society overcomes social problems using scientific methods
• consolidation of capitalism and capitalist mode of production: major technological development

Question 3

proletariat

Answer 3

the entrenchment of mass industrial production and growth of urban centers, working class

Question 4

central ideas of positivism

Answer 4

• society viewed as an organism made up of different components
• crime is explained by reference to factors outside of individual decision making
• crime is deviant
• can be studied in a scientific manner and extended beyond legal definition

Question 5

• justify and explain colonialism and imperialism

- promote racist biological determinism

Answer 5

Darwin’s theory of evolution misappropriated

Question 6

focus on analysis, positivism

Answer 6

• characteristics of offender
• what factors are related
• find answers thru science
• attempts to measure unrecorded crime and deviant behavior

Question 7

cause of crime, positivism

Answer 7

• individual deficiency
• not a matter of individual choice
• pathology, illness, bio-chemestry….

Question 8

nature of offender, positivism

Answer 8

• determined and/or predisposed to certain types of behavior
• ## biological and social conditioning and individual differences

Question 9

indeterminate sentences

Answer 9

punishment shouldn’t depend on the nature of the criminal act but the nature of the offence, diagnosis and classification of the offender

Question 10

response to crime, positivism

Answer 10

• diagnosis on an individual basis

Question 11

crime prevention, positivism

Answer 11

• early intervantion

Question 12

biological positivism

Answer 12

• Crime was a form of inherited behavior and genes, criminality was biologically determined.
• Criminal behavior not determined by social arrangements but by personal deficiencies.

Question 13

• known for his work The criminal man (1876)
• influenced by evolutionary theories and attempted to classify individuals on biological differences
• criminal was born rather than socialized (atavism)
• believed criminals 1/3 were carnivores cave dwellers
• from of criminal anthropology, emerged that posited a general theory of crime based on measurable differences between criminals and non-criminals

Answer 13

Cesare Lombroso

Question 14

biological deterministic view

Answer 14

• cesare lombroso, failed attempt to establish a link between criminal traits and stages of evolution by studying cadavers of inmate

Question 15

phrenology

Answer 15

• shape and size of skull corresponds to brain function and abilities
• skull size to criminality
• problem: size didn’t mean anything

Question 16

physiology

Answer 16

• body build used to identify likelihood of criminality

ex. if you were jacked you were criminal

Question 17

binet scale

Answer 17

measured children on their ability to do specific tasks

• represented a revolutionary approach to the assessment of individual intellectual ability level
• criminals were considered to be below normal intelligence

Question 18

eugenics

Answer 18

• coined by Francis Galton
• argued that marriage laws, sterilization the prohibition of certain individuals with poor genes would make society better

Question 19

genetics and criminality

Answer 19

• believed the individuals with an extra chromosome were predisposed to criminal activity

Question 20

psychological positivism

Answer 20

• theories focused on the mind to explaining crime
• crime externally-cause biological problems or internal psychological factors
• offenders sick and treatable
• CJS understand underline the problem and try to fix it

Question 21

2 major psychological positivism strands

Answer 21

1. Forensic/psychology: influenced by practitioners in the field
2. Academic theories: control theories, biosocial….

Question 22

forensic concerns

Answer 22

• service provision
• rehabilitation
• determination of culpability
• prediction of possible re-offence
• criminal profiling
• geographic profiling

Question 23

control theory of psychological positivism

Answer 23

• traced to the psychodynamic theories of Freud
• human being are impulsive
• lack of self-control

Question 24

biosocial explanations

Answer 24

personality traits

- linked to biological predispositions (nature) and developmental experiences (nurture)

Question 25

Eysenck, suggested criminal behavior could be explained:

Answer 25

• differential ability to be conditioned: genetics can affect one’s ability to be conditioned
  or
• differential quality of conditioning: effectiveness of family conditioning techniques

Question 26

critiques of both positivism

Answer 26

• concerned with street crime and juvenile delinquency while neglecting others
• forget that norms change over time
  fails to acknowledge complexity of individual development, renewals and transformation
• analogy with sickness presents problems with circular reasoning
• neglect social influences of crime