atavistic form

• An historical approach:

  Lombroso wrote a book suggesting that criminals are genetic throwbacks and that they are biologically different from non criminals
• Biological approach:

  Offenders seen as lacking evolutionary development as their untamed nature meant that it is impossible to meet the civilised nature of society therefore they would turn towards crime.it was seen as a natural tendency and part of their genes. Offending behaviour was innate and not to blame for their behaviour.
• Atavistic form: 

  Offender subtypes identified as having physiological markers that are linked to particular kinds of offences  these are biologically ‘atavistic’ characteristics which are mainly features of the face and the head. Cranial or facial asymmetry prominent jaw, high cheekbones. Other physical markers include dark skin, extra fingers, toes or nipples. Non physical traits are slang language insensitivity to pain, tattoos, and unemployment.
• Offender types:

  Murders seem to have bloodshot eyes, curly hair, and long ears. Sexual deviants seem to have glinty eyes, swollen, fleshy lips, and projecting ears.

  Lombroso’s research:

  Examined facial and cranial characteristics of Italian convicts living 3839 and dead 383 and concluded that there was an atavistic form. 40% had atavistic characteristics.
• Strength lombroso has changed the face of the study of crime. He has been hailed the father of modern criminology, and himself coined the term criminology (Hollin 1989). He is also credited as shifting the emphasis in crime research away from moralistic discourse towards a more scientific position. Also, trying to describe how different types of people commit crimes which heralded the beginning of offender profiling. Lombroso made a major contribution to the science of criminology.
• But many critics of Delisi 20123 questioned if Lombroso's legacy was entirely positive as some of his descriptions of different offenders had racist undertones such as dark skin curly hair which is most likely to be found in people of African descent which fitted with the 19thr century eugenic attitudes. Suggests some of his theory was subjective rather than objective and was heavily influenced by the racial prejudices.
• Limitation is evidence that contradicts the link between atavism and crime. Goring 1913 like Lombroso wanted to establish any physical differences between offenders. Conducted a comparison between 3000 offenders and 3000 non-offenders concluded that there was no evidence that offenders had no distinct cranial and facial characteristics.  Challenges the idea of whether we are able to physically distinguish the difference between offenders and non-offenders.
• Limitation methods of investigation were poorly controlled, as he failed to control important variables as unlike Goring he did not compare his group to non-offenders. This could have controlled for an assortment of confounding variables that might have equally explained the high crime rates in certain groups of people. For instance, research has demonstrated links between social conditions and crime poverty and poor educational outcomes (Hay and Forrest 2009) explaining why offenders are more likely to be unemployed. Suggests Lombroso's research does not meet modern scientific standards.