A03 Atavistic Form

• Contribution of criminology


  Lombroso called the 'father of modern criminology'. He is credited as shifting the emphasis in criminal research from a moralistic discourse towards a more scientific and credible realm. Lombroso's theory heralded the beginning of criminal profiling and made major contributions to science of criminology.
• Scientific racism


  DeLisi et al have drawn attention to distinct racist undertones with Lombroso's work. Many features he identified as criminal and atavistic are most likely found in people of African descent.
• Eugenic explanations (Scientific racism)


  Descriptions of Africans being savage would lend support to many of the contemporary eugenic philosophies. Thus, it is an uncomfortable and controversial aspect of Lombroso's legacy.
• Contradictory evidence


  Goring et al set out to establish whether there were any physical/mental abnormalities among criminal classes. After conducting a comparison between 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals.
• Goring et al findings (Contradictory evidence)


  The conclusion was that there was no evidence that offenders are a distinct group with unusual facial/cranial characteristics. Whilst point of intelligence does offer limited support to Lombroso's argument that criminals are sub-species, questions key element of theory.
• Poor control in Lombroso's research


  Lombroso did not compare his sample with a non-criminal control group, so unknown whether the atavistic characteristics are unique to criminals. Lombroso failed to account for confounding variables like his ppts had a history of disorder- atavistic characteristics may relate to these disorders.
• Causation is an issue


  Although some criminals conform to atavistic characteristics, this does not mean this is the reason for re-offending.
• Environment's influence (Causation is an issue)


  Facial/cranial differences may be influenced by other factors like poverty/poor diet, rather than being an indication of delayed evolutionary development. But in his later work, Lombroso admitted the environment has a big part to play.