atavistic form

• atavistic characteristics 


  Lombroso argued criminals could be identified by their 'psychological markers' that were linked to particular crimes. these are biologically determined and mainly features of the face and head.
• Lombroso's categorised features

  murderers = having bloodshot eyes, curly hair and long ears

  sexual offenders = big lips, projecting ears and glinting eyes

  Lombroso also suggested features such as use of criminal slang, tattoos and unemployment
• Lombroso's research

  he examined facial features of hundreds of Italian convicts and proposed that the atavistic form was associated with a number of physical features which were key to criminality. he examined skulls of 383 dead criminals and 3839 living ones and concluded that 40% of criminal acts are committed by people with atavistic characteristics
• A03 - contribution to criminology

  • Lombroso known as father of criminology, trying to describe how particular types of people commit specific crime
  • his theory began criminal profiling
• A03 - scientific racism

  • critics have drawn attention to racism within Lombroso's work
  • many of the features he identified as a criminal are most likely to be found amongst people of African descent
  • whether this was intended to be the case or not it is a matter of debate
• A03 - contradictory evidence

  • Charles Goring set out to establish whether there were any physical or mental abnormalities among the criminal classes
  • after conducting a comparison between 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals he concluded that there was no that the offenders are a distinct group with unusual facial characteristics
  • although he found that they often have low intelligence which is the only piece of evidence that supports Lombroso