Historical approach

• Atavistic form:

  • Lombroso suggested that criminals were a 'genetic throwback' and a primitive sub species that were biologically different to non-criminals.
  • Lombroso saw criminals as lacking evolutionary development and therefore cant adjust to civilised society so turn to crime.
  • Lombroso saw offending as a natural tendency rooted in the individuals genes, therefore he proposed that as it was innate an offender shouldn't be blamed for their crimes - this was revolutionary
• Atavistic form

  • Lombroso said there were particular physiological markers. These included:
  • A narrow and sloping brow
  • A strong prominent jaw
  • High cheekbones
  • facial asymmetry
  • Dark skin
  • extra toes/nipples
• Offender types:

  Lombroso then went on to categorise particular types of offenders.

  • Murderers had blood-shot eyes, curly hair, long ears
  • Sexual offenders- glinting eyes, swollen fleshy lips, projecting ears
  • Fraudsters- thin lips
• Lombroso's research

  • Lombroso examined facial and cranial features of Italian convicts 3893 living and 383 dead. He concluded from there that there was an 'atavistic form' and that these features were key indicators of criminality.
  • He concluded that 40% of crime was committed by people with atavistic characteristics
• A03: One strength is that Lombroso's work changed the face of the study of crime.

  • He coined the term 'criminology' and is credited for moving crime research towards a more scientific position
  • His theory also begun the start of offender profiling
  • This suggests he made a significant contribution to the science of criminology
• A03: CC: Critics have questioned whether Lombrosos legacy is entirely positive.

  • For example there are racist undertones to Lombroso's work, many of Lombroso's ativistic features (curly hair and dark skin) are likely to be found among people of African descent- suggesting they are more likely to be offenders, this fitted 19th0century eugenic attitudes.
  • This suggests his theory is highly subjective and influenced by racial prejudice at the time
• A03: evidence that contradicts the link between atavism and crime

  • Goring set out to see if there was anything physically atypical about offenders
  • After conducting a comparison between 3000 offenders and 3000 non-offenders he found there were no physical characteristics distinctly between them, but he did suggest offenders had lower than average intelligence
  • This challenges Lombroso's theory
• A03: Lombroso's research was poorly controlled

  • Lombroso did not compare his group to a control, this meant he couldn't control for confounding variables
  • This means lombroso's research doesn't meet modern scientific standard