A historical approach

• what is the atavistic form?

  explanation of criminal behaviour which suggests that individuals are born with an innate criminal personality which is a throwback to earlier primate forms
• who developed the atavistic form?

  Lombroso
• who came up with the different somatotypes and how many studies of criminals did he do to do this?

  • Kretschumer
  • studied 4,000 criminals
• what two main aspects of the atavistic form do I need to remember?

  • empirical evidence for it
  • environmental influences
• what is the basic assumption of the atavistic approach that relates to criminality?

  innate physiological make-up of an individual causes them to become a criminal
• state the main aspects of Lombroso's theory

  • innate physiological make-up of an individual predisposes them to criminality
  • linkage of different features to different crimes
  • offenders possessed similar characteristics to lower primates, explains their criminality
• state examples of physical characteristics that Lombroso identified in his book

  • asymmetry of the face
  • ears of unusual size
  • excessive length of arms
  • chin receding
  • etc
• how many characteristics were identified to make up the atavistic type?

  18
• what is the empirical evidence that supports Lombroso's theory?

  • post-mortem examinations of criminals
  • studying the faces of living criminals
  • precise measurements of physiological characteristics (anthropometry)- a distinct science
  • he and his co-workers studies 50,000 bodies over the course of his career
• what did Lombroso find in his one study of 383 convicted Italian criminals?

  • 21% had one atavistic trait
  • 43% had at least five
• what other factor did Lombroso believe was also responsible for criminality?

  environmental
• what three categories did Lombroso develop for criminals after acknowledging the role of environmental influences in predisposing criminality?

  • born criminals- atavistic type, throwbacks to earlier primates and identifiable from their physical characteristics
  • insane criminals- suffering from mental illnesses
  • criminaloids- large general class of offenders whose mental characteristics predispose them to criminal behaviour under the right circumstances
• is this historical approach deterministic or free will?

  determinism- if you are born with specific features it predisposes you to criminality
• evaluation of this historical approach?

  • ☹️criticisms of Lombroso's methods- lack of adequate controls, studies prisoners not non-prisoners. Goring compared 3000 criminals with non criminals, barely found differences
  • ☹️gender bias- Lombroso believed women less evolved than men (alpha bias) women who were criminals had masculine characteristics that were favourable in men but made them monsters
  • ☹️determinism- states physical features predispose criminality, ignoring role of free will, choosing bet right and wrong
  • 😊empirical evidence- carried out precise measurements, 50,000 bodies studied