Atavistic Form

• The Atavistic form is an early biological explanation for criminal behaviour advanced by Lombroso.
• Offenders were considered by Lombroso as lacking evolutionary development. They were described as savage and untamed so could not ajust to civil society and therefore turned to crime. This suggests that Crime is rooted in genetics (innate).
• Lombroso went on to caregorise particular types of offenders in terms of their physical and facial characteristics.

  • Murderers -> Bloodshot eyes, curly hair, long ears
  • Sexual deviants -> Glinting eyes, swollen fleshy lips, projecting ears
  • Fraudsters -> Thin reedy lips
• Lombroso's theory was underpinned by his research in which he studied the facial and cranial features of 383 dead and 3839 living italian convicts.
• Lomboso's research concluded that 40% of criminal acts were committed by people with atavistic features suggesting that certain physiological features are key indicators of criminality.
• Evaluation Atavistic Form - Lombroso's Legacy

  • This research changed the face of the study of crime and made Lombroso the father of modern criminology.
  • He shifted the emphasis of crime away from moralistic discourse and more towards the scientific relm
  • Brought about the beginning of offender profiling.
• Counterpoint Lombroso's Legacy

  • Is this legacy entirely positive as there are many racist undertomes
  • Many of the atavistic features are most likely to be found in people of african descent which fitted the attitudes of the 19th century.
• Limitation Atavistic Form - Contradictory Evidence

  • Goring set out to establish whether there were any physical of mental abnormalities among offenders compaied 3000 offenders
  • He found no evidence to support Lombroso's theory although he did suggest a lower level of intelligence.

  This challenges the idea that criminals can be physically distinguished from the rest of the population.