physiological

• Criminality is the cause of physical traits - facial features and body shape
• Standard criminal according to Lombroso -

  • Large jaw
  • Large eye sockets
  • Eyebrow arch
  • High cheekbone
  • Large ears
  • More likely to get tattoos
• Lombroso - People who look like this do not fit into society and are excluded therefore they commit crimes to fit back in or are angry. They would struggle with social skills and relationships and they have a high pain threshold.
• limitations of Lombroso

  • It was done in 1876, so features over time may have been evolved
  • Only been conducted on men
  • No control group
  • Doesn’t have much supporting research
  • Racist assumptions - non-western features have atavistic characteristics (trying to support his racist views)
• strengths of Lombroso -

  • Father of modern criminology
  • Takes into account everything for its time
  • First theory to say that crime doesn’t happen through free will
• Sheldon - agreed with Lombroso and claimed that criminality is physiological in origin and are identifiable by their appearance
• Sheldon identified 3 stomatypes to make links between body shape and criminality
• Endomorph shape -

  round body shape

  lack of muscle

  wide hips
• Endomorph character -

  sociable

  outgoing

  peaceful
• Mesomorph shape (criminal) -

  muscular

  strong limbs

  broad shoulders
• mesomorph character -

  Sensation seeking

  risk takers

  domineering

  be in control
• Ectomorph shape -

  thin

  lacking fat and muscle

  thin face

  flat chested

  high forehead
• Ectomorph character -

  • Self-conscious
  • emotionally restrained 
  • quiet
  • fragile
  • sensitive
• Sheldon said that mesomorphs are more likely to be the criminal as their physical stature is beneficial in crime and are more likely to engage in risk taking behaviour
• strengths of Sheldon -

  his work has been replicated by other people

  Gleuk and Gleuk investigated and found out that 60% of prisoners were mesomorphs

  conducted various studies
• limitations of Sheldon -

  hard to disentangle the relationship between body type and criminality

  the relationship between criminality and body type may not be direct - working class males are more likely to commit crimes (they do lots of manual labour so are more muscular and broad (mesomorph))