Biological explanations for offending

• who created the atavistic theory - what did he argue criminals are

  Lombroso

  'genetic throwbacks
• what are genetic throwbacks - why does this make them criminal

  a primitive sub-species who are biologically less evolved their savage nature meant they were unable to live normally in society, is to commit crimes
• what did Lombroso theorise about how criminals can be identified

  physiological markers (physical characteristics) mainly on face/head
• give 2 examples of specific characteristics that indicate a type of criminal

  murderers: bloodshot eyes, strong jaw, curly hair

  sexual deviant: glinting eyes, thick lips, projecting ears
• what was Lombroso's research


  he studied Italian criminals and found a number of physical features which indicate criminology
• what did his research show

  he examined 383 dead and 3839 criminals, he concuded that 40% of all criminal acts could be accounted for by atavistic (biological) characteristics

  HOWEVER didn't compare to non-criminals
• what is a strength of Lombroso

  + contribution to criminology and criminal profiling: father of modern criminology, inspired crime research away from moralistic discourse, towards a more scientific/credible approach: evolutionary influences/genetics
• how did Lombroso contribute to criminal profiling

  by describing how particular people are more likely to commit particular crimes = beggining of criminal profiling, major contributioin to criminology
• what is an issue with Lombroso's research

  - scientific racism:

  many features that Lombroso identified as criminal (curly hair/dark skin) are more likely to be present amongst African descendants: suggested black people are more likely to commit crime
• which features did Lombroso identify as ativistic


  "uncivilised, primitive, savage"
• what is meant by Eugenics

  people with desirable traits are allowed to breed, those with undesirable traits = "genetically unfit" and should be eliminated
• does Lombroso's theory support the eugenics movement

  yes, people used his theory to add support for the unpopular eugenics movement
• what are 3 other weaknesses of Lombroso's theory

  - contradictory evidence

  - methodological issues

  - correlational research only
• what contradictory evidence is there

  Goring (2013) conducted a comparison between 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals and concluded no difference in their physical characteristics

  - opposes Lombroso's explanation, shows no significant difference between physical characteristics of criminals/non-criminals, as it suggests there aren't criminal traits
• how are methodological issues an issue for Lombroso

  - no control group:

  unable to draw significant conclusions between criminals/non-criminals, as you cannot establish which features are more likely within criminals
• why was his sample deemed unrepresentative

  depite using a large sample (6000 total), they were all Italian criminals, so can't generalise to all criminals globally
• why is correlational research an issue

  - only measures people that are already criminals, so shows a linl between atavistic form and criminal behaviour, but not the cause for offending behaviour and appearance
• what is the genetic explanation for offending

  crime is caused by criminal genes inherited from biological parents, therefore the closer related genetically to a criminal, the greater the chance you have of becoming criminal
• what types of research can be used to show a genetic link

  + twin studies (concordance rates)

  + adoption studies

  + family studies

  + genome research
• what are concordance rates

  comparing rates of a condition/trait Mz & Dz twins to see the % of similarity of genes, relating to the specific trait
• what family study investigated genetic explanation

  + Osborne and West: compared sons of criminal and non-criminal fathers
• what were the findings of this family study

  13% of non-criminals had sons who had criminal convictions, comapred to 40% of sons with criminal fathers = consistent genetic influence on offending, but not conclusive evidence
• how does this evidence support the genetic theory

  shows a large increase in criminal convictions for sons whose fathers were criminals
• what were the findings of this family study

  13% of non-criminals had sons who had criminal convictions, comapred to 40% of sons with criminal fathers = consistent genetic influence on offending, but not conclusive evidence
• how does this evidence support the genetic theory (family study)

  this shows a large increase in criminal convictions for sons whose fathers are criminals, compared to non-criminals so suggests genetics plays a role in criminal behaviour
• how does this evidence oppose the genetic theory (family study)

  - the sons of non-criminals should be 0% if it's solely determined by genes, the fact it's 13% suggests it isn't the only cause of criminal behaviour
• what are some criticisms of this study

  - other factors could influence rates of criminality, such as SLT occuring, where behaviour is copied not genetics

  - the study only looked at fathers and ignores whether the mother was criminal/non-criminal: this is an issue as half the genes come from the mother
• what twin study provides evidence for the genetic theory

  Christiansen: concordance rates between Mz and Dz twins for criminality, found that Mz concordance rates were 35%, compared with 13% for Dz
• how does this evidence support the genetic theory (twin study)

  supports the genetic theory as Mz share 100% of the same DNA and these twins had higher concordance rates
• how does this evidence refute the genetic theory (twin study)

  Mz is only 35% where it should be 100% if genes were the only influence
• what is an issue with this evidence

  Mz may have a more similair environment, compared to Dz, so could explain the differences in rates of crime
• what is the role of the working MAOA gene

  controls the amount of dopamine and serotonin in the brain
• what is the evidence for the MAOA gene being linked to agression

  Brunner found that males in a family that had a history of aggressive behaviour also had a mutation in the MAOA gene = MAOA-L
• which gene has been identified with criminality

  MAOA-L gene = associated with criminal behaviour
• what is the evidence for the MAOA-L gene being associated with violence

  442 men were studied from birth to adulthood, those with MAOA-L were more likely to be involved with violent crimes

  this supports a link between the gene and violence/offending behaviour
• what is an issue with this evidence on the link with this gene

  BUT the effect was greatest in those who had been mistreated as children, suggesting it is a combination of genetics (genotype) and mistreatment (phenotype)
• what could this be if its both genes and environment

  diathesis stress: child abuse/mistreatment causes the genetic disposition to be expressed
• what is evidence for multiple genes affecting offending

  amoung 900 offenders they found abnormalities with 2 genes that are linked with offending: MAOA-L and CDH13 gene, those with a combination of both mutations were 13x more likely to have a history of violence

  this supports that offending may be polygenic and is influenced by multiple genes
• what is an issue with this evidence on polygenic

  However the research is recent so hasn't been checked for reliability of results, so the link may not be reliable as it hasn't been assessed many times
• what are the implications if there is a gene for crime

  - pressure/guilt over whether to have children

  - labeling from a young age that you're likely to become a criminal could lead to a self fulfilling prophecy, shows the harmful effects of discrimination/labeling