Lombroso's Atavistic Theory

• What does Lombroso's theory suggest?

  His theory states that the physical (atavistic) features of someone determines if they are criminal.
• What are examples of atavistic features?


  High cheekbones, large ears, low sloping forehead.
• How did he conclude the theory?

  Studied facial and cranial features of 4000 (alive and dead) prisoners and concluded that 40% of them had atavistic features.
• Do any studies disprove theory?

  Chinese University studied roughly 2000 ID photos of Chinese men who half of them had a conviction and were entered into an AI programme. Found it wrong ly flagged innocent men as criminal 6% of the time but identified 83% correctly of the real criminals.
• What are people with atavistic/primitive features called?

  'Evolutionary throwbacks'
• 2 Strengths of Lombroso's Theory

  Strength - first person to give criminology scientific credibility.

  Strength - His work started the beginnings of offender profiling.
• 2 Limitations of Lombroso's Theory

  Limitation - Extremely deterministic

  Limitation - Not everyone with atavistic features is a criminal and not all criminals have them.