Criminology

• Brain injuries


  Cause people to offend
• Ectomorphs


  • Thin, fragile, lacking muscle or tone, narrow hips, thin face
• Sheldon's somatotypes theory


  Theory linking certain body types or 'Somatotypes' to criminal behaviour
• Case of railway worker Phineas Gage, whose personality changed after a major brain injury
• Studies have shown that prisoners are more likely than non-prisoners to have suffered brain injuries
• Endomorphs


  • Fat, lacking muscle, wide hips, relaxed, comfortable, outgoing
• Mesomorphs


  • Muscular, hard bodied, very little fat, strong, adventurous, sensation-seeking, assertive, domineering, enjoy physical activity
• Abnormal brainwave activity measured by an EEG has been found among clearly insane murderers and psychopathic criminals
• Biochemical Explanations


  Factors such as hormones and sex hormones may cause emotional disturbances and link to criminal behaviour
• Males are more aggressive and testosterone has been linked with crimes such as murder and rape. Testosterone levels peak from puberty to early 20's, which correlates with highest crime rates in males
• Low blood sugar can trigger aggressive reactions. There is a link between low blood sugar and alcohol abuse
• Lombroso's theory


  Criminals were physically different from non-criminals and could be identified by distinct features such as high cheekbones, long arms, prominent eyebrow arches
• Atavism


  Criminals were seen as atavistic, throwbacks to an earlier, primitive stage of evolution, pre-social, unable to control impulses and had a reduced sensitivity to pain
• Jacob's study found an abnormality of sex chromosomes, with an extra Y chromosome, known as XYY syndrome, in men with this tendency to be very tall, well-built, immature, with low intelligence and a strong tendency to commit motiveless property crimes and be potentially violent
• Twin studies have shown that if one twin has a 'criminal gene', the other twin is likely to also have it. Adoption studies have shown that adopted children's criminality is more similar to their biological parents than their adoptive parents, supporting a genetic explanation