Lombroso

• Claims

  • physiological theory, Ativistic Features Theory
  • you can tell what crime someone will commit by their features
  • criminals have primitive/ativistic features
  • criminals aren't fully evolved
• Components

  • examined facial features of 383 dead criminals and 3839 living criminals
  • 40% of criminal acts were committed by people with ativistic features
  • hard shifty eyes, insensitivity to pain, large jaw, high cheekbones, large chin, large ears, fleshy lips, flattened or upturned nose
• Credibility

  • first person to give criminology a scientific credibility
  • scientific test with large sample group
  • deterministic
  • reductionist
  • no control group
  • beginnings of offender profiling
• Application

  • Fred West: strong jawline, flattened nose
  • Richard Ramirez: high cheekbones
• Refuting Evidence

  • doesn't account for disfigurement
  • scientific racism
  • no control group
• Supporting Evidence

  • 1913: Charles Goring suggests there is a genetic base to criminality
  • University study showed AI can detect criminals using facial recognition