Biological approach to offending - lombroso
Cards (8)
- Lombroso's theory of atavistic form dates back to a primitive version of man.It states there are biological differences between criminals and non criminals where criminals lack evolutionary development, are savage and have an untamed nature leading to inevitable crime.Lombroso based his form on Italian convicts (dead and alive) focusing on facial and cranial features.
- The atavistic form outlined characteristics such as:
- Strong prominent jaw
- Facial asymmetry
- High cheekbones
- Dark skin
- Narrow sloping brows
- Extra toes, nipples and fingers
- Lombroso stated murders had:
- Bloodshot eyes
- Curly hair
- Long ears
- Lombroso stated sexual deviants had:
- Glinting eyes
- Swollen fleshy lips
- Projecting ears
- Lombroso stated fraudsters had:
- Thin lips
And were:- Reedy
- AO3:)Supporting evidence for Lombroso comes from Lombroso who examined facial, cranial features of Italian convicts 3839 of which were living and 383 who were dead.He found that 40 % of criminal acts could be accounted for by atavistic characteristics.This therefore increases the validity of Lombroso's atavistic form.
- AO3:(Issues with Lombroso's research is that it has been implicated with scientifically validating racism.This is because Lombroso highlights features in his atavistic form such as dark skin and curly hair as features of criminality.This draws attention to individuals of afro-carribbean descent and places them under scrutiny and stigmatises them as criminals.It leads to the pathologising of minority groups which in turn could have led to eugenics.
- AO3:(Contradictory evidence for the atavistic form comes from Goring who compared 3000 criminals to a 3000 non criminals.He found no distinct evidence of unusual characteristics but did find low IQ in the criminals.This therefore decreases the validity of Lombroso's theory showing that aren't distinct differences between criminals and the general public.