Biological Theories of Crime

1. Main assumptions 2. Lombroso3. Sheldon4. XYY Male

Introduction

We often judge others by how they look even though we know that “appearances are deceiving”

Research on impact of “physical appearance”

Criminal “Type”

Most defense attorneys coach their clients on how they should dress and groom themselves for court so jurors will get the impression they are not the “type” of person who would commit a crime

Character and physical appearance

We frequently make inferences about another person’s character based on his/her appearance Ancient Greeks and Romans believed in “physiognomy” (physical features can reveal a person’s natural disposition)“Do not trust beardless men and bearded women”

Physiognomy as Practiced in Europe

A choleric person has a "hot" temperament, is irritable and easily roused to angerA melancolic person is pensive and tends to feel sadA phlegmatic person is not easily aroused to excitement and lacks emotion expression A sanguine person is confident and optimistic

Biological Theories

Biological theories tended towards seeing crime as a form of illness, caused by pathological factors specific to certain classes of individuals

“bad” behaviour vs “sick” behaviour

How can we blame someone for being sick?

Leprosy

Has left behind a terrifying image in history and human memory - mutilation, rejection and exclusion from society

The idea that ugly is evil

Leprosy

Leprosy is not highly infectious

It is transmitted via droplets, from the nose and mouth, during close and frequent contacts with untreated cases

In 9 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America leprosy is still considered a public health problem

These countries account for about 75% of the global disease burden

Criminal behavior and pathology

Pathology, in this respect, relates to the idea that the criminal cannot help but commit crime

In this respect, the cause of law-breaking might, for example, be found in a chemical imbalance in the brain

Biological Theory

The individual is not responsible for his/her actionsCognitive Ability and Biology

Biological Theories

The criminal is radically different from the non-criminal

We can assume that some people are "born criminals“

Punishment is inapplicable

Biological theories

Crime has been redefined as “sick” rather than “bad” behavior“Medicalization” of behavior (hyperactive children are given medicine)Search for individuals traits rather than social factors

The Underlying Logic

Defective genes

AtavismMental and

Physical Inferiority

CriminalBehavior

Inability to Learn and

Follow legal rules

Lombroso’s Theory

Bodily constitution causes “born criminal” to violate the laws

“born criminal” is an “atavism” (throwback to an earlier stage of human evolution)

Physical makeup, mental capabilities, and instincts of primitive man

Lombroso’s Theory

Observed the physical characteristics of Italian prisoners and compared them to Italian soldiers

Concluded that criminals were physically different

Lombroso presented a long list of physical characteristics used to identify criminals

Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)Asymmetry of the face or head, large monkey-like ears, large lips, twisted nose, excessive cheek bones, long arms, excessive skin wrinklesThe male with five or more of these physical anomalies is marked as a born criminalFemale criminals are also born criminals, but they may be identified with as few as three anomalies

Tattoos

Were significant to Lombroso

Most of the “born criminals”

had them

Obscene nature of their depictions and messages

Tattoos stood as evidence of both insensitive to physical pain and immorality

Criminal Women

Official records, according to which women had a far lower crime rate than men, is misleading

Women are less evolved: naturally vengeful and jealous, their moral sensibilities are deficient, less sensitive to pain than men

The Female Offender (1897)

Co-authored with William Ferrero

Natural selection is the reason for existence of a greater number of male than female born criminals

Men are less likely to breed with physically deformed women

Women have less chances to transmit their genes

Degenerative traits in women would be less likely than such traits in men to survive over time

The Female Offender (1897)

LombrosoBorn criminal is unsuited for societyInevitably violate social and legal rulesTheories of genetic superiority call for policy in which whole peoples are to be eliminated from the genetic stock of the world in order to prevent crimeTheories of individual genetic inferiority call for castration of those said to be habitual criminals in order to prevent their producing more defective children who, presumably will be criminals

Frontispiece of Criminal Man

Lombroso claimed that to the trained eye, the eye of the detective, these people would clearly be organized into categoriesThose in group "A" are all shoplifters, "B" are swindlers, "H" are purse snatchers, "E" are murderers, etc.And supposedly you can see a man's real character at a glance.

The New Sciences of Detection

By the 1880s, urban police forces began developing new techniques for keeping track of criminals, especially new techniques of record-keeping

Most of these techniques were heavily influenced by criminology

Mug ShotsThe mug shot originated in the 1880s, in studies designed to explore the relationship between appearance and criminal behaviorThese men are all forgers. The New York Police Department compiled this record in part to see if all forgers looked alike, or all murderers looked alike, or if all burglars had the same facial features

Critique of Lombroso

Theory overlooks the bright and handsome criminals

Theory ignores those who are ugly and live lives of productive and cooperative labor

Theory does not look at the variations over time in crime rates. Since genes change very slowly, there should be a steady rate of crime over the centuries. That is not the case. Crime rates vary dramatically.

He was studying the very poor - people whose physical development had been affected by poverty, poor nutrition

Not everyone who breaks the law ends up in prison

This type of theorising neglects the idea that there is a "grey area" of criminality - people who commit crimes but who are not caught and, therefore, not imprisoned.

Critique of Lombroso

Charles Goring (1913)

Junior medical officer in the English prison serviceTested the concept of “born criminal” He used statistical analysis to determine the presence of 37 Lombrosian characteristics in the criminal population (2,348 convicts)Compared criminals with “non-criminal public” (undergraduate students, soldiers, inmates of two separate hospitals)Findings: no evidence of a physical type criminal

Body Types

Criminality is explained by reference to the offenders’ body types

Genetics, or external observable physical characteristics

W. Sheldon: "Varieties of Delinquent Youth"

Endomorph: Body: fat, roundPsych: luxury, sloth, consumption. Ectomorph: Body: frail, skinny, ganglyPsych: introverts, cunning, stealth. Mesomorph: Body: large, strong, hardPsych: active, dynamic, assertive, forceful.

Endomorph, Mesomorph, Ectomorph

Research

Study-200 boys, Hayden Goodwill Institute7-point somotyping scale, 650 psychological attributesDisproportionately mesomorphic--more prone to delinquency. Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck (1950's): 800 delinquents/matched sample of non-delinquents==> delinquents more likely to be mesomorphs.

Questions/Problems

Maybe need a tough body to gain acceptance/survive on the streets.

Body type and social meaning--the boys were already judged to be delinquent.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (brain dysfunction)

Lack of attention, impulsivity, hyperactivity

Blue, green - areas of low metabolism

3% of children (boys)

Poor school performance

Poor discipline

Stimulants like Ritalin

Control emotional outburst

Symptoms of Attention Deficit

Frequently fails to finish projects Does not seem to pay attentionDoes not sustain interest in play activitiesIs easily distractedFrequently acts without thinkingDoes not want to wait his/her turn in lines or gamesShifts from activity to activityCannot organize tasks or work

XYY: The super-male

The extra Y chromosome creates a strong compulsion that the XYY carrier is at extreme risk of committing violent crimes

The findings of some studies that the proportion of XYY males is prison population (from 1 to 3 %) is higher than in general male population (less than 1%) is accepted as evidence of the theory

The XYY “Super-male”

Patricia Jacobs (1965) examined 198 Scottish prisoners for chromosomal abnormalities (blood test known “karyotyping”)

12 members of the group displayed XYY (only 3.5% of prison population)

1976 Danish study of 4,000 men found that the incidence of XYY men was less than 1% in the general male population

Crimes for which XYY men were convicted were not violent ones

More XY men were convicted for violent offenses

The XYY “Super-male”

200 studies on XYY males

Super-males are taller than average male, often standing more than 6’1’’

Suffer from acne or skin disorder

Have less than average intelligence

Come from families with a lower than average history of crime or mental illness

Mental deficiency Next to physical deformity, mental deficiency has been the second most popular explanation of crime"Intelligence" generally consists of different abilities, such as the ability to reason, solve problems, think abstractly, learn and understand new material, adapt to novel situations quickly, grasp complex relationships, and profit from past experience In other words, intelligence is "catching on," "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do. 

IQ

Most people cluster around the average (IQ 100), with about 3% of Americans regularly scoring above IQ 130 (the threshold for "gifted"), and about 3% regularly scoring below IQ 70 (the threshold for "retarded")People at the lowest two levels, profoundly and severely retarded, have to be institutionalizedThe moderately or mildly retarded can stay with family or friends, although the amount of care required would be burdensomeSlow learners are a large, diverse group. People in the low range (71-80) of this group have been variously called "idiots", "morons", "stooges", or "sixth-graders“People in the high range (81-90) have usually been called "challenged" or "disabled“

THE RACIAL BIAS CONTROVERSY

African Americans (as well as some other minority groups), on average, score about 15 points below those of European ancestry on intelligence testsMany studies have consistently found that the average IQ of an African American is 85 while the average IQ of a white American is 100, and that one in five African Americans have an average IQ of 75 (Seligman 1992).Another way that this is often reported is to say that a 17-year old African American performs at the reading, math, and science level of a 13-year old white.

Explanations for IQ scores

Many critics to question whether IQ really measures intelligence or some sort of "test-taking" skill

IQ test questions are "culturally biased“

Schooling can affect intelligence

Attendance is the primary variable here, and regardless of debates over the quality of schooling, research has consistently shown that students who skip school on a relatively frequent or intermittent basis suffer from lower IQ

When parents move a child to a better school, there may be a small, measurable increase in IQ, but it is just as likely that there will be no change in IQ

Family Factor Research   

Motivating children toward intelligence via encouragement, coaching, and modelingStudies have consistently shown that smaller families (with less children) tend to produce higher-IQ childrenAlso, first-born children are usually the smartest, with IQ decreasing as one moves down the birth orderPrenatal care for expectant mothers is very important, and there is a condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome (low IQ and behavioral problems) which happens if the mother drinks large amounts of alcoholProlonged malnutrition during infancy also produces low IQ