Biological Theories of Crime

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?

Biological Theories

The criminal is radically different from the non-criminal

We can assume that some people are "born criminals“

Punishment is inapplicable

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 sensive and tends to feel sadA phlegmatic person is not easily aroused to excitement and lacks emotion expression A sanguine person is confident and optimistic

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 a person who would commit a crime

The Underlying Logic

Defective genes

AtavismMental and

Physical Inferiority

CriminalBehavior

Inability to Learn and

Follow legal rules

Cesare Lombroso (1835 –1909)

Italian Criminologist

Lombroso in 1876 argued that the criminal is a separate species, a species that is between modern and primitive humans. He argued that the physical shape of the head and face determined the "born criminal".

Lombroso’s Theory

Bodily constitution indicates whether a person is a “born criminal”“Born criminal” violates 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, can be 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