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Biological Theories

Biological Theories. The Earliest Positivistic Theories. CESARE LOMBROSO (1835-1909). PHYSICIAN 1876 WROTE, THE CRIMINAL MAN ATAVISTIC CRIMINAL EVOLUTINARY THROW BACKS STIGMATA INDICATORS OF THE BORN CRIMINAL.

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Biological Theories

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  1. BiologicalTheories The Earliest Positivistic Theories

  2. CESARE LOMBROSO (1835-1909) • PHYSICIAN • 1876 WROTE, THE CRIMINAL MAN • ATAVISTIC CRIMINAL • EVOLUTINARY THROW BACKS • STIGMATA • INDICATORS OF THE BORN CRIMINAL

  3. DEVIATION IN HEAD SIZE AND SHAPE FROM TYPE COMMON TO RACE AND REGION FROM WHICH THE CRIMINAL CAME • ASYMMETRY OF THE FACE • EYE DEFECTS AND PECULIARITIES • EXCESSIVE DIMENSIONS OF THE JAW AND CHEEK BONES • EARS OF UNUSUAL SIZE, OR OCCASIONALLY VERY SMALL, OR STANDING OUT FROM THE HEAD AS DO THOSE OF THE CHIMPANZEE

  4. NOSE TWISTED, UPTURNED, OR FLATTENED IN THIEVES, OR AQUILINE OR BEAK-LIKE IN MURDERERS, OR WITH A TIP RISING LIKE A PEAK FROM SWOLLEN NOSTRILS. • LIPS FLESHY, SWOLLEN, & PROTRUDING • POUCHES IN THE CHEEK LIKE THOSE OF SOME ANIMALS • PECULIARITIES OF THE PALATE, SUCH AS ARE FOUND IN SOME REPTILES, AND CLEFT PALATE. • CHIN RECEDING, OR EXCESSIVELY LONG, OR SHORT AND FLAT, AS IN APES. • ABNORMAL DENTITION.

  5. ABUNDANCE, VARIETY, AND PRECOCITY OF WRINKLES • ANOMALIES OF THE HAIR, MARKED BY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HAIR OF THE OPPOSITE SEX. • DEFECTS OF THE THORAX, SUCH AS TOO MANY OR TOO FEW RIBS, OR SUPERNUMERARY NIPPLES • INVERSION OF SEX CHARACTERS IN THE PELVIC ORGANS • EXCESSIVE LENGTH OF ARMS • SUPERNUMERARY FINGERS AND TOES • IMBALANCE OF THE HEMISPHERES OF THE BRAIN (ASYMMETRY OF CRANIUM)

  6. SUMMARY • HE CONSISTENTLY EMPHASIZED THE NEED FOR DIRECT STUDY OF THE INDIVIDUAL, UTILIZING MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL METHODS IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC DATA. • HE BEGAN WITH THE BASIC ASSUMPTION OF THE BIOLOGICAL NATURE OF HUMAN CHARACTER AND BEHAVIOR: • A. HE FIRST CONCEIVED OF THE CRIMINAL AS A THROWBACK TO A MORE PRIMITIVE TYPE OF BRAIN STRUCTURE, AND THEREFORE OF BEHAVIOR. • B. HE LATER MODIFIED THIS TO INCLUDE GENERAL DEGENERACY OF DEFECTIVENESS. • C. HE NEVER CLAIMED THAT THE BORN CRIMINAL CONSTITUTED MORE THAN 40% PROBABLY LESS, ONLY ABOUT 1/3 OF THE TOTAL CRIMINAL POPULATION

  7. WITH SUCCESSIVE YEARS OF STUDY, DISCUSSION, AND CONTACT WITH CRITICS, HE MODIFIED HIS THEORY AND METHODMORE AND MORE TO INCLUDE ALL KINDS OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATA. THROUGH IT ALL, HE ALWAYS ATTEMPTED TO BE: • A. OBJECTIVE, IN METHOD, OFTEN STATISTICAL • B. POSITIVE IN THE SENSE OF DETERMINISTIC • C. FAITHFUL TO THE BASIC IDEA OF CAUSE AS A CHAIN OF INTERRELATED EVENTS, NOT THE MORE

  8. THE FEMALE OFFENDER 1909 • MOST WOMEN ARE NOT CRIMINAL • THOSE THAT ARE, ARE MOST OFTEN OCCASIONAL CRIMINALS • BUT, SOME WOMEN ARE ACTAVISTIC CRIMINALS • HARDER TO DETECT THEN MEN • MORE VICIOUS

  9. EARNEST A. HOOTON, HARVARD ANTHROPOLOGIST THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY 1939

  10. Compared 14,000 Male prisoners to • 3,203 non-criminal males • IN 19 OUT OF 33 MEASUREMENTS THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRIMINALS AND CIVILIANS • CRIMINALS ARE INFERIOR TO CIVILIANS IN NEARLY ALL THEIR BODILY MEASUREMENTS • LOW FOREHEADS, HIGH PINCHED NASAL ROOTS, NASAL BRIDGES AND TIPS VARYING TO BOTH EXTREMES OF BREADTH AND NARROWNESS, EXCESS OF NASAL DEFLECTIONS, COMPRESSED FACES AND NARROW JAWS, FIT WELL INTO THE PICTURE OF GENERAL CONSTITUTIONAL INFERIORITY.

  11. PHYSICAL INFERIORITY IS SIGNIFICANT PRINCIPALLY BECAUSE IT IS ASSOCIATED WITH MENTAL INFERIORITY. • THE BASIC CAUSE OF THE INFERIORITY (PROBABLY) IS DUE TO HEREDITY AND NOT TO SITUATION OR CIRCUMSTANCE. • DARK EYES AND BLUE EYES ARE DEFICIENT IN CRIMINALS, AND BLUE-GRAY AND MIXED EYES ARE IN EXCESS;...EYEBROWS THAT ARE THIN TO VERY THIN OCCUR MORE FREQUENTLY. • TATTOOING IS MORE COMMON AMONG CRIMINALS THAN AMONG CIVILIAN CONTROLS.

  12. THIN LIPS AND COMPRESSED JAW ANGLES OCCUR MORE FREQUENTLY; MARKED OVERBITE LESS FREQUENTLY AMONG CRIMINALS THAN CIVILIANS. • THE EAR OF THE CRIMINAL TENDS TO A SLIGHTLY ROLLED HELIX, AND MORE PERCEPTIBLE DARWIN'S POINT THAN THAT OF THE CIVILIAN; ALSO MORE EXTREME VARIATIONS OF EAR PROTRUSION, AND THE CRIMINAL EAR TENDS TO BE SMALL. • LOW AND SLOPING FOREHEADS, LONG, THIN NECKS, AND SLOPING SHOULDERS, ARE SIMILARLY IN EXCESS AMONG CRIMINALS IN COMPARISONS WITH CIVILIANS.

  13. Why the appeal? • “tall thin men, he claimed, tended to be murderers and robbers, • whereas tall heavy men, besides killing, were also prone to forgery and fraud.” (Curran & Renzetti pg.34-35) • Look at Hooton’s book Why Men Behave like Apes and Vice Versa (1940)

  14. What is Wrong? • Look at control group • Look at how crime is defined • Who are in Institutions

  15. William Sheldon • Somatotyping • VARIOUS BOOKS FROM 1936-1954DEVELOPED BASED ON TISSUE LAYERS, EMBRYOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY • ENDODERM • MESODERM • EXTODERM

  16. DEVELOPED THREE PHYSICAL AND TEMPERAMENT TYPES • 1. PHYSIQUE - ENDOMORPHIC: RELATIVELY GREAT DEVELOPMENT OF DIGESTIVE VISCERA; TENDENCY TO PUT ON FAT; SOFT ROUNDNESS THROUGH VARIOUS REGIONS OF THE BODY; SHORT TAPERING LIMBS; SMALL BONES; SOFT, SMOOTH, VELVETY SKIN TEMPERAMENT • VISCEROTONIC: GENERAL RELAXATION OF BODY; A COMFORTABLE PERSON; LOVES SOFT LUXURY; A SOFTIE BUT STILL ESSENTIALLY AN EXTROVERT

  17. 2. PHYSIQUE - MESOMORPHIC: RELATIVE PREDOMINANCE OF MUSCLES, BONE AND THE MOTOR ORGANS OF THE BODY; LARGE TRUNK; HEAVY CHEST; LARGE WRISTS AND HANDS; • TEMPERAMENT - SOMOTONIC: ACTIVE, DYNAMIC, PERSON;WALKS, TALKS, GESTURES ASSERTIVELY; BEHAVES AGGRESSIVELY

  18. 3. PHYSIQUE - ECTOMORPHIC: RELATIVE PREDOMINANCE OF SKIN AND ITS APPENDAGES, WHICH INCLUDES THE NERVOUS SYSTEM; LEAN, FRAGILE, DELICATE BODY; SMALL DELICATE BONES; DROOPY SHOULDERS; SMALL FACE, SHARP NOSE, FINE HAIR; RELATIVELY LITTLE BODY MASS AND RELATIVELY GREAT SURFACE AREA • TEMPERAMENT- CEREBROTONIC: AN INTROVERT; FULL OF FUNCTIONAL COMPLAINTS, ALLERGIES, SKIN TROUBLES, CHRONIC FATIGUE, INSOMNIA; SENSITIVE TO NOISE AND DISTRACTIONS; SHRINKS FROM CROWDS.

  19. Links • http://www.kheper.net/topics/typology/somatotypes.html\ http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/bodytype.htm • http://www.sweattechnologies.com/~somatotype • http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/crime_motivation/1.html

  20. General Pedigree • Criminal Parents have criminal children • Think of Jukes • How much is due to genetics? • How much to environmental factors?

  21. Twin Studies • Identical twins (MZ) 100% shared • Fraternal twins (DZ) 50% shared • Just like other siblings • Importance? • Environment becomes a control • Finds support for delinquency and selecting of friends • Problems? Methods, sampling, return rates; how much are twins treated the same?

  22. ADOPTION STUDIES • Perhaps one way to gage biology’s influence is to: • Look at children born of same parents but raised apart • Mednick’s study – 14,427 adpoted boys • Non-criminal biological parents OR adoptive parents – 13.5% had convictions

  23. Non-criminal biological & at least 1 adoptive parent criminal resulted in 14.7% • At least 1 biological parent and non-adoptive – 20% • At least 1 of each – 24.5% • How much does environment impact this? • These studies have methodological problems…

  24. Methodological Problems • How is crime defined – type of behavior included; using incarcerated mothers; etc • Varying amounts of time spent with biological parents and some time in foster homes • Those who were separated later and those having spent time in institutions where more likely to exhibit antisocial behavior

  25. XYY • Richard Speck case in Chicago • Daniel Hugon in France • Belief was – Y chromosome associated with increase testosterone and testosterone with aggressive behavior • In Edinburgh a higher proportion of inmates in maximum-security hospital with XYY than the general population (1965)

  26. More recent studies found • Less aggressive than XY males • Convicted of petty property crimes • May have more to do with physical features such as height • Lower intelligence • Class bias (related to prenatal care etc.)

  27. PMS • What have been the links of PMS to crime for women?

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