This document is for anyone in Year 12 - Criminology Unit 2 AC2.1 (EXAM BOARD - WJEC). These notes are written in a flow pattern, allowing you to understand how an answer can be formed.
UNIT 2 – CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES NOTES
AC2.1 – Describe Biological Theories of Criminality
What are Biological Theories of criminality?
Biological theories are all about why people become criminals. Why are some people prone
to criminal behaviour and others are not? Some theories focus on biological explanations
(e.g., Physiological and Genetic)
PHYSIOLOGICAL
LOMBROSO:
o He was an Italian doctor
o Criminals are physically different to other people
o They are ‘atavistic’ – less developed by evolution
o They are a separate sub-species of human
o Less in control and less sensitive to pain (he argues that is why they have more
tattoos)
o Studied faces of prisoners, living and dead
o He argued that criminals are like ‘savages and apes’ that can’t control their urge for
violence
Lombroso’s research:
He attempted a scientific approach to analysing crime – one of the first to do this.
Before this, most explanation were religious/moralistic = criminals were ‘sinners’.
He systemically measured and recorded facial and other physical features of convicted
criminals.
He concluded that criminals could be identified by their physical features (‘physiological)
What were the physical features Lombroso identified?
o Large jaw
o Low sloping forehead
o Long arms
o Prominent eyebrow arches
o Excellent eyesight
In fact, he even attributed certain physical features to those who commit certain types of
crime:
o Murderers = beak like noses and curly hair
o Sex offenders = thick lips and protruding ears (stick out)
, UNIT 2 – CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES NOTES
o Thieves = flattened noses
AC2.1 – Describe Biological Theories of Criminality
Although there are lot of issues and problems with the theory, there may be some support
for the idea that physical features may be linked to criminality.
A Chinese university study showed that artificial intelligence can identify criminals using
facial recognition software.
They identified photos of 1856 people who were fed into the programme, half of whom
were convicted criminals
*83% of the real criminals were identified, and only 6% were incorrectly identified*
Evaluation of Lombroso’s theory:
Strengths Weaknesses
o Lombroso was the first to take a o Subsequent research by Goring (1913)
scientific approach to understand crime, has not shown a link between facial
using evidence features and crime.
o Shows the important of examining o Lombroso failed to compare his research
medical and historical records of on criminals with non-criminals so he
criminals might have found same characteristics
among the general population
o Arguing that criminals may not be freely
choosing their behaviour helped us to o It’s a form of racism to say criminals are
focus on crime prevention rather than like ‘primitive savages. Also, DeLisi (2012
just punishment – so recently) points out that a lot of
features deemed ‘atavistic’ by Lombroso
o He argued that prisons are like ‘crime are specific to people of African descent
universities’ – we have high rates of
reoffending, so he was very perceptive. o Not all people with atavistic features are
criminals, and not all criminals have
o Research by Butler and Taylor (2007) atavistic features.
shows a persons’ attractiveness does
affect how likely they are to be
considered guilty. – Ted Bundy
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