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Biological theories of criminality
- Module
- Criminological Theories
- Institution
- WJEC
Notes on the biological theories of criminality including evaluation points
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Theories of criminologyBiological
Lombroso
- He argues that you are ‘born criminal’ and therefore cannot be changed/
rehabilitated. This led to the policy the death penalty.
- He argued Criminals were like the primitive man and had atavistic features
- Large jaw
- protruding forehead
- long arm span
- big lips
His study:
He conducted a study in 1876 where he examined the skull and facial features of
over 4000 convicts in a prison. He found that 40% had atavistic features
Evaluations
Strengths Weaknesses
- Lombroso was the first criminologist - Failed to have a control group to
to study crime scientifically compare his findings
- It is objective with evidence - Not all people with atavistic features
- Supporting evidence- Butcher and are criminals
Taylor - Too simplistic
Sheldon
Sheldon looked at the correlation between body types and criminality.
He argued there were three somatotypes in terms of body types
- Ectomorphs- Small and delicate
- Endomorphs- Big and round
- Mesomorphs- Muscular
-
He argued that each body type had their own personality
- Ectomorphs- Quiet and restrained
- Endomorphs- Sociable and joyful
- Mesomorphs- Competitive and dominant
His study:
He looked for a link between body types and delinquency
He looked at the somatotypes of 200 college students and 200 delinquents from
photographs and rated them on a scale of 1 to 7
He found that the mean mesomorph rating for students was 3.8, whilst the mean
mesomorph rating for delinquents was 4.6 which supports his idea of a link between bodies
and criminality.
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