Atavistic theory - Characteristics of
a remote ancestor or primitive type
Claimed that the
characteristics were
heritable and therefore
criminals are born and
not made
His theory formed the
foundationn of
modern criminological
theory
Argyued that criminals were a
biologically distinct group of
people with diffeernt physical
feats compared to
non-criminals
Chracteristics of a criminal-
large ears
extra nipples,toes, fingers
narrow sloping brow
prominent jaw
characteristics of a murderer -
curly hair
bloodshot eyes
Then suggested that only
1/3 criminal directly
inherited criminal behaviour
and that the rest was due to
enviromental factors e.g
poor education
He did not compare the criminals with
non-criminals therefore there was no
control or measure of wether or not
the physical features associated with
criminals were also found in non
criminals
Goring - compared the
physical features of 3000
criminals and a control
group and found little
evidence to support
Lombroso
Sample consisted of peope with
psychological disorders and so
Lombroso could have confused
criminality with psychopathology
Sample included people with learnng
difficulties - results may not be
gerneralisable to people without
learning difficulties
Criminality and certain facial features could both be
due to cofounding factors such as poverty and poor
nutrition
Even if
characteristics occur
more often in
criminal toes it
doesn't mean their is
a casual relationship
between them as
may be other
explanations
For example - People with certain
characteristics may be categrosied as hard and
picked on more often leading to a self fufilling
prophecy
Due to opposition, Lombroso had to modify his theory of
the born criminal stating it could also be due to the
enviroment
Lasting consequence of the theory -
ntion of criminals having a certain look
and stereotyping them could be seen as
racist/sexist
Despite critisicms, Lombroso was responsible for moving the
explantion of criminality away from wickendess and more into
scientifica realm - therefore he is known by many researchers
as the Father of Modern Criminality