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Atavistic form
Innate physical characteristics of a person cause them to become a criminal. Facial features usually appear like 'lower primates'
Features of an atavistic form
Asymmetry to the faceeye defects
Unnaturally sized earsFlattened noses
Empirical evidence
383 convicted Italian criminals were studied, 21% had one atavistic trait and 42% had at least five
Influences of the environment: types of criminal
Born criminals- atavistic type, identifiable by their physical characteristicsInsane criminals- suffering from mental illnessCriminaloids- general class of offender whose characteristics predispose them to criminality, so long as there are triggering environmental factors.
Somatotypes, presented by Kretschmer
Asthenic- tall/thin, petty theivesPyknic- tall/muscular, crimes of violenceMixed- crimes against morality
Evaluation of Atavistic form: methods
Lack of adequate controls- he only studied criminals NOT non-criminalsGoring- no difference in 3,000 convicts and non-convicts
Androcentric- believed women were less evolved than men; naturally jealous, insensitive to pain and low in intelligence. Believed female criminals had masculine characteristics that when adopted by a woman, created a monster. Only studied male physical characteristics
DeLisi- curly hair, dark skin, flattened nose identified are all characteristics of people form African descent. Cause and effect- how can Lombroso be sure that a persons facial features caused them to become a criminal? It may be due to other (environmental) factors
Brought science to the study of crime and is regarded as the father of criminologyBelieved in a diathesis stress model of criminality and observations were based on empirical evidence and observation
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