Forensic Psychology - 3. Biological Explanations for Crime: 1. Historic Approach Flashcards
What is the main historical biological approach?
Atavistic form
Are historic approaches still seen as valuable?
No
Why is the atavistic form in the specification when it isn’t valuable to explaining crime?
It laid down the foundations for people to start looking at reasons why some people turn to crime and some people don’t
Who proposed atavistic form? When?
Lombroso in the 1890s
Atavistic form (3)
Some people are ‘born criminals’
A criminal personality is innate
You can tell a criminal by the way they look
What does atavistic mean? What does this suggest?
Primitive, suggesting criminals have primitive physical features
What were certain atavistic features associated with?
Certain atavistic features were associated with certain crimes
Crimes that linked to appearance features
Murder - bloodshot eyes
Sexual deviancy - fleshy lips and projecting ears
Fraud - thin and tall
Atavistic characteristics
Marks on face and head
Narrowing brow
Prominent jaw
Facial asymmetry
Curly hair
Long ears
Aim of Lombroso’s 1876 study
To identify distinguishing physical characteristics among male criminals
Method of Lombroso’s 1876 study
Examined features and measurements of nearly 4000 criminals and the skulls of 400 dead criminals
Results of Lombroso’s 1876 study
40% of those examined had atavistic features
Conclusion of Lombroso’s 1876 study
Those with primitive features were more likely to be criminals.
The criminals weren’t responsible for their actions as their actions were down to their innate, inherited psychology
What did Lombroso say about female offenders?
Women tended to be less atavistic than men however female offenders did have atavistic features such as:
Short
Wrinkly
Dark hair
Small skulls
Who carried out research support for atavistic form? When?
Kurtzberg in 1968
