2.1 describe biological theories of criminality

Question 1

what are the physiological theories of criminality ?

Answer 1

Lombroso’s born criminal theory
Sheldon’s somatotypes theory

Question 2

describe lombrosos born criminal theory

Answer 2

criminals are physically different from non criminals , he studies the faces of 1000 criminals and concluded that different types of criminals have different facial features .
murderers - cold glassy stares , thick eyebrows
thieves - big forehead , flattened noses
rapists - sparkling eyes , jug ears
criminals are atavistic - unable to control impulses , savages , earlier stage of evolution

us and them theory - we are normal and they are abnormal and fundamentally different

insane criminals - alcoholics , child molesters
epileptic criminals - crimes of opportunity and impulsive
criminaloids - criminality was caused by environmental factors eg opportunity to steal

Question 3

decribe sheldons somatotopes theory

Answer 3

criminals are physically different from non criminals and that certain body types are linked to criminal behaviour
ectomorphs - thin , fragile , little muscle , little fat , self consious , emotionally restrained
endomorphs - fat and soft , outgoing
mesomorphs - little fat , muscular , adventurous , sensation seeking
mesomorphs are the type more likely to engage in crimes as they are more likely to be attracted to risk taking and assertiveness

Question 4

what are the genetic theories of crime ?

Answer 4

twin studdies , adoption studies , jacobs xyy study

Question 5

explain twins studies

Answer 5

indentical twins (monozygotic) share the same genes as they came from the same fertilized egg , so if one twin is criminal then the other ought to be as well .

christiansen’s study - studies 3586 twin pairs in Denmark
52% concordance rate between identical
22% concordance between non identical

Rshikawa and Raine
44% concordance rate for identical
21.6 % for non identical

Question 6

explain adoption studies

Answer 6

compared adopted children to their biological parents and adoptive parents . same genes are bio and same environment as adoptive

mednick et al - 14000 adopted sons in denmark 1924-1947
more likely to have a criminal record if a birth parent had a record ( concordance of 20%)
14.7% had if adoptive parents had record

hutchings and mednick - compared adoptess with and without records
adoptees with crim records were more likely to have bio parents with crim records

Question 7

explain jacob xyy study

Answer 7

normally we have 46 chromosomes , sometimes males can have an extra y chromosome
xyy syndrome - super male syndrome
makes males more grressive and potentially violent then other males

studies of imprisoned crims at psychiatric hospitals , higher then average proportion had syndrome and histories of agression and vient assualts

prince and whatmore - xyy males to be immature and unstable strong tendency to commit motiveless property crimes

Question 8

what are the elements discussed in brain injuries and disorders

Answer 8

diseases
biochemical explanations - testosterone , pmt , blood sugar levels , substance abuse

Question 9

how can brain diseases cause criminality ?

Answer 9

some brain injuries have been linked to anti social and criminal behaviour such as phineas gage whos brain injury chnaged his personality and made him criminal and agressive

abnormal brain wave activity - electroencephalograph (EEG)
some studies show abnormal eeg readings among insane murderers and psychopathic criminals
charles whitman - mass murdere killed 31 people who was overcome by viilent urges - requested an autopsy on his brain after he died which showed a tumor pressing on art of his brain - this is speculated to be the casue of his violnet behaviour

Question 10

explain biochemical explantions as a casue of criminality

Answer 10

biochemical substances have been thought to be a cause of criminal behaviour due to their effects on braib chemistry and mental processes

testosterone
over or underproduction
ellis and coonts - testosterone levels peak from puberty to early 20s - this age range is highest crime rate in males

pmt
pmt and post natal depression have been accepted as a partial defence for women chage with crimes eg infantcide as hormones can effect mood and judgement

blood sugar levels
hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) can trigger agressive reations
studies show this
schoemthaler claims that lowering daily sucrose intake of young offenders can reduce anti social behavior

substance abuse -
intake of legal and illegal
saunders - alcahol played a significant role in 1000 arrests per day

flandzer - estimated 80% of familiy violence cases involved alcahol