AC2.1 Flashcards
(19 cards)
Name the two physiological theories of criminology
The first theory is Lombroso who thought that criminal was detected through physical appearance. There are other theory was Sheldon’s theory which detected criminal through body types.
Explain atavistic form.
This is Lombroso’s theory which throwbacks to an earlier primitive stage. It claimed that features of a thief were an expressive face or the eyes and the features of a murderer were cold and glassy eyes.
What are the strengths of Lombroso theory?
The sense of limbo’s theory was that he was the first person to study crime scientifically and objectively, he showed the importance of examining clinical and historical records of criminals and finally he helped focus on preventing crime and punishing it
What are the limitations of Lombroso’s theory?
The limitations were that later researchers failed the link between facial features and criminals so it has been disproven, he may have found the same features among the general population and it was bordering on racism comparing criminals to primitive savages
Explain the three body types of Sheldon’s theory
The first body type who is most likely to commit a crime is the mesomorphic body type. This is someone who is adventurous assertive domineering muscular and hard. The second body type is ectomorphic. These are the people who are least likely to commit a crime. They are thin and fragile tend to be introverted and self-conscious. The final body type is endomorphic these are people who are fat and soft sociable and relaxed.
What are the strengths of Sheldon’s theory?
The strengths of Sheldon’s theory are other studies have replicate the study and found 60% of offenders are metamorphic which proves his theory. The most serious offenders in the study had the most metamorphic body types.
What are the limitations of Sheldon’s theory?
The limitations of Sheldon‘s theory are the criminals may develop a muscular body shape after, it can also be discriminating against the working class to manual labour. The police may label metamorphic as the most obvious to commit a crime and therefore they might be the most targeted causing a deviant spiral. Sheldon doesn’t count nonviolent crime or the other body types Such as hacking white colour crime these could be committed by more ectomorphic individuals.
What are twin studies?
Twin studies look at comparing identical twins to non-identical twins as identical twins share 100% of the same jeans. This means that if one turns criminal the other one turns criminal.
What are adoption studies
Adoption studies are if children are more similar to their biological parents than their adopted parents, their nature is bigger for example Hutchings and med neck in 1975 studied 14,000 adopted children and found that a high proportion of boys with criminal convictions had biological parents with criminal convictions too.
What are the strengths of twin studies?
The strengths of twin studies are that Ishikawa and rain found a higher concordance rate for identical and non-identical twins.
What are the limitations of twin studies?
The limitations of twin studies are the concordance rate should be 100% but studies only show around 50% or less. I concordance rates between identical twins maybe sharing the same home, School et cetera their shared environment might cause similarities in their criminal behaviour, not their identical genes.
What is Jacob’s XYY theory?
Jacob’s XYY theory suggests that men with an extra wide chromosome tend to be more aggressive due to increase levels of testosterone. Studies also suggest that there is an over representation of these individuals in prison and secure psychiatric hospitals.
What are the strengths of the XYY theory?
The strengths are that further studies have found a link between XYY syndrome and violent crime they are studies based upon imprisoned criminals, such as those in psychiatric hospitals, whereby those imprisonment had a higher population of XYY than the average population.
What are the limitations of XYY theory?
The limitations are the XYY syndrome is very rare. XYY males are tall and well built are more likely to be labelled as violent. XYY males are over represented in the prison population because they often have low intelligence, meaning they are more likely to get caught.
What are the brain injuries and disorders?
Brain abnormalities, raine et al used pet scans to study the brains of impulsive killers, damage was found in the prefrontal cortex in the brains of the criminals, the part that contains compulsive behaviour. Msiaac et al his Canadian study found people who suffered serious head injuries are twice as likely to end up in prison..
What are some of the brain diseases?
Some brain disease have been linked with criminal behaviour, for example ENCEPHALITIS LETHARGICA in children is linked to destructiveness impulsiveness and arson.
What are the biochemical explanations?
The biochemical explanations are sex hormones, males overproduction or underproduction of hormones may cause emotional disturbance that lead to criminal behaviour. Females premenstrual tension postnatal depression and lactation have all been accepted as partial defences form charged with crimes.
Well, sugar levels hypoglycaemia can trigger aggressive reactions, serotonin the brain’s chemistry can be implemented by diet for example food activities and lack of proper nutrition and schoenthaler claims that by lowering the daily sucrose intake of young offenders he could reduce the level of their antisocial behaviour.
What else affects criminal on a biological level?
Substance abuse, drugs and other substances some legal and some legal can play a significant role in arrests and criminal in general.
