biological explainations of offenting : historical approach

Question 1

who came up with the historical approach?

Answer 1

lombroso

Question 2

what did lombroso suggest about offending?

Answer 2

• criminal behaviour has a biological cause
• offenders are ‘genetic throwbacks’
• this means they are under developed
• trait that had disappeared has now reappeared
• as a result of being under developed they struggle to follow demands and turn to crime

Question 3

what is the atavistic form?

Answer 3

physiological markers that indicate types of offenders

Question 4

what was lombroso study to investigate atavistic form?

Answer 4

• studied italian convicts
• 3839 alive and 583 dead
• studied then for certain skull and facial features

Question 5

what skull and facial features are examples of the atavistic form?

Answer 5

• narrow, sloping brow
• strong jaw
• high cheekbones
• unsymmetrical

murderers - bloodshot eyes, curly hair, long ears
sex offenders - thick lips, protruding ears

• dark skin
• extra fingers and toes

Question 6

strength of historical approach (first)

Answer 6

• first to say offending is biological
• changed the study of criminals - called himself father of modern criminals
• shifted ‘evilness’ to a scientific theory
• removed blame

Question 7

limitation of historical approach (method)

Answer 7

• no control group of non-criminals
• didn’t compare

Question 8

limitation of historical approach (other research)

Answer 8

goring looked at 3000 english convicts and non-convicts and found no difference in skull and facial features
- found difference in terms of IQ

Question 9

limitation of historical approach (socially sensitive)

Answer 9

• rasist undertones
• curly hair and dark skin are likely to be found in african descent
• stereotypes

Question 10

limitation of historical approach (culture)

Answer 10

only done on italians and generalised to everyone