Early Biological Positivism

Question 1

Cesare Lombroso

Answer 1

Criminals are not made, they are born. They are evolutionary throwbacks.

Question 2

Physical characteristics of criminals - Lombroso

Answer 2

• Big jaw/cheekbones
• Extra digits
• Fleshy lips

Question 3

Lombroso’s attitude to women criminals

Answer 3

Women who commit crime are morally deficient and are doubly deviant as they commit crime and deviate from their gender roles.

Question 4

William Sheldon somatotypes

Answer 4

• Endomorph: heavy and rounded so more sociable.
• Mesomorph: muscly so more aggressive.
• Ectomorph: thin so more introverted.

Question 5

Evidence comes from 3 sources

Answer 5

• Family studies
• Twin studies
• Adoption studies

Question 6

Richard Dugdale family study

Answer 6

• Over 700 members of one family were traced and the majority identified as criminals or paupers

Question 7

Kallikak family study

Answer 7

• 480 members of the family were traced and a large proportion were criminals

Question 8

Goring family study

Answer 8

• Studied 3,000 prisoners plus a control group of non-criminals, where it was found that there were strong associations between criminality of parents and criminality of children

Question 9

Evaluation of family studies

Answer 9

• ve ignores malnutrition in prison
• ve socio-economic deprivation meaning marginalisation
• ve no exploration of environmental factors
• ve main focus on males
• ve little control of other variables

Question 10

Contemporary Biological Positivist Criminology

Answer 10

Argues that certain biological characteristics increases the chances of an individual committing crime. Other factors are also important.

Question 11

What do more contemporary theories explore?

Answer 11

• Genetics, brain function, neurology and biochemistry.
• Explores how the environment interacts with the social world.
• Refutes biological determinism of Lombroso and Goring.

Question 12

Twin Studies

Answer 12

Lange - study found heredity plays a major part in criminality.
Christiansen - might be some genetic explanation but it is unclear.
Dalgard and Kringlen - hereditary factors were not significant.
Rowe and Rogers - inherited characteristics play a part but so do others.
Grove et al - looked at 32 sets of identical twins that were raised apart found behaviour could be inherited.
Walters - found some evidence of criminality being hereditary.

Question 13

Evaluation of twin studies

Answer 13

• ve some concordance but the overall evidence doesn’t support a solely genetic basis.
• ve it is rare for twins to be reared in separate environments so they have the same social influences.
• ve lack of clarity about which characteristics are passed on and which offences they lead to.
• ve methodological issues such as different definitions of criminal behaviour.

Question 14

Adoption studies

Answer 14

Studies in 70s/80s found where biological parents had criminal records, adopted children had higher offending rates. The genetic influence was stronger in relation to some crimes over others.
Hutchings and Mednick - adoptees were more likely to have a criminal record where both birth and adoptive fathers had previous convictions.

Question 15

Chromosomal abnormalities

Answer 15

Women have XX and men have XY, but 1 in 1,000 men are born with an extra Y chromosome.
60s research claimed a link between XYY, aggression and low intelligence. It also suggested they had earlier convictions at young ages.

Question 16

Evaluation of chromosomal abnormalities

Answer 16

• ve focuses on residents of specialist hospitals - no evidence gathered to indicate a fixed and identifiable XYY syndrome.
• ve many men with an extra Y aren’t criminal.

Question 17

Hormones and testosterone

Answer 17

Some abnormally high levels of testosterone were found in male sex offenders.
-ve the situation might have caused the hormonal increase, not the hormonal increase causing the situation.

Question 18

IQ

Answer 18

Research has found a consistent but weak link between IQ and delinquent behaviour, even when ethnicity and class are controlled for. A higher IQ` = less likely to commit delinquent acts.

Question 19

Neurotransmitters

Answer 19

Scerbo and Raine - identified 28 studies that found those behaving antisocially had lower levels of serotonin.

Question 20

Neurotransmitters

Answer 20

Adrenaline - fight or flight.
Gaba - calming.
Noradrenaline - concentration.
Acetylcholine - learning.
Dopamine - pleasure.
Glutamate - memory.
Serotonin - mood.
Endorphins - euphoria.

Question 21

Psychosis and brain injuries

Answer 21

Neurological conditions might cause crime. There has been links of malfunction of part of the braun that mediates expression and violence.

Question 22

The Bell Curve - Herrnstein and Murray

Answer 22

• Claimed black people and Latinos are overrepresented in ranks of the poor in the Us.
• This is because these groups are ‘less intelligent’ - inherited genes mainly determine IQ.
• Those with less intelligence are more likely to commit crime as they don’t understand right from wrong.

Question 23

Evaluation of the role of IQ

Answer 23

-ve Cullen et al reanalysed the Bell Curve and found heredity only explained a small amount of variance in crime and IQ.
+ve Hirschi and Hindelang found low intelligence impacts negatively on academic importance which leads to delinquency.

Question 24

Intervening variables

Answer 24

There is evidence in relation to:

• Alcoholism
• ADHD
• Physical injury

Question 25

Mednick et al

Answer 25

Some genetic factors that explain crime are passed on, but these result in a greater potential to commit crime. This is because we inherit a genetic makeup that influences behaviour.

Question 26

Evaluation of Biological Positivist Criminology

Answer 26

+ve it was an attempt at a scientific approach.
+ve use of historical and clinical data.
+ve has acknowledged other factors can contribute.
+ve focused on therapeutic interventions.
-ve research suggests there are other factors.
-ve many studies failed to identify how many genes, or their location on human genome, or specific circumstances, led the relevant genes to express themselves.
-ve deterministic.
-ve elitist.
-ve evidence challenges theory.

Question 27

Evaluation of research

Answer 27

• ve empirical validity of biological theories aren’t stablished.
• ve Walters and White found: methodological limitations, small samples, sample bias, limited ability to generalise.

Question 28

Policy implications for early explanations

Answer 28

• Sterilisation.
• Permanent segregation.
• Electric shock therapy.
• Lobotomy.
• Castration.

Question 29

Policy implications for contemporary explanations

Answer 29

• Therapy.
• Drug treatment.
• Public health interventions.
• Interventions that change environmental conditions that encourage crime.