forensics: biological explanations atavistic form ao3

Question 1

Strength - lombrosso legacy

Answer 1

One strength of Lombroso’s research is it changed the face of the study of crime.
Father of modern criminology
* Shifted the emphasis of crime away from moralistic discourse, ppl seen as wicked and thats why turned to crime.
More towards to scientific and credible realm - focus on genetics.
* Tried to describe how particular types of people are likely to commit crimes → brought about the beginning of offender profiling.
This suggests that Lombroso made a major contribution to the science of criminology.

Question 2

Counterpoint to lombrossos legacy

Answer 2

However, there is some question as to whether or not Lombroso’s legacy is entirely positive (DeLisi, 2012)
* Racist undertones in Lombroso’s work.
* Many of the atavistic features Lombroso identified are most likely to be found in people of African descent eg curly hair, dark skin.
* Fitted the attitude of the eugenics movement of the 19th century.
This suggests that Lombroso’s work might be more subjective that objective and may also be heavily influenced by racial prejudices.

Question 3

Contradictory evidence

Answer 3

Goring (1913) set out to establish whether there were any physical or mental abnormalities among offenders.
* Compared 3000 offenders and non-offenders.
* No evidence to support Lombroso’s ideas.
* Although he did suggest a lower level of intelligence.
This challenges the idea that offender can be physically distinguished from the rest of the population and are therefore unlikely to be a sub-species.

Question 4

Poor control in lombrossos research

Answer 4

Lombroso failed to control important variables within his research.
* No control group of non-offenders so nothing to compare findings to.
* Knock on effect to less control over confounding variables.
* E.g. there is research showing a link between crime and poverty and poor educational outcomes.
* Such a link would explain for example why offenders were more likely to be unemployed.
This suggests that Lombroso is research does not meet modern scientific standards and therefore his results lack validity.,