By Elisabeth Brookes, published July 20, 2021
Lombroso's (1876) biological theory of criminology suggests that criminality is inherited and that someone "born criminal" could be identified by the way they look.
In 1876 Lombroso, an Italian criminologist, proposed atavistic form as an explanations of offending behavior. This explanation was focused on the notion that criminals have physical distinguishing features.
In The Criminal Man (“L’Uomo delinquente”), first published in 1876, he suggested that there was distinct biological class of people that were prone to criminality. These people exhibited ‘atavistic’ (i.e. primitive) features. Atavistic derives from the word “avatus”, which means ancestor in Latin.
These atavistic characteristics, he argued, denoted the fact that the offenders were at a more primitive stage of evolution than non-offenders; they were “genetic throwbacks”.
This made them, according to Lombroso, wilder, untamed and unable to fit in the 1870s society and therefore they would inevitably turn to crime. This implies that criminality is inherited and that it can be identified by physical defects.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images [email protected] http://wellcomeimages.org Six figures illustrating types of criminals Printed text L’Homme Criminel Lombroso, Cesar Published: 1888
He also claimed the 'born criminal' had a liking for tattoos, cruel and wicked games and their own language through a primeval slang (a throwback to their savage ancestry).
Lombroso argued that criminals were not to blame for their criminal activities as their behavior was determined by their physiology. This theory was influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution. (The Origin of the Species was published in 1859)
Lombroso examined over 4000 offenders (living and dead) to identify physical markers indicative of the atavistic form.
Examples of things Lombroso measured were people’s height, weight, the span of their arms, the average height of their body while seated, the sizes of their hands, necks, thighs, legs, and feet, their eye color and so on.
In a study of 383 dead Italian criminals and 3839 living ones he found 40% of them had atavistic characteristics.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images [email protected] http://wellcomeimages.org Algometer Printed text Criminal Man Lombroso, Cesare Published: 1911
Elisabeth Brookes is an A-level psychology teacher, and author of her own website http://www.psychbug.co.uk/
Brookes, E. (2021, July 20). Cesare Lombroso: Theory of crime, criminal man, and atavism. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/lombroso-theory-of-crime-criminal-man-and-atavism.html
Darwin, C. (1859). The origin of species and The descent of man, New York (The Modern Library).
Goring, C. (1913). The English convict: A statistical study. HMS.
Lombroso, C. (1876). L’Uomo delinquente. Milano: Hoepli.
Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30(1), 47-88.
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