Biological Theories of Crime

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Biological Theories of Crime
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Biological Theories

• Focus on anatomical, physiological, or genetic
  abnormalities within the individual
• Deterministic causation vs Free will
• Ignore the effect of social environmental factors
  in crime
• ControlgtCure, treatment
• Shifts focus away from act and back to Actor

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Biological theories

• Crime has been redefined as sick rather than
  bad behavior
• Medicalization of behavior (hyperactive
  children are given medicine)
• Search for individuals traits rather than social
  factors

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Fundamental assumptions of biological theories

• The brain is the organ of the mind and the locus
  of personality. No theory of behavior can ignore
  neurology and neurochemistry
• The basic determinants of human behavior are
  genetically based
• Observed gender and racial differences in rates
  and types of criminality may be at least
  partially the result of biological differences
  b/w the sexes and racially distinct groups

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• Knowing what you do about trends and patterns in
  crime, how would you counteract the assertion
  that people who commit crime are physically
  abnormal? For example, how would you explain
  that fact that crime is more likely to occur in
  western and urban areas than in eastern and urban
  areas?

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Lombrosos Theory of Born Criminal

• Observed the physical characteristics (head,
  body, arms, and skin) of Italian prisoners and
  compared them to Italian soldiers
• Concluded that criminals were physically different

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Lombroso

• Born criminal is unsuited for society
• Inevitably violate social and legal rules

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Critique of Lombroso

• Theory overlooks the bright and handsome
  criminals
• Theory ignores those who are ugly and live lives
  of productive and cooperative labor.
• Theory does not look at the variations over time
  in crime rates. Since genes change very slowly,
  there should be a steady rate of crime over the
  centuries. That is not the case. Crime rates vary
  dramatically.

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Critique of Lombroso

• He was studying the very poor - people whose
  physical development had been affected by
  poverty, poor nutrition
• Not everyone who breaks the law ends up in
  prison. This type of theorising neglects the idea
  that there is a "grey area" of criminality -
  people who commit crimes but who are not caught
  and therefore not imprisoned.

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Critique of Lombroso

• Particular groups in any society may possess the
  power to either "hide" their deviance or - more
  probably - escape having their behaviour
  classified / labelled as deviant in the first
  place
• In this respect, Lombroso's research was
  hopelessly biased

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Charles Goring (1913)

• Junior medical officer in the English prison
  service
• Tested the concept of born criminal
• He used statistical analysis to determine the
  presence of 37 Lombrosian characteristics in the
  criminal population (2,348 convicts)
• Compared criminals with non-criminal public
  (undergraduate students, soldiers, inmates of two
  separate hospitals)
• Findings no evidence of a physical type criminal

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Body Types

• Criminality is explained by reference to the
  offenders body types. Genetics, or external
  observable physical characteristics

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Ernst Kretschmer

• biopsychological constitutional typology
• Cycloid personality, associated with heavy, soft
  type of body, lacks spontaneity and
  sophistication. Commit mostly non violent
  property crimes
• Schizoids (athletic body type) commit violent
  types of offenses
• Displastics (mixed group) are highly emotional,
  unable to control themselves, commit mostly
  sexual offenses and other crimes of passion.

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1949 William Sheldon "Varieties of Delinquent
Youth"

• Endomorph fat, round--Psych luxury, sloth,
  consumption.
• Ectomorph frail, skinny, gangly--Psych
  introverts, cunning, stealth.
• Mesomorph large, strong, hard--Psych active,
  dynamic, assertive, forceful.

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Endomorph, Mesomorph, Ectomorph,
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Research

• Study-200 boys, Hayden Goodwill Institute. 7
  point somotyping scale, 650 psychological
  attributes. Disproportionately mesomorphic--more
  prone to delinquency.
• Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck (1950's) 800
  adjudicated delinquents/matched sample of
  non-delinquentsgt delinquents more likely to be
  mesomorphs.

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Questions/Problems

• Maybe need a tough body to gain
  acceptance/survive on the streets.
• Body type and social meaning--the boys were
  already judged to be delinquent
• Body type can change over time

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (brain
dysfunction)

• Lack of attention, impulsivity, hyperactivity
• Blue, green - areas of low metabolism
• 3 of children (boys)
• Stimulants like Ritalin
• Control emotional
• outburst

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The XYY Supermale

• Patricia Jacobs (1965) examined 198 Scottish
  prisoners for chromosomal abnormalities (blood
  test known karyotyping)
• 12 member of the group displayed XYY (only 3.5
  of prison population)
• 1976 Danish study of 4,000 men found that the
  incidence of XYY men was less than 1 in the
  general male population

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The XYY Supermale

• Crimes for which XYY men were convicted were not
  violent ones
• There was significant difference between the XYYs
  and the XYs in the conviction for violent offenses

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200 studies on XYY males

• Supermales are taller than average male, often
  standing more than 61
• Suffer from acne or skin disorder
• Have less than average intelligence
• Come from families with a lower than average
  history of crime or mental illness

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Modern Biological Theories

• Biochemical (diet, hypoglycemia, hormones,
  environmental exposure)
• Neurophysiological (brain dysfunction)
• Evolutionary theories