1. Biological Approaches

2. Biological Approaches
Morphological
Hereditary/Genetic
Biochemical/neurophysiological
Biosocial

3. Morphological--Lombroso
Mophological approaches assume that criminal behavior is inborn, associated with physical body features, and that criminals have body features which are different from non-criminals
Lombroso (late 1800s)
Criminal behavior is atavistic in origin--reversion to a more primitive type

4. Lombroso (continued)
Believed external body features are associated with abnormalities of the brain which result in criminal behavior
Genetic accidents resulted in less than fully evolved humans who had to live among more modern men. Their behavior was beyond their control
“Born criminals” vs. “Criminaloids”

5. Lombroso (continued) Lombroso lacked adequate control groups
atavism does not exist in nature, there are no such genetic accidents

6. Sheldon’s morphological research
Correlation between physique and personality
Endomorph
Ectormorph
Mesomorph
Some research finds criminals are more mesomorphic, slightly shorter and lighter--why?

7. Inheritance/genetic approach
Genes may be an indirect cause of behavior by influencing structures and functions that guide behavior
Methods
General pedigree studies (family studies
Twin studies
Cross fostering

8. Family studies
Jukes and the Kallikaks

9. Twin studies
Identical twins vs. fraternal twins. vs. siblings vs. unrelated children raised together
technique used to study intelligence, criminality, mental illness, alcoholism
condordance rates: rate of agreement between pairs--if one has a trait does the other have it?

10. Adoption (cross-fostering)
Adopted children have two sets of parents: biological, who supply the genes, and adoptive, who supply the environment
Who determines whether the children become criminal?

11. Mednick’s study
In the table is the percentage of each group who was arrested
Biological
YES NO
Adoptive
YES 24% %
NO % %

12. Conclusions
In all instances a minority committed crimes. Other factors play a role.
Biology played a role, in that children who had parents who committed crimes were more likely to commit crimes than children who had not. It appears to raise the probably, or risk, although in all likelihood other factors are more important

13. XYY studies
It was hypothesized that an extra “Y” chromosome would make a male more aggressive, a “supermale”
Richard Speck
Karyotype studies
2% of prisoners
.1% to .2% in general population

14. XYY (continued)
Therefore there are a greater percentage in prison than in the general population
Most are not in for violent crimes
Thus, not “super males”
There may be sociological reasons
The XYY defense has been unsuccessful in court in the U.S.

15. Neurochemical-physiological
Hormonal imbalances
Diet (the “twinkie” defense)
Toxic substances such as lead (related to poverty)
EEG abnormalities more common in prisoners than in general population
More birth problems, head injuries

16. neurophysiological Antisocial personality
autonomic nervous system underarousal, less “flight or fight” reaction
need for stimulation
less reaction to punishment
poor performance in avoidance learning
improved performance with adrenaline injection

17. Biosocial approach
physiological tendencies toward criminality (such as being impulsive or aggressive) may be acquired in different ways
The environment can act to encourage or discourage criminality through its interaction with the characteristics of the individual

18. Biosocial
Behavior results from interaction of physiological and environmental factors
People with certain factors will become criminals if exposed to certain environment
People born into criminogenic environments won’t become criminals if they lack a physiological predisposition

19. Gender and crime Males are more likely to commit crimes
All three crime measures agree
UCR violent--M:F 9:1
property M:F 4:1
94% of U.S. prisoners are male
Historical and cross cultural findings support this

20. Gender and crime Lombroso: masculinity hypothesis
Chivalry: treated more leniently
Males are more likely to be denied bail and to receive prison sentences rather than probation

21. Current thinking--2 perspectives
Biological and sociocultural
Biological perspective
Males are more aggressive than females, and aggression and crime are related
There might be a biological basis for differences in aggression

22. Biological perspective (continued)
Gender differences in aggressiveness occur early in life, before sex-role stereotyping of self
Among other primates, males display more aggressive behavior
Differences in brain organization
Males tend to be more aggressive, dominant, visual-spatial

23. Biological perspective
Females tend to have better language skills
Although there are differences, there is considerable overlap, so some females would commit crimes

24. Sociological perspective (gender)
Women were discouraged from competition
Taught to be “ladylike”
Supervised more closely
Males and females are treated and socialized differently
Feminists have speculated that as the role of women changed, more crime

25. Socialization & gender
There has been some rise in female crime, the reasons are unclear
Female criminals come from the lowest SES, least likely to benefit from the changes that have occurred
The rise might be due to the end of the chivalry hypothesis