1. starter
Compare explanations of offender behaviour
Apply the superego

2. Lesson objectives
- identify what makes a criminal look like a criminal
- describe the historical explanation of offending behaviour
- Describe and evaluate the Lombroso key study
- develop at least 4 evaluation points of this theory
- complete at least 2 exam questions

3. The spec says… You must know three biological explanations:
Atavistic form
Genetic
Neural

4. The basic assumption of the Atavistic form explanation is that innate physiological make up of a person causes them to become a criminal.

5. Background: Lombroso Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species
pursued scholarly studies in psychiatry, hygiene, anthropology, criminology and forensic medicine.
impressed by the very idea of evolution
tried to apply the variation of species idea to anthropology.
Villella’s cranium:
like a large plain beneath an infinite horizon, the problem of the nature of the delinquent was illuminated which reproduced in our time the characteristics of primitive man right down to the carnivores.”

6. The criminal was biologically linked to inferior animals.
He noted that there were ancestral “atavistic” characteristics in Villella’s cranium.
The criminal was biologically linked to inferior animals.
His deviance was thus the consequence of his physiology. Features of an evolutionary throwback.
To Lombroso, the phenomenon of criminality, was due to
more primitive mental stage ( atavism)
a regression to a previous “atavistic” phase of evolution
Darwin: criminals were “throwbacks” to early phases of evolution.

7. What is the Atavistic Form?
Atavistic form: an early biological explanation which proposed that criminals are a sub-species of genetic throwbacks who were biologically different from non criminals. They cannot conform to the rules of modern society. Such individuals are distinguishable by particular facial and cranial characteristics.
Laid the foundation for modern offender profiling

8. Offenders lack evolutionary development
Offenders were seen by Lombroso as lacking evolutionary development
The savage and untamed nature meant that they would find it impossible to adjust to civilised society and turn to crime.
Innate tendency: criminal was not at fault.
The atavistic characteristics: biologically determined (could be identified by ‘physiological markers’ mainly to the face and head.

9. Atavistic Form – Lombroso suggested criminals showed characterstics from our evolutionary past.
He wrote:
There is an asymmetry of the face, excessive dimensions of the jaw and cheekbones, eye defects and peculiarities. Ears of unusual size or occasionally very small or standing out from the head as do those of a chimpanzee; nose twisted, upturned, or flattened in thieves or aquiline or beak like in murderers, or with a tip rising like a peak from swollen nostrils…..Chin receeding, or excessively long, or short and flat as an ape….. Excessive length of arms; more than the usual number of fingers or toes.

10. Other non-physical traits:
Lombroso concluded from his analysis of the facial and cranial features that 40% of criminal acts could be accounted for by people with atavistic features
Criminals:
Strong, prominent jaw
High cheekbones
Dark skin
Extra toes, nipples or fingers
Murderers: bloodshot eyes,, curly hair and long ears
Sexual deviants:
Glinting eyes
Swollen, fleshy lips
Fraudsters;
Thin and reedy lips
Other non-physical traits:
Unemployment, tattoos and use of criminal slang

11. Key Study: Lombroso (1876)
Aim: To identify distinguishing physical features among criminals, which set them
apart as offenders based on biological principles.
Procedure: Lombroso examined the features and measurements of nearly 4,000 criminals, as well as the skulls of 400 dead criminals.
Results: Some common findings from Lombroso’s investigation included:
sloping brow (which according to Lombroso, indicated low intelligence levels)
pronounced jaw
high cheekbones
large ears
extra nipples, toes and fingers
In a particular study of Italian criminals he found 43% had at least five atavistic traits.
Conclusion: Lombroso concluded that these characteristics indicated that such people were more primitive in an evolutionary sense. He went on to say that such individuals were
therefore not responsible for their actions as they could not be blamed for their
innate, inherited physiology

12. Lombroso later recognised that atavistic features alone did not cause criminality but their existence interacted with a person’s social and physical environment.
A very deterministic approach to criminal behaviour.
In 1879 Lombroso identified different types of criminals:
Born criminals – atavistic type – throwbacks
Insane criminals – suffering from mental illness
Criminaloids – A general class of offenders whose mental characteristics predisposed them to criminal behaviour in certain circumstances.

13. Gender Bias (something for later)
Lombrosso did not study criminality in women but he some ideas:
Women are less evolved than men, they were naturally jealous and insensitive to pain.
But they were also passive, low in intelligence and had a maternal instinct. These neutralised the negative traits making them less likely to commit crimes.
If a women did become a criminal it was because they had masculine characteristics that created a ‘monster’ in a women.

14. Create your own criminal type!
Draw a face and label the characteristics of the Lombroso criminal
Next to the face describe the atavistic form as a biological explanation of offending behaviour (6 marks)

15. Evaluation of the atavistic explanation
Methodologically flawed Contradictory evidence Father of modern criminology Scientific racism

16. Evaluation technique Point: State the factor or main point.
The first sentence of each paragraph should clearly state the point of the paragraph which in turn should be directly connected to the overall argument of the paper.
Evidence: Provide evidence to support your point.
Explain:
This portion of your paragraph may be the largest one as it involves interpreting, evaluating as well as providing additional details to accompany your main idea. By interpreting the evidence you will be analysing its strengths and weaknesses as well as examining the information that can be derived from it. Similarly this section may also include a judgment or claim being made in which you explicitly state an assumption based on the evidence provided. **counter-argument (A/A*)
Link: Connect your answer back to what the question is asking for. You should start your link by clearly stating how it answers the question.

17. Evaluation undermined by methodological weaknesses (poor sampling technique, bias in gathering data, poor statistics)
Lombroso did not compare the criminals to a non-criminal control group. Without this it is difficult to draw conclusions that a feature is distinctive.
Also, his sample may have included people with learning difficulties which may have skewed the measurements as some learning difficulties have a physical effect on facial features.
consequence of malnutrition and poverty rather than being an indication of delayed evolutionary development

18. Evaluation Father of modern criminology (Shafer, 1976).
cultural phenomenon
Lombroso shifted the emphasis away from a moralistic discourse (e.g. offenders were wicked and weak-minded) towards a more scientific and credible realm (evolutionary influences and genetics).
strong advocate of biological determinism in behaviour, he had a direct influence on the evolution of anthropological
Observations of behaviour
Structure and function of the brain (psychopathology/neuropathology)
In many ways Lombroso’s theory heralded the beginning of criminal profiling

19. Evaluation: eugenics: genetically “unfit” people should be prevented from breeding.
Eugenics = a social philosophy advocating the improvement of human genetic traits through the promotion of higher rates of sexual reproduction for people with desired traits or reduced rates of sexual reproduction for people with undesired traits
His description of the atavistic form as being ‘uncivilised, primitive, savage’ would lend support to many of the eugenic philosophies of the time

20. Evaluation Scientific racism
Several critics have drawn attention to the distinct racial undertones within Lombroso’s work. Many of the ‘atavistic’ features (curly hair, dark skin) are most likely to be found among people of African descent.
DeLisi (2012); scientific racism is evident in the fact that many of the
atavistic features defined are specific to people of African descent.
Whether Lombroso intended this to be the case or not is a matter of debate…

21. Evaluation Contradictory evidence
Goring (1913) compared 3000 criminals and non-criminals and concluded there was no evidence that offenders are a distinct group with unusual characteristics…
…although he did suggest offenders have lower than average intelligence (this is very limited support for Lombroso’s argument that criminals are a sub-species)

22. Read the essay: highlight PEEL
Bullet point the main points that each paragraph

23. Some evaluation points to consider:
§ A criticism of Lombroso’s research is that he did not use a control group in his research; therefore, although he found physical trends amongst his substantial group of offenders, he was not comparing them to a group of ‘normal’ controls.
Therefore, it may be more likely that these physical features are coincidental and can be found amongst any people group of that size. Indeed, Goring (1913) attempted to replicate Lombroso’s findings by comparing a large group of offenders with a control group of non-criminals and found no significant differences between the two groups.
An alternative way of looking at Lombroso’s findings is to consider the interaction of genetics and the environment, in that people with features described as atavistic, may be more likely to lean towards criminal behaviour due to the way that they are treated.
Kaplan’s (1980) “self-derogation” theory argues that if individuals experience persistently poor interactions with others (in this case due to the way they look), they will develop lower self-esteem and increased frustration with others, making them more likely to commit criminal behaviour. This is known as an interactionist approach to understanding the causes of behaviour in that it argues there is an interaction between the biological aspects of the offender’s appearance and the way that such individuals might be treated, leading thereby to offending behaviour.

24. Quiz
Create 5 questions on the material that we have covered so far in forensics

25. Exam practice:
Evaluate Lombroso’s theory as a biological explanation of offender behaviour (4) Briefly discuss two contributions Lombroso’s theory made to our modern understand of crime (4) 10 minutes to answer both!!

26. Plenary: Quiz What does atavistic mean?
Name two atavistic facial characteristics.
In Lombroso’s skull research, what percentage of criminals had atavistic characteristics?
Why might the explanation provide support for the eugenic philosophy?
What was the only thing Goring found in common between the criminals in his study?
What did Lombroso fail to include in his research which is a major weakness?

27. Plenary: Answers
Genetic throwback/primitive sub-species
Narrow sloping brow, strong prominent jaw, high cheekbones, facial asymmetry, dark skin, existence of extra toes, nipples or fingers
40%
Uncivilised, primitive traits are not desirable – should be eliminated
Lower than average IQ
Control group