Compare and contrast early biological theories of crime with their contemporary counterparts. How are these theories alike, and how do they differ?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Phrenology attempted to determine intelligence and personality on the basis of the size and shape of the skull and posited that certain areas of the brain corresponded to various psychological and intellectual characteristics. Physiognomy involved measuring facial and other body characteristics as indicative of human personality, while palmistry was concerned with “palm reading,” analyzing a person’s character and future by examining the lines on the palm. Lombroso was highly influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution, and this led him to the development of his theory of atavism that criminals were “throwbacks” to an earlier and more primitive evolutionary period. Such born criminals could be identified by certain physical stigmata, outward appearances, particularly facial, which tended to distinguish them from noncriminals. Social Darwinism claimed that there is a “survival of the fittest” among human beings and social institutions. The success or failure of individuals competing in society was not to be interfered with, since success or failure was all part of a natural system of societal evolution. Enrico Ferri, Lombroso’s son-in-law, proposed four types of criminals: insane, born, occasional, and criminal by passion. He proposed a multiple-factor approach to crime causation, admitting both individual and environmental factors. Some physically distinguishing characteristics of Hooton’s damned included: tattooing; thin beard and body hair, but thick head hair; straight hair; red-brown hair; blue-gray and mixed eye color; thin eyebrows; low and sloping foreheads; thin lips; pointed and small ears; and long, thin necks with sloping shoulders. These findings and their interpretations could be regarded with a tolerant, mild curiosity if they had appeared in Lombroso’s 1876 work, but these were released in 1939 by a professor from one of America’s finest universities. Sheldon (1940) proposed three somatotypes, body builds that relate to personality characteristics (temperaments). Endomorphs have soft, round, plump physiques and tend to be relaxed, easygoing, and extroverted; mesomorphs are hard and muscularly built, and are aggressive, assertive, extroverted, and action-seekers; and ectomorphs are thin and fragile of form as well as introverted, sensitive, and subject to worrying. Comparing judgmental samples of “problem” youths with college males, Sheldon claimed that the problem youths tended to be mesomorphic. New theories: The newest biological theories (some advocates prefer the name biosocial theories) focus on a broad range of biological factors including genetic and environmental. Factors such as head injuries, diets, exposure to toxins such as lead, and birth complications are viewed as affecting the nervous system. “No one argues that there is a gene leading directly to crime” (Cullen & Agnew, 2003, p. 3). Most of these theories recognize that interaction exists between biological factors and the environment and suggest that some biological factors partially account for some crime in some types of offenders.