Lombroso's Theory
- Created by: ashfarmer15
- Created on: 25-01-23 11:10
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- Lombroso's Theory
- Facts
- Italian criminologist
- Born: 6 November 1835. Died: 19 October 1909
- Believed there was a link between physical characteristics and criminality.
- Italian criminologist
- Claims
- Argued that the physical shape of the head and face determined the "born criminal".
- You can tell what kind of crime someone will commit by the way they look
- Components
- Examined facial features on 383 dead criminals, 3894 living criminals.
- Concluded 40% of criminal acts could be those with Atavistic features
- Criminal= long arms, hard shifty eyes, flattened/upturned nose
- Thief- small/ wandering eyes. Murderer- cold, glassy stare. Women offender- more wrinkled.
- Credibility
- The theory had a scientific test.
- His work heralded beginnings of offender profiling.
- Deterministic and reductionist theory.
- No group of non-criminals
- Analysis
- Theory could apply to Fred West and Luis Garavito, not Ted Bundy.
- Prisons= 'criminal universities'.
- People will leave prison more violent then when they went in.
- For serious crimes, the average prison sentence is now 58.3 months- over two years longer than in 2006.
- Refuting Evidence
- Theory assumed we are born bad- can't change.
- No control group.
- Not everyone with atavistic features are criminal and not all criminals have atavistic features.
- Scientific racism- some features are those linked to race/ethnic groups.
- Supporting Evidence
- Charles Goring (1913) found a low-order intelligence in convicts- suggesting there is some genetic base to criminality.
- Attractive people more likely to be treated better in court- Butcher and Taylor (2007).
- Chinese University showed that A.I. can identify criminals using facial recognition software.
- 1856 photos fed into the programme, half were convicted criminals.
- 83% of criminals were identified, 6% of innocent people wrongly identified
- Facts
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