Biological Explanations: Atavistic Form

An historical approach to offending

Atavistic form - suggests that criminals are genetic throwbacks or a primitive sub-species ill-suited to conforming to the rules of modern society. Such individuals are distinguishable by particular facial and cranial characteristics.
Cesare Lombroso suggested that criminals were 'genetic throwbacks' and a primitive (prehistoric) sub-species who were biologically different from people who do not commit crime
In Lombroso's eyes, he viewed criminals to lack evolutionary development, due to this it means that that are unable to adjust to the demand of modern society and would then turn to crime.
Lombroso saw criminal behaviour as a natural tendency, rooted in the genealogy (a line of descent traced continuously from an ancestor) of those who were engaged in criminal activity.

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Lombroso argued that criminals has biological determined 'atavistic' characteristics, mainly features of the face and head, that make criminals physically different from the rest of us.
Atavistic form included characteristics such as; narrow, sloping brow, a strong prominent jaw, high cheekbones and facial asymmetry. Other physicals features include dark skin, extra toes, ******* and fingers.
Lombroso then categorised particular types of criminals in terms of their physical and facial charateristics: Murderers were described as having bloodshot eyes, curley hair and long ears. Sexual deviants were described as having glinting eyes, swollen, fleshy lips and projecting ears.
Lombroso suggested that criminals had other traits such as insensitivity to pain, use of criminal slang, tattoos and unemployment.

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His research consisted of the examination of the facial and cranial features of hundreds of Italian convicts, both living and dead and suggested that the atavistic form was associated with a number of physical anomalies which were key indicators of criminality.
Lombroso examined the skulls of 383 dead criminals and 3839 living criminals - he concluded that 40% of criminals acts could be accounted for by atavistic characteristics.

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Lombroso's atavistic form contributed to criminology. He is credited as shifting the emphasis in crime reasearch away from a moralistic discource (offenders were judged as being wicked and weak-minded) towards a more scientific way such as the evolutionary influences and genetics. Lombroso's theory is credited because it began the use of criminal profiling by describing how different people are likely commit crime based on facial and crunial features.

Lombroso's theory has been critisied for being racist because he identified criminals to have curly hair and have dark skin which is most likely to be found among people of African descent. Also, Lombroso's theory is seen to support the Eugenics movement because they believed that some groups have desirable traits such as intelligence, morality and civility which were inherited. These groups are seen to be more genetically fit, than others who don't have those traits. Those groups with a genetic advantage should be allowed to breed for the good of society, whilst those without should be eliminated. Lombroso's theory supports this because he believes that those people who lack evolutionary development turn to crime - meaning they don't have the traits that make them genetically fit because they are 'genetic throwbacks'.

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There is some contradictory evidence conducted by Charles Goring. He looked at whether there were any physical or mental abnormalities among the criminal classes. He compared 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals - he concluded that there was no evidence that offenders are a distinct group with unusual facial and cranial charateristics. This means that Lombroso's theory lacks reliablity because theres limited evidence to support that criminals are different in terms of their appearance. However Goring did find that people who commit crime have a lower than average IQ
Lombroso's research lacks validity because he had poor control over the variables because he did not compare his criminal sample with a non-criminal control group. As well as that, he failed to account other variables such as confounding variables. He did not notice that some of the criminals had suffered from a history of psychological disorders.
There is a causation issue where Lombroso fails to take into account other factors which cause a criminal to commit a crime such as poverty or poor diet rather than being an indication of delayed evolutionary development.

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