Biological explanations of crime

?
What did Lombroso see criminals as?
Lacking evolutionary development, they are savage, and have an untaimed nature meaning they find it immposible to adjust to norms of a society to turn to crime
1 of 21
What characteristics did Lombrosso find common amongst criminals
Narrow sloping brown, prominant jaw, high cheekbones, low IQ and extra fingers, toes and *******
2 of 21
How did Lombrosso specifically describe muderers
Described as having blood shot eyes, curly hair, sexual deviance etc.
3 of 21
How was Lombrosso's research carried out?
Examined the facial and cranial features of hundreds of Italian convicts, both living and dead. Ataviastic form associated with a number of physical anomilies, 40% of criminal acts can be accounted for by atavistic characteristics
4 of 21
How much did Lombrosso contribute to crimonology?
Shifted the emphasis in crime research away from moralistic discourse to scientific basis, also created offender profiling
5 of 21
Scientific racism- DeLisi
Drew attention to distinct racial undertones, most of the characteristics correlated with people from African descent. His personality characteristcs identified supported many of the eugenic philosophies
6 of 21
Garing- Contradictory evidence
Similar aim to Lombrosso, comapred criminals with non-criminals, concluded no evidence that offenders a distinct group with unusual facial and cranial characteristics
7 of 21
Poor control in Lombrosso's research
Unlike Goring, didn't compare criminal sample with a control group, if he did he may have come with a similar conclusion to Goring, failed to account for other variables such as psychological disorders
8 of 21
Causation is an issue with Lombrosso
Even if there are some criminals with atavistic characteristics, doesnt mean they are the cause for offending behavior. facial features are often influenced by other factors such as malnutrition
9 of 21
Twin study- Lange
Investigated 13 MZ and 17 DZ twins, where one had served time in prison. 10 of the MZ twins but 2 of the DZ had a co-twin also in prison, concluded genetic factors must play a predominant part in offending behaviour
10 of 21
Twin study- Christiansen
Studied 87 MZ and 147 DZ pairs and found a concordance of 33% for MZs and 12% for DZs which supports view of genetic component
11 of 21
Candidate gened- Tiihonen et al
Genetic analysis revealed abnormalities on two genes associated with violent crime- the MAOA and CDH13 gene- individuals with these mutations were 13X more likely to be violent
12 of 21
Diathesis stress model
If genetics do have some influence on offending, its likely that its partly moderated by the effects of the environment, tendancy towards criminal behaviour may be through a genetic predisposition and biological or psychological trigger
13 of 21
What is much of the evidence for neural explanations based on?
Most of the research is based on people with antisocial personality disorder
14 of 21
Role of the prefrontal cortex- Raine
Conducted many studies demonstrating people with antisocial personalities have reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex. He found a 11% reduction in grey matter in people with APD
15 of 21
Role of mirror neurones- Keysers et al
When criminals were asked to empathise (with a person in a film) did their empathy reaction (controlled by mirror neurones) activate. APD individuals are not totally without empathy, they only turn on and off empathy, normal brains have it on allways
16 of 21
Problems with twin studies
Early twin studies were poorly controlled, judgements to whether a twin is MZ and DZ was down to appearence. They involve small sample sizes, twins won't be representative of the population, they have the same envrionment, which is a confouding var.
17 of 21
Support for diathesis stress model- Mednick
Researches defined criminality as being in possessios of at least one court conviction. Neither biological or adoptive parents had convictions, % of adoptees was 13.5 rose to 20% when one set of parents did and 24.5 when both did
18 of 21
Problems with adoption studies
Presumed seperation of genetic and environmental influences is complicated when children have late adoption, and when they still have contact with biological parents. Difficult to assess environmental impact the biological and adoptive parents had
19 of 21
Biological reductionism
Criminality is complex, explanations that reduce offending behaviour to genetic/neural level simplify it. Crime runs in families but so does social instability and mental illness. Difficult to untangle biological and environmental factors
20 of 21
Biological determinism
The notion of a criminal gene presents a dilema. Our legal system is based on people having free will only under mental illness can someone claim they have not got free will, this raises ethical issues as well
21 of 21

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What characteristics did Lombrosso find common amongst criminals

Back

Narrow sloping brown, prominant jaw, high cheekbones, low IQ and extra fingers, toes and *******

Card 3

Front

How did Lombrosso specifically describe muderers

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

How was Lombrosso's research carried out?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

How much did Lombrosso contribute to crimonology?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Criminological and Forensic Psychology resources »