Biological and Psychological Theories of Crime

The positivist theory is centred on the idea of a scientific understanding of criminality and crime. A key assumption in this field of study is that there is a definite distinction between ‘normal’ (in terms of human nature), and the ‘deviant’. For positivists, the occurrence of crime is explained by reference to forces and factors outside the decision making ability of the individual – a reason why often the classical and positivist theories are seen as being directly opposing. Biological positivism became popularised through the work of Cesare Lombroso, who attempted to explain criminal and deviant behaviour by differentiating different types of human individuals, and then to categorise them, based on their racial and biological differences, in the attempt to establish a link between criminality, and the assumption that individuals exhibit particular traits that roughly correspond to the varying stages of human evolution. Cesare Lombroso adopted the view that criminals were born and not created. He sought to present an ‘atavistic criminal,’ a person who was biologically inferior to a degree where they were developmentally more akin to apes and an early period of human evolution than the evolved man. These ‘atavistic’ criminals could be identified through a variety of different physicality’s (particularly facial) including abnormalities in teeth (protruding teeth), having an asymmetric face, large ears, more fingers and toes than is normal, eye defects and even tattoos. Cesare Lombroso developed this idea over time and came up with the idea that he could divide the population into several categories. The ‘born criminal’ was one who displayed all of the atavistic features that Lombroso described. He then categorized ‘insane criminals’ which included ‘idiots, imbeciles, and paranoiacs’, as well as epileptics and alcoholics. Then came the ‘occasionl criminals,’ or ‘criminaloids,’ who committed largely what were perceived as opportunistic crimes, and then finally the